Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs): a monoclonal antibody to MAP 1 decorates microtubules in vitro but stains stress fibers and not microtubules in vivo.

A monoclonal antibody (mAb 7-1.1) was produced against a bovine brain microtubule-associated protein (MAP) preparation that had been separated from tubulin after initial purification by cycles of microtubule assembly and disassembly in vitro. The antibody reacted specifically with two high molecular weight polypeptides of the MAP 1 class, designated MAP 1.1 and MAP 1.2, and also with the surfaces of MAP 1-containing microtubules that had been assembled in vitro. Double immunofluorescence microscopy using mAb 7-1.1 and a well-characterized rabbit anti-tubulin antibody revealed that mAb 7-1.1 stained stress fibers in fixed and permeabilized cultured mammalian cells rather than microtubules. The antibody also stained cell nuclei in a punctate fashion. mAb 7-1.1 is one of a number of monoclonal antibodies that react with presumptive MAP 1 polypeptides. Some of the MAP 1 antibodies have been found to bind specifically to microtubules in fixed and permeabilized cells, while others have been reported to react with nonmicrotubule structures. Our results, together with the results of other investigations, indicate that "MAP 1" may be a family of several high molecular weight polypeptides that adventitiously behave as MAPs by the criterion of in vitro coassembly with tubulin through cycles of polymerization and depolymerization but whose cellular distributions, and perhaps functions, are varied.