Erythrocyte microtubule assembly in vitro. Tubulin oligomers limit the rate of microtubule self-assembly.

Chicken erythrocyte tubulin containing a unique beta tubulin variant polymerizes with greater efficiency (lower critical concentration) but at a slower rate than chicken brain tubulin. In a previous study we demonstrated that the low net rate of assembly is partly due to the presence of large oligomers and rings which reduce the initial rate of subunit elongation on microtubule seeds (Murphy, D.B., and Wallis, K.T. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 12293-12301). In this study we show that erythrocyte tubulin oligomers also retard the rate of microtubule nucleation and the net rate of self-assembly. The inhibitory effect is most likely to be due to the increased stability of erythrocyte tubulin oligomers, including a novel polymer of coiled rings that forms during the rapid phase of microtubule polymerization. The slow rate of dissociation of rings and coils into dimers and small oligomers appears to limit both the nucleation and elongation steps in the self-assembly of erythrocyte microtubules.