Katanin p60 (kp60), a microtubule-severing enzyme, plays a key role in cytoskeletal reorganization during various cellular events in an ATP-dependent manner. We show that a single domain isolated from the N terminus of mouse katanin p60 (kp60-NTD) binds to tubulin. The solution structure of kp60-NTD was determined by NMR. Although their sequence similarities were as low as 20%, the structure of kp60-NTD revealed a striking similarity to those of the microtubule interacting and trafficking (MIT) domains, which adopt anti-parallel three-stranded helix bundle. In particular, the arrangement of helices 2 and 3 is well conserved between kp60-NTD and the MIT domain from Vps4, which is a homologous protein that promotes disassembly of the endosomal sorting complexes required for transport III membrane skeleton complex. Mutation studies revealed that the positively charged surface formed by helices 2 and 3 binds tubulin. This binding mode resembles the interaction between the MIT domain of Vps4 and Vps2/ CHMP1a, a component of endosomal sorting complexes required for transport III. Our results show that both the molecular architecture and the binding modes are conserved between two AAA-ATPases, kp60 and Vps4. A common mechanism is evolutionarily conserved between two distinct cellular events, one that drives microtubule severing and the other involving membrane skeletal reorganization.
Microtubules (MTs)2 are polymers of ␣-and -tubulin heterodimers. MTs exist as networks that dynamically and rapidly reorganize during different phases of the cell cycle. Spontaneous growth as well as shortening at the ends is indispensable for functional rearrangement. For example, they form the mitotic spindle during M phase, which mediates chromosome segregation during cell division based on the nature of dynamic rearrangement of MTs (reviewed in Refs. 1, 2). Many cellular events involving MTs are driven not only by autonomous polymerization and dissociation of tubulin but also by MT-severing enzymes. These enzymes disassemble the MTs to promote large changes in the cytoskeleton in an ATP-dependent manner (3).There are three known MT-severing enzymes, katanin, spastin, and fidgetin, all of which belong to type I AAA-ATPases (4 -7). Katanin was first identified from sea urchin cytosol (8) and consists of two subunits as follows: a 60-kDa catalytic subunit (kp60) containing a single AAA domain, and an 80-kDa regulatory subunit (kp80) (9, 10). Both the subunits are genetically conserved among many higher eukaryotes. Katanin localizes at the centrosomes in an MT-dependent manner (11), which is probably required for recycling and for the poleward flux of tubulin in the spindle by disassembling MTs at their minus ends (12, 13). kp60 homologs are also found in plants, insects, and nematodes but not in yeasts.kp60 has a common domain organization typical of a type I AAA-ATPase, which consists of an N-terminal substrate binding region followed by a single AAA domain at the C terminus. In general, AAA-ATPases are believed to act as protein unfol...