DYNAMIN IS A GTPASE STIMULATED TO HIGH-LEVELS OF ACTIVITY BY MICROTUBULES

DYNAMIN was initially identified in calf brain tissue as a protein of relative molecular mass 100,000 which induced nucleotide-sensitive bundling of microtubules 1. Purified dynamin showed only trace ATPase activity. But in combination with an activating factor removed during the purification, it exhibited microtubule-activated ATPase activity and dynamin-induced bundles showeD evidence of ATP-dependent force production 1. Dynamin is the product of the DrosophiLa gene shibire 2.3, which has been implicated in synaptic vesicle recycling 4,5 and, more generally, in the budding of endocytic vesicles from the plasma membrane 6,7 . Dynamin also shows 8 extensive homology with proteins that participate in vacuolar protein sorting 9 and spindle pole-body separation 10 in yeast, and in interferon-induced viral resistance 11,12 in mammals. All members of this family contain consensus sequence elements consistent with GTP binding near their amino termini, although none has been shown to have GTPase activity. We report here that dynamin is a specific GTPase which can be stimulated to very high levels of activity by microtubules.