Identification of a Protein Altered in Mutants Resistant to Microtubule Inhibitors as a Member of the Major Heat Shock Protein (hsp70) Family

A major cellular protein (P2; ≈70 kilodaltons) which is altered in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell mutants resistant to the microtubule inhibitors colchicine and podophyllotoxin has been shown to correspond to the constitutive form of the 70-kilodalton heat shock protein (hsc70). The inference that P2 and hsc70 are the same protein is based on the following observations: (i) migration of P2 in two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels in the same position as that reported for hsc70; (ii) cross-reactivity of a monoclonal antibody which reacts with both the constitutive and induced forms of hsp70 with the P2 spot from wild-type CHO cells and with both P2 and a mutant form of P2 in a CHO cell mutant; (iii) specific reactivity of a polyclonal antibody to P2 with both the constitutive and heat-induced forms of hsp70 in human cells; (iv) identical immunofluorescent staining of dot/patchlike structures with both P2 and hsp70 antibodies in human and CHO cells; and (v) a cDNA clone for hsc70 has been isolated and sequenced from wild-type CHO cells. The in vitro transcription and translation product of this cDNA has been shown to comigrate with the P2 protein spot in two-dimensional gels, indicating their identity. The fact that there is an alteration in hsc70 in mutants resistant to antimitotic drugs suggests a role for this protein in the in vivo assembly and function of microtubules.