Centrin plays an essential role in microtubule severing during flagellar excision in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Previously, we reported that flagellar excision in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is mediated by an active process whereby microtubules are severed at select sites within the flagellar-basal body transition zone (Sanders, M. A., and J. L. Salisbury, 1989. J. Cell Biol. 108:1751-1760). At the time of flagellar excision, stellate fibers of the transition zone contract and displace the microtubule doublets of the axoneme inward. The resulting shear force and torsional load generated during inward displacement leads to microtubule severing immediately distal to the central cylinder of the transition zone. In this study, we have used a detergent-extracted cell model of Chlamydomonas that allows direct experimental access to the molecular machinery responsible for microtubule severing without the impediment of the plasma membrane. We present four independent lines of experimental evidence for the essential involvement of centrin-based stellate fibers of the transition zone in the process of flagellar excision: (a) Detergent-extracted cell models excise their flagella in response to elevated, yet physiological, levels of free calcium. (b) Extraction of cell models with buffers containing the divalent cation chelator EDTA leads to the disassembly of centrin-based fibers and to the disruption of transition zone stellate fiber structure. This treatment results in a complete loss of flagellar excision competence. (c) Three separate anti-centrin monoclonal antibody preparations, which localize to the stellate fibers of the transition zone, specifically inhibit contraction of the stellate fibers and block calcium-induced flagellar excision, while control antibodies have no inhibitory effect. Finally, (d) cells of the centrin mutant vfl-2 (Taillon, B., S. Adler, J. Suhan, and J. Jarvik, 1992. J. Cell Biol. 119:1613-1624) fail to actively excise their flagella following pH shock in living cells or calcium treatment of detergent-extracted cell models. Taken together, these observations demonstrate that centrin-based fiber contraction plays a fundamental role in microtubule severing at the time of flagellar excision in Chlamydomonas.