Accessory tubules and axonemal microtubules of Apis mellifera sperm flagellum differ in their tubulin isoform content.
In the insect sperm flagellum, an extra set of nine additional microtubules, named accessory tubules, is present surrounding the axoneme. Using a sarcosyl/urea extraction, we were able to fractionate the microtubular cytoskeleton of the sperm flagellum of the insect Apis mellifera resulting in the dissociation of the axonemal microtubule protein components and the accessory tubules. This has allowed us to compare the tubulin isoform content of axonemal microtubules and accessory tubules by immunoelectron microscopy and immunoblotting using a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against different tubulin post-translational modifications (PTMs). All the PTMs occurring in axonemal tubulin are also present in accessory tubules, which indicates the close relativeness of accessory tubules to axonemal rather than to cytoplasmic microtubules. However, our results demonstrate the presence of significant differences in the tubulin isoform content of axonemal microtubules and accessory tubules. First, the tubulin tyrosination extent of accessory tubules is far lower than that of axonemal microtubules, thus confirming at the molecular level their morphogenetic origin as outgrowths from the B-subtubule of each microtubular doublet. Second, although polyglycylation seems to occurr at the same extent in both microtubular systems, alpha-tubulin exhibits a larger amount of monoglycylated sites in axonemal microtubules than in accessory tubules. Third, a greater amount of beta-tubulin molecules is glutamylated in axonemal microtubules than in accessory tubules. Moreover, highly acidic isoforms, likely molecules with longer polyglutamate side chains, are present only in axonemal microtubules. Taken together, our data are indicative of a higher level of tubulin heterogeneity in axonemal microtubules than in accessory tubules. They also show a segregation of post-translationally modified isoforms between accessory tubules and axonemal microtubules and suggest the implication of PTMs in the functional specialization of the two microtubular systems.