Tau interaction with microtubules in vivo

Tau is a major microtubule-associated protein which induces bundling and stabilization of axonal microtubules (MTs). To investigate the interaction of tau with MTs in living cells, we expressed GFP-tau fusion protein in cultured Xenopus embryo neurons and performed time-lapse imaging of tau-labeled MTs. Tau uniformly labeled individual MTs regardless of their assembly/disassembly status and location along the axon. Photobleaching experiments indicated that interaction of tau with MTs is very dynamic, with a half-time of fluorescence recovery of the order of 3 seconds. Treatment of cells with taxol, a drug that suppresses MT dynamics, rapidly induced detachment of tau from MTs. Although binding of tau to straight MTs was uniform, there was a heightened concentration of tau at the sites of high MT curvature. Our results suggest that dynamic interaction of tau with MTs may modify local mechanical properties of individual MTs and play a crucial role in the remodeling of the MT cytoskeleton during neuronal plasticity.