Tubulin engineering by semisynthesis reveals that polyglutamylation directs detyrosination
Microtubules, a critical component of the cytoskeleton, carry combinations of post-translational modifications (PTMs), which are critical for the regulation of key cellular processes. Long-lived microtubules, in neurons particularly, exhibit both detyrosination of -tubulin as well as polyglutamylation. Dysregulation of these PTMs results in disease, including developmental defects and neurodegeneration. Despite their importance, the mechanisms governing the emergence of such PTM patterns are not well understood, mostly because tools to dissect the function and regulation of tubulin PTMs have been lacking. Here, we report a chemical method to produce fully functional tubulin carrying precisely defined PTMs within its C-terminal tail. Using a sortase- and intein-mediated tandem transamidation strategy, we ligate synthetic -tubulin tails, which are site-specifically glutamylated to specific extents, to recombinant human tubulin heterodimers. Using microtubules reconstituted with such designer tubulins, we show that polyglutamylation of -tubulin promotes its detyrosination by enhancing the activity of the tubulin tyrosine carboxypeptidase vasohibin/SVBP in a manner dependent on the length of polyglutamyl chains. Moreover, modulating polyglutamylation levels in cells results in corresponding changes in detyrosination. Together, using synthetic chemistry to produce tubulins carrying defined PTMs, we can directly link the detyrosination cycle to polyglutamylation, connecting two key regulatory systems that control tubulin function.