Interaction of a fluorescent derivative of paclitaxel (taxol) with microtubules and tubulin-colchicine

A fluorescent derivative of paclitaxel, 2-debenzoyl-2-(m- aminobenzoyl)paclitaxel (2-AB-PT), has been prepared. 2-AB-PT induces microtubule assembly in vitro, but is about 3-fold less potent than paclitaxel itself. The absorption and emission characteristics of 2-AB-PT were analyzed as a function of solvent. It was found that both spectra were perturbed by specific solvent effects when the solvent contained a hydrogen bond donor. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of 2-AB-PT bound to microtubules could not be mimicked by a single solvent, but the absorption and emission maxima of the tubulin-bound species could be duplicated by a solvent mixture of DMSO and water. These results indicate that the fluorophore binding site on the microtubule is in an environment of intermediate polarity that is accessible to a hydrogen bond donor in the vicinity of the m-amino group. In addition, tubulin fluorescence is quenched in the 2-AB-PT/microtubule complex, and energy transfer from tubulin to 2- AB-PT is apparent. These results indicate that substituents on the C-2 position of paclitaxel associate with tubulin when bound to the microtubule. 2-AB-PT binding to microtubules was quantitatively analyzed by fluorescence titrations. Two classes of binding sites for 2-AB-PT on microtubules were found. The high affinity site has an apparent association constant (K(1app)) of 2.0 (±0.9) x 10 ⁷ M ^-1 and an apparent binding stoichiometry (n(1app)) of 0.8 (±0.1) sites/tubulin dimer in the microtubule. The apparent association constant for the lower affinity site is about 100-fold less than that of the higher affinity site (K(2app) = 2.1 (±0.7) x 10 ⁵ M ^-1), and the stoichiometry of the lower affinity site or class of sites (n(2app)) was found to be 1.3 ± 0.1. Paclitaxel blocked 2-AB-PT binding to the high affinity site. No binding of 2-AB-PT to unassembled tubulin was observed, but the emission spectrum of 2-AB-PT in the presence of the tubulin-colchicine complex resembled the emission spectrum of the ligand bound to microtubules. It was previously shown that paclitaxel can induce GTPase activity in the tubulin-colchicine complex, indicating that paclitaxel can bind to unassembled tubulin in its complex with colchicine [Carlier, M.-F., and Pantaloni, D. (1983) Biochemistry 22, 4814-4822]. Rigorous characterization of the aggregation state of the protein under these conditions demonstrates that 2-AB-PT is also capable of binding to the tubulin-colchicine complex.