MAP2
MAP2 is the most common microtubule-associated protein (MAP) , belongs to the structural MAPs and is mostly found in the brain . It is contained in nerve cells in brain tissue and is rarely bound to microtubules . Furthermore, it shows a strong tendency towards self-association.
Subspecies
Alternative splicing results in three subspecies, these differ in their high and low molar mass . MAP2A and MAP2B are heavier and act as a thermostable pair in nerve cell bodies and dendrites of an adult brain. The lighter MAP2C is mostly found in the embryonic brain in axons and glial cells . In the second postnatal week, the switch between early MAP2 C and later MAP2A or 2B takes place.
properties
MAP2 is responsible for the stabilization processes of the microtubules in the neurites of the brain. They also influence numerous important intracellular processes by attaching to the microtubules. Structural MAPs like MAP2 still do not have their own enzyme activity . Phosphorylation influences the binding ability and degradation of the MAPs. Highly phosphorylated MAP2 proteins have a low affinity for binding to microtubules, but a high hydrolysis resistance. Researchers and doctors hope that MAP2 will prove to be a specific marker for oxygen deficiency in nerve cells, because according to one hypothesis, an intracellular calcium increase caused by hypoxia / ischemia leads to the calcium-activated degradation of MAP2. However, the reliability of MAP2 as a hypoxia marker is still controversial.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Julia Arens: The role of microtubule-regulating proteins during neuronal differentiation , 2012, Technical University Dortmund, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology.
- ↑ a b c zhb.uni-luebeck.de: Immunohistochemical investigations of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) in death from asphyxiation