Figure 1. Preparation of microtubule associated proteins

A: Dissection of mouse lens epithelial and cortical fractions used for the isolation of microtubule associated proteins (MAPs). Wild type, αA^-/--, αB^-/--, and αA/B^-/-- lenses were dissected into epithelial (blue) and cortical fiber cell (red) fractions. Microtubules were reconstituted from lens cortical fiber cell lysates and MAPs were extracted as described under Experimental Procedures. B and C: Electron micrographs of mouse lens cortical fiber microtubules that were used to dissociate the MAPs. Microtubules were negatively stained and examined. B shows wild type microtubules and C shows αB^-/-- microtubules. The scale bar is equal to 50 nm.