Assembly of chick brain tubulin onto isolated basal bodies of Chlamydomonas reinhardi

Basal bodies isolated from Chlamydomonas reinhardi will serve as initiation centers for the assembly of chick brain microtubule protein subunits (tubulin) into microtubules. The rate of microtubule assembly is tubulin-concentration dependent; this assembly occurs onto both distal and proximal ends of the basal body microtubules, with distal assembly greatly favored. In vitro assembly of brain tubulin also occurs onto the mid-lateral aspects of the basal bodies, presumably onto the fiber connecting the two basal bodies.