Bacterial kinesin light chain (Bklc) links the Btub cytoskeleton to membranes

Bacterial kinesin light chain is a TPR domain-containing protein encoded by the bklc gene, which co-localizes with the bacterial tubulin (btub) genes in a conserved operon in Prosthecobacter. Btub heterodimers show high structural homology with eukaryotic tubulin and assemble into head-to-tail protofilaments. Intriguingly, Bklc is homologous to the light chain of the microtubule motor kinesin and could thus represent an additional eukaryotic-like cytoskeletal element in bacteria. Using biochemical characterization as well as cryo-electron tomography we show here that Bklc interacts specifically with Btub protofilaments, as well as lipid vesicles and could thus play a role in anchoring the Btub filaments to the membrane protrusions in Prosthecobacter where they specifically localize in vivo. This work sheds new light into possible ways in which the microtubule cytoskeleton may have evolved linking precursors of microtubules to the membrane via the kinesin moiety that in today’s eukaryotic cytoskeleton links vesicle-packaged cargo to microtubules.