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    Phosphoinositides and membrane curvature switch the mode of actin polymerization via selective recruitment of toca-1 and Snx9
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    Abstract:
    The membrane–cytosol interface is the major locus of control of actin polymerization. At this interface, phosphoinositides act as second messengers to recruit membrane-binding proteins. We show that curved membranes, but not flat ones, can use phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P] along with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P 2 ] to stimulate actin polymerization. In this case, actin polymerization requires the small GTPase cell cycle division 42 (Cdc42), the nucleation-promoting factor neural Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP) and the actin nucleator the actin-related protein (Arp) 2/3 complex. In liposomes containing PI(4,5)P2 as the sole phosphoinositide, actin polymerization requires transducer of Cdc42 activation-1 (toca-1). In the presence of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate, polymerization is both more efficient and independent of toca-1. Under these conditions, sorting nexin 9 (Snx9) can be implicated as a specific adaptor that replaces toca-1 to mobilize neural Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein and the Arp2/3 complex. This switch in phosphoinositide and adaptor specificity for actin polymerization from membranes has implications for how different types of actin structures are generated at precise times and locations in the cell.
    Keywords:
    Actin remodeling
    MDia1
    Actin-binding protein
    CDC42
    Increasing evidence suggests that actin cross-linking or bundling proteins might not only structure the cortical actin cytoskeleton but also control actin dynamics. Here, we analyse the effects of T-plastin/T-fimbrin, a representative member of an important actin-filament cross-linking protein by combining a quantitative biomimetic motility assay with biochemical and cell-based approaches. Beads coated with the VCA domain of the Wiskott/Aldrich-syndrome protein (WASP) recruit the actin-nucleating Arp2/3 complex, polymerize actin at their surface and undergo movement when placed in cell-free extracts. T-Plastin increased the velocity of VCA beads 1.5 times, stabilized actin comets and concomitantly displaced cofilin, an actin-depolymerizing protein. T-Plastin also decreased the F-actin disassembly rate and inhibited cofilin-mediated depolymerization of actin filaments in vitro. Importantly, a bundling-incompetent variant comprising the first actin-binding domain (ABD1) had similar effects. In cells, this domain induced the formation of long actin cables to which other actin-regulating proteins were recruited. Altogether, these results favor a mechanism in which binding of ABD1 controls actin turnover independently of cross-link formation. In vivo, this activity might contribute to the assembly and maintenance of the actin cytoskeleton of plasma-membrane protrusions.
    Actin remodeling
    Cofilin
    MDia1
    Actin-binding protein
    Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein
    Lamellipodium
    Citations (80)
    A very large, ever-increasing repertoire of actin-binding proteins regulates the assembly dynamics and the spatial organization of actin filaments, thus orchestrating the motile behavior of the cell. The authors describe a series of biochemical functional assays that allow one to characterize the function of a putative actin-binding protein in actin filament dynamics. These tests allow the characterization of three types of actin-binding proteins: G-actin-sequestering proteins, profilin-like proteins, and barbed-end capping proteins. Biochemical tests include the use of sedimentation of actin filaments, polymerization assays at the barbed or pointed end of actin filaments derived from fluorescently labeled actin, thermodynamic measurements of actin assembly at steady state and during turnover of actin filaments, measurements of nucleotide exchange on G-actin, and the use of the intrinsic or extrinsic fluorescence of actin to measure direct binding of different protein ligands to G-actin.
    Actin remodeling
    MDia1
    Profilin
    Actin-binding protein
    Treadmilling
    Polymerization and depolymerization of actin play an essential role in eukaryotic cells. Actin exists in cells in both monomeric (G-actin) and filamentous (polymer, F-actin) forms. Actin binding proteins (ABPs) facilitate the transition between these two states, and their interactions with these two states of actin are critical for actin-based cellular processes. Rapid depolymerization of actin is assisted in the brain and/or other cells by its oxidation by the enzyme Mical (yielding Mox-actin), and/or by the binding of Inverted Formin 2 (INF2) – which can also accelerate filaments formation. At their stoichiometric molar ratio INF2 and actin yield the 8S complex (consisting of 4 actin monomers: 2 INF2 dimer molecules). Using biochemical and biophysical methods, we investigate the structural arrangement of actin in the 8S particles and the interaction of INF2 with actin and Mox-actin. To that end, we show 2 D class averages of 8S particles obtained by negative staining electron microscopy. We also show that: (i) 8S particles can seed rapid actin assembly; (ii) Mox-actin and INF2 form 8S particles at proteins ratios similar to those of unoxidized actin; (iii) chemical crosslinkings suggest that actin monomers are in a parallel orientation in the 8S particles of both actin and Mox-actin; and (iv) INF2 accelerates the disassembly of Mox-F-actin. Our results provide better understanding of actin's arrangement in the 8S particles formed during actin depolymerization and in the early polymerization stages of both actin and Mox-actin.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
    MDia1
    Formins
    Actin remodeling
    Actin-binding protein
    Depolymerization
    Profilin
    Branching filaments with striking perpendicularity form when actin polymerizes in the presence of macrophage actin-binding protein. Actin-binding protein molecules are visible at the branch points. Compared with actin polymerized in the absence of actin-binding proteins, not only do the filaments branch but the average length of the actin filaments decreases from 3.2 to 0.63 micrometer. Arrowhead complexes formed by addition of heavy meromyosin molecules to the branching actin filaments point toward the branch points. Actin-binding protein also accelerates the onset of actin polymerization. All of these findings show that actin filaments assemble from nucleating sites on actin-binding protein dimers. A branching polymerization of actin filaments from a preexisting lattice of actin filaments joined by actin-binding protein molecules could generate expansion of cortical cytoplasm in amoeboid cells.
    Actin-binding protein
    MDia1
    Actin remodeling
    Heavy meromyosin
    Treadmilling
    Citations (156)
    Profilin
    Cofilin
    Actin remodeling
    Actin-binding protein
    MDia1
    The actin monomer-binding protein, profilin, influences the dynamics of actin filaments in vitro by suppressing nucleation, enhancing nucleotide exchange on actin, and promoting barbed-end assembly. Profilin may also link signaling pathways to actin cytoskeleton organization by binding to the phosphoinositide PIP2 and to polyproline stretches on several proteins. Although activities of profilin have been studied extensively in vitro, the significance of each of these activities in vivo needs to be tested. To study profilin function, we extensively mutagenized the Saccharomyces cerevisiae profilin gene (PFY1) and examined the consequences of specific point mutations on growth and actin organization. The actin-binding region of profilin was shown to be critical in vivo. act1-157, an actin mutant with an increased intrinsic rate of nucleotide exchange, suppressed defects in actin organization, cell growth, and fluid-phase endocytosis of pfy1-4, a profilin mutant defective in actin binding. In reactions containing actin, profilin, and cofilin, profilin was required for fast rates of actin filament turnover. However, Act1-157p circumvented the requirement for profilin. Based on the results of these studies, we conclude that in living cells profilin promotes rapid actin dynamics by regenerating ATP actin from ADP actin–cofilin generated during filament disassembly.
    Profilin
    MDia1
    Actin remodeling
    Cofilin
    Actin-binding protein
    Citations (122)