scholarly journals Palmitoylation of the oncogenic RhoGEF TGAT is dispensable for membrane localization and consequent activation of RhoA

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakobus van Unen ◽  
Dennis Botman ◽  
Taofei Yin ◽  
Yi I. Wu ◽  
Mark A. Hink ◽  
...  

AbstractRho guanine exchange factors (RhoGEFs) control many aspects of the cellular cytoskeleton, and thereby regulate and control processes such as cell migration, cell adhesion and proliferation. TGAT is a splice variant of the RhoGEF Trio, with oncogenic potential. Whether the subcellular location of TGAT is critical for its activity is unknown. Confocal microscopy of fluorescent protein tagged TGAT revealed co-localization with a Golgi marker. Because plasma membrane localized RhoGEFs are particularly effective at activating RhoA, plasma membrane localization of TGAT was studied. In order to quantitatively measure plasma membrane association we developed a novel, highly sensitive image analysis method. The method requires a cytoplasmic marker and a plasma membrane marker, which are co-imaged with the tagged protein of interest. Linear unmixing is performed to determine the plasma membrane and cytoplasmic component in the fluorescence signal of protein of interest. The analysis revealed that wild-type TGAT is partially co-localized with the plasma membrane. Strikingly, cysteine TGAT-mutants lacking one or more palmitoylation sites in the C-tail, still showed membrane association. In contrast, a truncated variant, lacking the last 15 amino acids, TGATΔ15, lost membrane association. The functional role of membrane localization was determined by measuring TGAT activity in single cells with a RhoA FRET-sensor and F-actin levels. Mutants of TGAT that still maintained membrane association showed similar activity as wild-type TGAT. In contrast, the activity was abrogated for the cytoplasmic TGATΔ15 variant. Synthetic recruitment of TGATΔ15 to membranes confirmed that TGAT effectively activates RhoA at the plasma membrane. Together, these results show that membrane association of TGAT is critical for its activity, but that palmitoylation is dispensable.

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1385-1400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hettmann ◽  
Angelika Herm ◽  
Ariane Geiter ◽  
Bernd Frank ◽  
Eva Schwarz ◽  
...  

Obligate intracellular parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa exhibit gliding motility, a unique form of substrate-dependent locomotion essential for host cell invasion and shown to involve the parasite actin cytoskeleton and myosin motor(s). Toxoplasma gondii has been shown to express three class XIV myosins, TgM-A, -B, and -C. We identified an additional such myosin, TgM-D, and completed the sequences of a related Plasmodium falciparum myosin, PfM-A. Despite divergent structural features, TgM-A purified from parasites bound actin in an ATP-dependent manner. Isoform-specific antibodies revealed that TgM-A and recombinant mycTgM-A were localized right beneath the plasma membrane, and subcellular fractionation indicated a tight membrane association. Recombinant TgM-D also had a peripheral although not as sharply defined localization. Truncation of their respective tail domains abolished peripheral localization and tight membrane association. Conversely, fusion of the tails to green fluorescent protein (GFP) was sufficient to confer plasma membrane localization and sedimentability. The peripheral localization of TgM-A and of the GFP-tail fusion did not depend on an intact F-actin cytoskeleton, and the GFP chimera did not localize to the plasma membrane of HeLa cells. Finally, we showed that the specific localization determinants were in the very C terminus of the TgM-A tail, and site-directed mutagenesis revealed two essential arginine residues. We discuss the evidence for a proteinaceous plasma membrane receptor and the implications for the invasion process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolene Ramsey ◽  
Emily C. Renzi ◽  
Randy J. Arnold ◽  
Jonathan C. Trinidad ◽  
Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

ABSTRACT Palmitoylation is a reversible, posttranslational modification that helps target proteins to cellular membranes. The alphavirus small membrane proteins 6K and TF have been reported to be palmitoylated and to positively regulate budding. 6K and TF are isoforms that are identical in their N termini but unique in their C termini due to a −1 ribosomal frameshift during translation. In this study, we used cysteine (Cys) mutants to test differential palmitoylation of the Sindbis virus 6K and TF proteins. We modularly mutated the five Cys residues in the identical N termini of 6K and TF, the four additional Cys residues in TF's unique C terminus, or all nine Cys residues in TF. Using these mutants, we determined that TF palmitoylation occurs primarily in the N terminus. In contrast, 6K is not palmitoylated, even on these shared residues. In the C-terminal Cys mutant, TF protein levels increase both in the cell and in the released virion compared to the wild type. In viruses with the N-terminal Cys residues mutated, TF is much less efficiently localized to the plasma membrane, and it is not incorporated into the virion. The three Cys mutants have minor defects in cell culture growth but a high incidence of abnormal particle morphologies compared to the wild-type virus as determined by transmission electron microscopy. We propose a model where the C terminus of TF modulates the palmitoylation of TF at the N terminus, and palmitoylated TF is preferentially trafficked to the plasma membrane for virus budding. IMPORTANCE Alphaviruses are a reemerging viral cause of arthritogenic disease. Recently, the small 6K and TF proteins of alphaviruses were shown to contribute to virulence in vivo. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which either protein acts to promote virus infection is missing. The TF protein is a component of budded virions, and optimal levels of TF correlate positively with wild-type-like particle morphology. In this study, we show that the palmitoylation of TF regulates its localization to the plasma membrane, which is the site of alphavirus budding. Mutants in which TF is not palmitoylated display drastically reduced plasma membrane localization, which effectively prevents TF from participating in budding or being incorporated into virus particles. Investigation of the regulation of TF will aid current efforts in the alphavirus field searching for approaches to mitigate alphaviral disease in humans.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (4) ◽  
pp. C968-C976 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Vagin ◽  
S. Denevich ◽  
G. Sachs

The factors determining trafficking of the gastric H,K-ATPase to the apical membrane remain elusive. To identify such determinants in the gastric H,K-ATPase, fusion proteins of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) and the gastric H,K-ATPase β-subunit (YFP-β) and cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) and the gastric H,K-ATPase α-subunit (CFP-α) were expressed in HEK-293 cells. Then plasma membrane delivery of wild-type CFP-α, wild-type YFP-β, and YFP-β mutants lacking one or two of the seven β-subunit glycosylation sites was determined using confocal microscopy and surface biotinylation. Expression of the wild-type YFP-β resulted in the plasma membrane localization of the protein, whereas the expressed CFP-α was retained intracellularly. When coexpressed, both CFP-α and YFP-β were delivered to the plasma membrane. Removing each of the seven glycosylation sites, except the second one, from the extracellular loop of YFP-β prevented plasma membrane delivery of the protein. Only the mutant lacking the second glycosylation site (Asn103Gln) was localized both intracellularly and on the plasma membrane. A double mutant lacking the first (Asn99Gln) and the second (Asn103Gln) glycosylation sites displayed intracellular accumulation of the protein. Therefore, six of the seven glycosylation sites in the β-subunit are essential for the plasma membrane delivery of the β-subunit of the gastric H,K-ATPase, whereas the second glycosylation site (Asn103), which is not conserved among the β-subunits from different species, is not critical for plasma delivery of the protein.


1999 ◽  
Vol 277 (6) ◽  
pp. C1202-C1209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Haworth ◽  
James Sinnett-Smith ◽  
Enrique Rozengurt ◽  
Metin Avkiran

The regulation of plasma membrane Na+/H+exchanger (NHE) activity by protein kinase D (PKD), a novel protein kinase C- and phorbol ester-regulated kinase, was investigated. To determine the effect of PKD on NHE activity in vivo, intracellular pH (pHi) measurements were made in COS-7 cells by microepifluorescence using the pH indicator cSNARF-1. Cells were transfected with empty vector (control), wild-type PKD, or its kinase-deficient mutant PKD-K618M, together with green fluorescent protein (GFP). NHE activity, as reflected by the rate of acid efflux ( J H), was determined in single GFP-positive cells following intracellular acidification. Overexpression of wild-type PKD had no significant effect on J H(3.48 ± 0.25 vs. 3.78 ± 0.24 mM/min in control at pHi 7.0). In contrast, overexpression of PKD-K618M increased J H (5.31 ± 0.57 mM/min at pHi 7.0; P < 0.05 vs. control). Transfection with these constructs produced similar effects also in A-10 cells, indicating that native PKD may have an inhibitory effect on NHE in both cell types, which is relieved by a dominant-negative action of PKD-K618M. Exposure of COS-7 cells to phorbol ester significantly increased J H in control cells but failed to do so in cells overexpressing either wild-type PKD (due to inhibition by the overexpressed PKD) or PKD-K618M (because basal J Hwas already near maximal). A fusion protein containing the cytosolic regulatory domain (amino acids 637–815) of NHE1 (the ubiquitous NHE isoform) was phosphorylated in vitro by wild-type PKD, but with low stoichiometry. These data suggest that PKD inhibits NHE activity, probably through an indirect mechanism, and represents a novel pathway in the regulation of the exchanger.


1998 ◽  
Vol 83 (11) ◽  
pp. 3936-3942
Author(s):  
Guiming Cai ◽  
Toshimi Michigami ◽  
Takehisa Yamamoto ◽  
Natsuo Yasui ◽  
Kenichi Satomura ◽  
...  

Hypophosphatasia is associated with a defect of the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) gene. The onset and clinical severity are usually correlated in hypophosphatasia; patients with perinatal hypophosphatasia die approximately at the time of birth. In contrast, we describe a male neonatal patient with hypophosphatasia who had no respiratory problems and survived. He was compound heterozygous for the conversion of Phe to Leu at codon 310 (F310L) and the deletion of a nucleotide T at 1735 (delT1735), causing the frame shift with the result of the addition of 80 amino acids at the C-terminal of the protein. Because the C-terminal portion of TNSALP is known to be important for TNSALP to bind to the plasma membrane, the localization of wild-type and mutated TNSALP proteins was analyzed using green fluorescent protein chimeras. The expression vectors containing the complementary DNA of fusion proteins consisting of signal peptide, green fluorescent protein, and wild-type or mutated TNSALP, caused by delT1735 or F310L mutation, were introduced transiently or stably in Saos-2 cells. The delT1735 mutant failed to localize at the cell surface membrane, whereas the wild-type and the F310L mutants were located in the plasma membrane and cytoplasm. The assay for enzymatic activity of TNSALP revealed that the delT1735 mutant lost the activity and that the F310L mutant exhibited an enzymatic activity level that was 72% of the normal level. The F310L mutation was also detected in another neonatal patient with relatively mild (nonlethal) hypophosphatasia (reported in J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 81:4458–4461, 1996), suggesting that residual ALP activity of the F310L mutant contributes to the less severe phenotype. The patient is unique, with respect to a discrepancy between onset and clinical severity in hypophosphatasia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Hinrichsen ◽  
M Lenz ◽  
J M Edwards ◽  
O K Miller ◽  
S G J Mochrie ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present a novel method to fluorescently label proteins, post-translationally, within live Saccharomycescerevisiae. The premise underlying this work is that fluorescent protein (FP) tags are less disruptive to normal processing and function when they are attached post-translationally, because target proteins are allowed to fold properly and reach their final subcellular location before being labeled. We accomplish this post-translational labeling by expressing the target protein fused to a short peptide tag (SpyTag), which is then covalently labeled in situ by controlled expression of an open isopeptide domain (SpyoIPD, a more stable derivative of the SpyCatcher protein) fused to an FP. The formation of a covalent bond between SpyTag and SpyoIPD attaches the FP to the target protein. We demonstrate the general applicability of this strategy by labeling several yeast proteins. Importantly, we show that labeling the membrane protein Pma1 in this manner avoids the mislocalization and growth impairment that occur when Pma1 is genetically fused to an FP. We also demonstrate that this strategy enables a novel approach to spatiotemporal tracking in single cells and we develop a Bayesian analysis to determine the protein’s turnover time from such data.


2003 ◽  
Vol 371 (3) ◽  
pp. 775-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas NEWTON ◽  
John P. J. BLACK ◽  
John BUTLER ◽  
Anthony G. LEE ◽  
John CHAD ◽  
...  

The location of sarco/endoplasmic-reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) retention/retrieval motifs in the sequence of the SERCA1 has been investigated by examining the subcellular location in COS-7 cells of enhanced-green-fluorescent-protein-tagged calcium-pump chimaeras. These chimaeras have been constructed from the fast-twitch SERCA1 and the plasma-membrane calcium ATPase PMCA3. The N-terminal, central and C-terminal segments of these calcium pumps were exchanged between SERCA1 and PMCA3. The segments exchanged correspond to residues 1–211, 212–711 and 712–994 of SERCA1, and residues 1–264, 265–788 and 789–1159 of PMCA3 respectively. Only chimaeras containing the N-terminal segment of SERCA1 were located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas chimaeras containing the N-terminal segment from PMCA3 were able to escape from the ER and enter the endomembrane pathway en route for the plasma membrane. Co-localization of SERCA1 in COS-7 cells with the ER/Golgi-intermediate compartment marker ERGIC53 indicates that SERCA1 is maintained in the ER by a process of retrieval. These results indicate that the N-terminal region of SERCA1, containing transmembrane helices M1 and M2, contains an ER-retrieval signal.


2012 ◽  
Vol 80 (9) ◽  
pp. 3049-3064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dacie R. Bridge ◽  
Karen H. Martin ◽  
Elizabeth R. Moore ◽  
Wendy M. Lee ◽  
James A. Carroll ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe opportunistic pathogenPseudomonas aeruginosatargets wounded epithelial barriers, but the cellular alteration that increases susceptibility toP. aeruginosainfection remains unclear. This study examined how cell migration contributes to the establishment ofP. aeruginosainfections using (i) highly migratory T24 epithelial cells as a cell culture model, (ii) mutations in the type III secretion (T3S) effector ExoS to manipulateP. aeruginosainfection, and (iii) high-resolution immunofluorescent microscopy to monitor ExoS translocation. ExoS includes both GTPase-activating (GAP) and ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) activities, andP. aeruginosacells expressing wild-type ExoS preferentially bound to the leading edge of T24 cells, where ExoS altered leading-edge architecture and actin anchoring in conjunction with interrupting T3S translocation. Inactivation of ExoS GAP activity allowedP. aeruginosato be internalized and secrete ExoS within T24 cells, but as with wild-type ExoS, translocation was limited in association with disruption of actin anchoring. Inactivation of ExoS ADPRT activity resulted in significantly enhanced T3S translocation byP. aeruginosacells that remained extracellular and in conjunction with maintenance of actin-plasma membrane association. Infection withP. aeruginosaexpressing ExoS lacking both GAP and ADPRT activities resulted in the highest level of T3S translocation, and this occurred in conjunction with the entry and alignment ofP. aeruginosaand ExoS along actin filaments. Collectively, in using ExoS mutants to modulate and visualize T3S translocation, we were able to (i) confirm effector secretion by internalizedP. aeruginosa, (ii) differentiate the mechanisms underlying the effects of ExoS GAP and ADPRT activities onP. aeruginosainternalization and T3S translocation, (iii) confirm that ExoS ADPRT activity targeted a cellular substrate that interrupted T3S translocation, (iv) visualize the ability ofP. aeruginosaand ExoS to align with actin filaments, and (v) demonstrate an association between actin anchoring at the leading edge of T24 cells and the establishment ofP. aeruginosainfection. Our studies also highlight the contribution of ExoS to the opportunistic nature ofP. aeruginosainfection through its ability to exert cytotoxic effects that interrupt T3S translocation andP. aeruginosainternalization, which in turn limit theP. aeruginosainfectious process.


Biology Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. bio.057653
Author(s):  
Hantian Qiu ◽  
Sayaka Fujisawa ◽  
Shohei Nozaki ◽  
Yohei Katoh ◽  
Kazuhisa Nakayama

Compositions of proteins and lipids within cilia and on the ciliary membrane are maintained to be distinct from those of the cytoplasm and plasma membrane, respectively, by the presence of the ciliary gate. INPP5E is a phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase that is localized on the ciliary membrane by anchorage via its C-terminal prenyl moiety. In addition, the ciliary membrane localization of INPP5E is determined by the small GTPase ARL13B. However, it remained unclear as to how ARL13B participates in the localization of INPP5E. We here show that wild-type INPP5E, INPP5E(WT), in ARL13B-knockout cells and an INPP5E mutant defective in ARL13B binding, INPP5E(ΔCTS), in control cells were unable to show steady-state localization on the ciliary membrane. However, not only INPP5E(WT) but also INPP5E(ΔCTS) was able to rescue the abnormal localization of ciliary proteins in INPP5E-knockout cells. Analysis using the chemically induced dimerization system demonstrated that INPP5E(WT) in ARL13B-knockout cells and INPP5E(ΔCTS) in control cells were able to enter cilia, but neither was retained on the ciliary membrane due to the lack of the INPP5E–ARL13B interaction. Thus, our data demonstrate that binding of INPP5E to ARL13B is essential for its steady-state localization on the ciliary membrane but is dispensable for its entry into cilia.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3233-3246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Hofemeister ◽  
Klaus Weber ◽  
Reimer Stick

Targeting of nuclear lamins to the inner nuclear envelope membrane requires a nuclear localization signal and CaaX motif–dependent posttranslational modifications, including isoprenylation and carboxyl methylation. These modifications, although necessary for membrane targeting, are not sufficient to mediate stable association with membranes. We show that two variants of lamin B3 (i.e., B3a and B3b) exist in Xenopus oocytes. They are encoded by two alternatively spliced, developmentally regulated mRNAs. The two lamin variants differ greatly in their membrane association in meiotically matured eggs. The presence of an extra cysteine residue (as a potential palmitoylation site) and a basic cluster in conjunction with the CaaX motif function as secondary targeting signals responsible for the stable membrane association of lamin B3b in Xenopuseggs. Moreover, transfection experiments with Green Fluorescent Protein lamin tail chimeras and with a Green Fluorescent Protein N-Ras chimera show that these secondary motifs are sufficient to target proteins to the inner nuclear membrane and/or the plasma membrane. Implications for the intracellular trafficking of doubly lipidated proteins are discussed.


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