scholarly journals Ezrin enrichment on curved membranes requires a specific conformation or interaction with a curvature-sensitive partner

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-Ching Tsai ◽  
Aurélie Bertin ◽  
Hugo Bousquet ◽  
John Manzi ◽  
Yosuke Senju ◽  
...  

AbstractOne challenge in current cell biology is to decipher the biophysical mechanisms governing protein enrichment on curved membranes and the resulting membrane deformation. The ERM protein ezrin is abundant and associated with cellular membranes that are flat or with positive or negative curvatures. Using in vitro and cell biology approaches, we assess mechanisms of ezrin’s enrichment on curved membranes. We evidence that ezrin (ezrinWT) and its phosphomimetic mutant T567D (ezrinTD) do not deform membranes but self-assemble anti-parallelly, zipping adjacent membranes. EzrinTD’s specific conformation reduces intermolecular ezrin interactions, allows binding to actin filaments, and promotes ezrin binding to positively curved membranes. While neither ezrinTD nor ezrinWT senses negative membrane curvature alone, we demonstrate that interacting with curvature sensors I-BAR-domain proteins facilitates ezrin enrichment in negatively curved membrane protrusions. Overall, our work reveals new mechanisms, specific conformation or binding to a curvature sensor partner, for targeting curvature insensitive proteins to curved membranes.

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng-Ching Tsai ◽  
Aurelie Bertin ◽  
Hugo Bousquet ◽  
John Manzi ◽  
Yosuke Senju ◽  
...  

One challenge in cell biology is to decipher the biophysical mechanisms governing protein enrichment on curved membranes and the resulting membrane deformation. The ERM protein ezrin is abundant and associated with cellular membranes that are flat, positively or negatively curved. Using in vitro and cell biology approaches, we assess mechanisms of ezrin’s enrichment on curved membranes. We evidence that wild-type ezrin (ezrinWT) and its phosphomimetic mutant T567D (ezrinTD) do not deform membranes but self-assemble anti-parallelly, zipping adjacent membranes. EzrinTD’s specific conformation reduces intermolecular interactions, allows binding to actin filaments, which reduces membrane tethering, and promotes ezrin binding to positively-curved membranes. While neither ezrinTD nor ezrinWT senses negative curvature alone, we demonstrate that interacting with curvature-sensing I-BAR-domain proteins facilitates ezrin enrichment in negatively-curved membrane protrusions. Overall, our work demonstrates that ezrin can tether membranes, or be targeted to curved membranes, depending on conformations and interactions with actin and curvature-sensing binding partners.


2018 ◽  
Vol 218 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wang ◽  
Ziyi Yan ◽  
Helena Vihinen ◽  
Ove Eriksson ◽  
Weihuan Wang ◽  
...  

Mitochondrial function is closely linked to its dynamic membrane ultrastructure. The mitochondrial inner membrane (MIM) can form extensive membrane invaginations known as cristae, which contain the respiratory chain and ATP synthase for oxidative phosphorylation. The molecular mechanisms regulating mitochondrial ultrastructure remain poorly understood. The Bin-Amphiphysin-Rvs (BAR) domain proteins are central regulators of diverse cellular processes related to membrane remodeling and dynamics. Whether BAR domain proteins are involved in sculpting membranes in specific submitochondrial compartments is largely unknown. In this study, we report FAM92A1 as a novel BAR domain protein localizes to the matrix side of the MIM. Loss of FAM92A1 caused a severe disruption to mitochondrial morphology and ultrastructure, impairing organelle bioenergetics. Furthermore, FAM92A1 displayed a membrane-remodeling activity in vitro, inducing a high degree of membrane curvature. Collectively, our findings uncover a role for a BAR domain protein as a critical organizer of the mitochondrial ultrastructure that is indispensable for mitochondrial function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (4) ◽  
pp. 1128-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin S. Cannon ◽  
Benjamin L. Woods ◽  
John M. Crutchley ◽  
Amy S. Gladfelter

Cell shape is well described by membrane curvature. Septins are filament-forming, GTP-binding proteins that assemble on positive, micrometer-scale curvatures. Here, we examine the molecular basis of curvature sensing by septins. We show that differences in affinity and the number of binding sites drive curvature-specific adsorption of septins. Moreover, we find septin assembly onto curved membranes is cooperative and show that geometry influences higher-order arrangement of septin filaments. Although septins must form polymers to stay associated with membranes, septin filaments do not have to span micrometers in length to sense curvature, as we find that single-septin complexes have curvature-dependent association rates. We trace this ability to an amphipathic helix (AH) located on the C-terminus of Cdc12. The AH domain is necessary and sufficient for curvature sensing both in vitro and in vivo. These data show that curvature sensing by septins operates at much smaller length scales than the micrometer curvatures being detected.


2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 357a
Author(s):  
Zhiming Chen ◽  
Zheng Shi ◽  
Katarzyna I. Jankowska ◽  
Tobias Baumgart

2014 ◽  
Vol 204 (5) ◽  
pp. 793-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Chi ◽  
Jingxuan Liu ◽  
Matthew West ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Greg Odorizzi ◽  
...  

Retromer is an endosomal sorting device that orchestrates capture and packaging of cargo into transport carriers coated with sorting nexin BAR domain proteins (SNX-BARs). We report that fission of retromer SNX-BAR–coated tubules from yeast endosomes is promoted by Vps1, a dynamin-related protein that localizes to endosomes decorated by retromer SNX-BARs and Mvp1, a SNX-BAR that is homologous to human SNX8. Mvp1 exhibits potent membrane remodeling activity in vitro, and it promotes association of Vps1 with the endosome in vivo. Retrograde transport carriers bud from the endosome coated by retromer and Mvp1, and cargo export is deficient in mvp1- and vps1-null cells, but with distinct endpoints; cargo export is delayed in mvp1-null cells, but cargo export completely fails in vps1-null cells. The results indicate that Mvp1 promotes Vps1-mediated fission of retromer- and Mvp1-coated tubules that bud from the endosome, revealing a functional link between the endosomal sorting and fission machineries to produce retrograde transport carriers.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenting Zhao ◽  
Lindsey Hanson ◽  
Hsin-Ya Lou ◽  
Matthew Akamatsu ◽  
Praveen D. Chowdary ◽  
...  

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) involves nanoscale bending and inward budding of the plasma membrane, by which cells regulate both the distribution of membrane proteins and the entry of extracellular species1,2. Extensive studies have shown that CME proteins actively modulate the plasma membrane curvature1,3,4. However, the reciprocal regulation of how plasma membrane curvature affects the activities of endocytic proteins is much less explored, despite studies suggesting that membrane curvature itself can trigger biochemical reactions5-8. This gap in our understanding is largely due to technical challenges in precisely controlling the membrane curvature in live cells. In this work, we use patterned nanostructures to generate well-defined membrane curvatures ranging from +50 nm to -500 nm radius of curvature. We find that the positively curved membranes are CME hotspots, and that key CME proteins, clathrin and dynamin, show a strong preference toward positive membrane curvatures with a radius < 200 nm. Of ten CME related proteins we examined, all show preferences to positively curved membrane. By contrast, other membrane-associated proteins and non-CME endocytic protein, caveolin1, show no such curvature preference. Therefore, nanostructured substrates constitute a novel tool for investigating curvature-dependent processes in live cells.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maohan Su ◽  
Yinyin Zhuang ◽  
Xinwen Miao ◽  
Yongpeng Zeng ◽  
Weibo Gao ◽  
...  

Membrane curvature has emerged as an intriguing physical organization principle underlying biological signaling and membrane trafficking. FBP17 of the CIP4/FBP17/Toca-1 F-BAR family is unique in the BAR family because its structurally folded F-BAR domain does not contain any hydrophobic motifs that insert into lipid bilayer. While it has been widely assumed so, whether the banana-shaped F-BAR domain alone can sense curvature has never been experimentally demonstrated. Using a nanopillar-supported lipid bilayer system, we found that the F-BAR domain of FBP17 displayed minimal curvature sensing in vitro. We further identified an alternatively spliced intrinsically disordered region (IDR) of FBP17 next to its F-BAR domain that is conserved in sequence across species. The IDR senses membrane curvature and its sensing ability greatly exceeds that of F-BAR domain alone. In living cells, presence of the IDR domain changed the dynamics of FBP17 recruitment in a curvature-coupled cortical wave system. Collectively, we propose that FBP17 does sense curvature but contrary to the common belief, its curvature sensing capability largely originates from its disordered region, not F-BAR domain itself.


2017 ◽  
Vol 216 (12) ◽  
pp. 3971-3980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean A. Smith ◽  
Allison E. Hall ◽  
Mark D. Rose

Cell fusion is ubiquitous in eukaryotic fertilization and development. The highly conserved Rho–GTPase Cdc42p promotes yeast fusion through interaction with Fus2p, a pheromone-induced amphiphysin-like protein. We show that in prezygotes, Cdc42p forms a novel Fus2p-dependent focus at the center of the zone of cell fusion (ZCF) and remains associated with remnant cell walls after initial fusion. At the ZCF and during fusion, Cdc42p and Fus2p colocalized. In contrast, in shmoos, both proteins were near the cortex but spatially separate. Cdc42p focus formation depends on ZCF membrane curvature: mutant analysis showed that Cdc42p localization is negatively affected by shmoo-like positive ZCF curvature, consistent with the flattening of the ZCF during fusion. BAR-domain proteins such as the fusion proteins Fus2p and Rvs161p are known to recognize membrane curvature. We find that mutations that disrupt binding of the Fus2p/Rvs161p heterodimer to membranes affect Cdc42p ZCF localization. We propose that Fus2p localizes Cdc42p to the flat ZCF to promote cell wall degradation.


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