scholarly journals Diverse cell junctions with unique molecular composition in tissues of a sponge (Porifera)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennyfer M. Mitchell ◽  
Scott A. Nichols

AbstractThe integrity and organization of animal tissues depends upon specialized protein complexes that mediate adhesion between cells with each other (cadherin-based adherens junctions), and with the extracellular matrix (integrin-based focal adhesions). Reconstructing how and when these cell junctions evolved is central to understanding early tissue evolution in animals. We examined focal adhesion protein homologs in tissues of the freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri (phylum Porifera). We found that sponge homologs of focal adhesion proteins co-precipitate as a complex and localize to cell junctions in sponge tissues. These data support that the adhesion roles of these proteins evolved early, prior to the divergence of sponges and other animals. However, in contrast to the spatially partitioned distribution of cell junctions in epithelia of other animals, focal adhesion proteins were found to be co-distributed with the adherens junction protein Emβ-catenin in sponge tissues; both at certain cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesions. Sponge adhesion structures were found to be unique in other ways, too. The basopinacoderm (substrate-attachment epithelium) lacks typical polarity in that cell-ECM adhesions form on both basal and apical surfaces, and compositionally unique cell junctions form at the interface between cells with spicules (siliceous skeletal elements) and between cells and environmental bacteria. These results clarify the diversity, distribution and molecular composition of cell junctions in tissues of E. muelleri, but raise new questions about their function and homology with cell junctions in other animals.

EvoDevo ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennyfer M. Mitchell ◽  
Scott A. Nichols

Abstract The integrity and organization of animal tissues depend upon specialized protein complexes that mediate adhesion between cells with each other (cadherin-based adherens junctions), and with the extracellular matrix (integrin-based focal adhesions). Reconstructing how and when these cell junctions evolved is central to understanding early tissue evolution in animals. We examined focal adhesion protein homologs in tissues of the freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri (phylum Porifera; class Demospongiae). Our principal findings are that (1) sponge focal adhesion homologs (integrin, talin, focal adhesion kinase, etc.) co-precipitate as a complex, separate from adherens junction proteins; (2) that actin-based structures resembling focal adhesions form at the cell–substrate interface, and their abundance is dynamically regulated in response to fluid shear; (3) focal adhesion proteins localize to both cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix adhesions, and; (4) the adherens junction protein β-catenin is co-distributed with focal adhesion proteins at cell–cell junctions everywhere except the choanoderm, and at novel junctions between cells with spicules, and between cells with environmental bacteria. These results clarify the diversity, distribution and molecular composition of cell junctions in tissues of E. muelleri, but raise new questions about their functional properties and ancestry.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 995-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine T. Bliss ◽  
Miensheng Chu ◽  
Colin M. Jones-Weinert ◽  
Carol C. Gregorio

Focal adhesions are intricate protein complexes that facilitate cell attachment, migration, and cellular communication. Lasp-2 (LIM-nebulette), a member of the nebulin family of actin-binding proteins, is a newly identified component of these complexes. To gain further insights into the functional role of lasp-2, we identified two additional binding partners of lasp-2: the integral focal adhesion proteins vinculin and paxillin. Of interest, the interaction of lasp-2 with its binding partners vinculin and paxillin is significantly reduced in the presence of lasp-1, another nebulin family member. The presence of lasp-2 appears to enhance the interaction of vinculin and paxillin with each other; however, as with the interaction of lasp-2 with vinculin or paxillin, this effect is greatly diminished in the presence of excess lasp-1. This suggests that the interplay between lasp-2 and lasp-1 could be an adhesion regulatory mechanism. Lasp-2’s potential role in metastasis is revealed, as overexpression of lasp-2 in either SW620 or PC-3B1 cells—metastatic cancer cell lines—increases cell migration but impedes cell invasion, suggesting that the enhanced interaction of vinculin and paxillin may functionally destabilize focal adhesion composition. Taken together, these data suggest that lasp-2 has an important role in coordinating and regulating the composition and dynamics of focal adhesions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 3884-3897 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Nakamoto ◽  
R Sakai ◽  
H Honda ◽  
S Ogawa ◽  
H Ueno ◽  
...  

p130cas (Cas) is an adapter protein that has an SH3 domain followed by multiple SH2 binding motifs in the substrate domain. It also contains a tyrosine residue and a proline-rich sequence near the C terminus, which are the binding sites for the SH2 and SH3 domains of Src kinase, respectively. Cas was originally identified as a major tyrosine-phosphorylated protein in v-Crk- and v-Src-transformed cells. Subsequently, Cas was shown to be inducibly tyrosine phosphorylated upon integrin stimulation; it is therefore regarded as one of the focal adhesion proteins. Using an immunofluorescence study, we examined the subcellular localization of Cas and determined the regions required for its localization to focal adhesions. In nontransformed cells, Cas was localized predominantly to the cytoplasm and partially to focal adhesions. However, in 527F-c-Src-transformed cells, Cas was localized mainly to podosomes, where the focal adhesion proteins are assembled. The localization of Cas to focal adhesions was also observed in cells expressing the kinase-negative 527F/295M-c-Src. A series of analyses with deletion mutants expressed in various cells revealed that the SH3 domain of Cas is necessary for its localization to focal adhesions in nontransformed cells while both the SH3 domain and the C-terminal Src binding domain of Cas are required in 527F-c-Src-transformed cells and fibronectin-stimulated cells. In addition, the localization of Cas to focal adhesions was abolished in Src-negative cells. These results demonstrate that the SH3 domain of Cas and the association of Cas with Src kinase play a pivotal role in the localization of Cas to focal adhesions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 4519-4527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-hui Guo ◽  
Yu-li Wang

Recent studies suggest that mechanical signals mediated by the extracellular matrix play an essential role in various physiological and pathological processes; yet, how cells respond to mechanical stimuli remains elusive. Using live cell fluorescence imaging, we found that actin filaments, in association with a number of focal adhesion proteins, including zyxin and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, undergo retrograde fluxes at focal adhesions in the lamella region. This flux is inversely related to cell migration, such that it is amplified in fibroblasts immobilized on micropatterned islands. In addition, the flux is regulated by mechanical signals, including stretching forces applied to flexible substrates and substrate stiffness. Conditions favoring the flux share the common feature of causing large retrograde displacements of the interior actin cytoskeleton relative to the substrate anchorage site, which may function as a switch translating mechanical input into chemical signals, such as tyrosine phosphorylation. In turn, the stimulation of actin flux at focal adhesions may function as part of a feedback mechanism, regulating structural assembly and force production in relation to cell migration and mechanical load. The retrograde transport of associated focal adhesion proteins may play additional roles in delivering signals from focal adhesions to the interior of the cell.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (26) ◽  
pp. 3104-3111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie S. Chang ◽  
Andrew D. Rape ◽  
Stephanie A. Wong ◽  
Wei-hui Guo ◽  
Yu-li Wang

Cell migration has a profound effect on the generation of traction forces and the phosphorylation of focal adhesion proteins. The mechanism may involve the dynamic turnover of focal adhesions during cell migration and mechanical interactions between nascent and preexisting focal adhesions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyu Luo ◽  
Qifei Li ◽  
Jasmine Lin ◽  
Quinn Murphy ◽  
Isabelle Marty ◽  
...  

Abstract SPEG, a member of the myosin light chain kinase family, is localized at the level of triad surrounding myofibrils in skeletal muscles. In humans, SPEG mutations are associated with centronuclear myopathy and cardiomyopathy. Using a striated muscle specific Speg-knockout (KO) mouse model, we have previously shown that SPEG is critical for triad maintenance and calcium handling. Here we further examined the molecular function of SPEG and characterized the effects of SPEG deficiency on triad and focal adhesion proteins. We used yeast two-hybrid assay, and identified desmin, an intermediate filament protein, to interact with SPEG and confirmed this interaction by co-immunoprecipitation. Using domain-mapping assay, we defined that Ig-like and fibronectin III domains of SPEG interact with rod domain of desmin. In skeletal muscles, SPEG depletion leads to desmin aggregates in vivo and a shift in desmin equilibrium from soluble to insoluble fraction. We also profiled the expression and localization of triadic proteins in Speg-KO mice using western blot and immunofluorescence. The amounts of RyR1 and triadin were markedly reduced, whereas DHPRα1, SERCA1, and triadin were abnormally accumulated in discrete areas of Speg-KO myofibers. In addition, Speg-KO muscles exhibited internalized vinculin and β1 integrin, both of which are critical components of the focal adhesion complex. Further, β1 integrin was abnormally accumulated in early endosomes of Speg-KO myofibers. These results demonstrate that SPEG-deficient skeletal muscles exhibit several pathological features similar to those seen in MTM1 deficiency. Defects of shared cellular pathways may underlie these structural and functional abnormalities in both types of diseases.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 929-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seunghyi Kook ◽  
Sang Ryeol Shim ◽  
Soo Jeon Choi ◽  
Joohong Ahnn ◽  
Jae Il Kim ◽  
...  

Apoptosis causes characteristic morphological changes in cells, including membrane blebbing, cell detachment from the extracellular matrix, and loss of cell–cell contacts. We investigated the changes in focal adhesion proteins during etoposide-induced apoptosis in Rat-1 cells and found that during apoptosis, p130cas (Crk-associated substrate [Cas]) is cleaved by caspase-3. Sequence analysis showed that Cas contains 10 DXXD consensus sites preferred by caspase-3. We identified two of these sites (DVPD416G and DSPD748G) in vitro, and point mutations substituting the Asp of DVPD416G and DSPD748G with Glu blocked caspase-3-mediated cleavage. Cleavage at DVPD416G generated a 74-kDa fragment, which was in turn cleaved at DSPD748G, yielding 47- and 31-kDa fragments. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed well-developed focal adhesion sites in control cells that dramatically declined in number in etoposide-treated cells. Cas cleavage correlated temporally with the onset of apoptosis and coincided with the loss of p125FAK (focal adhesion kinase [FAK]) from focal adhesion sites and the attenuation of Cas–paxillin interactions. Considering that Cas associates with FAK, paxillin, and other molecules involved in the integrin signaling pathway, these results suggest that caspase-mediated cleavage of Cas contributes to the disassembly of focal adhesion complexes and interrupts survival signals from the extracellular matrix.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 504-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Meves ◽  
Christopher Stremmel ◽  
Kay Gottschalk ◽  
Reinhard Fässler

1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (2) ◽  
pp. C635-C649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Yano ◽  
J. Geibel ◽  
B. E. Sumpio

The objective of this study was to determine whether focal adhesion proteins pp125FAK (focal adhesion kinase) and paxillin are phosphorylated on tyrosine and might play a role in the morphological change and cell migration induced by strain. Bovine aortic endothelial cells (EC) were subjected to 10% average strain at 60 cycles/min. Cyclic strain increased the tyrosine phosphorylation of pp125FAK at 30 min (3.4-fold) and 4 h (5.9-fold) and the tyrosine phosphorylation of paxillin at 4 h (2.0-fold). Confocal microscopy showed that, after 4-h exposure to strain, EC began to elongate and F-actin, pp125FAK, and paxillin aligned, although they randomly distributed in static condition. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrphostin A25 (100 microM) inhibited not only the tyrosine phosphorylation of pp125FAK and paxillin but also the redistribution of pp125FAK and paxillin, morphological change, and migration of EC induced by strain. These data demonstrate that cyclic strain induced tyrosine phosphorylation and reorganization of pp125FAK and paxillin and suggest that these focal adhesion proteins play a specific role in cyclic strain-induced morphological change and migration.


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