scholarly journals Dominant negative effect of connexin33 on gap junctional communication is mediated by connexin43 sequestration

2004 ◽  
Vol 117 (20) ◽  
pp. 4665-4672 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Fiorini
2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (6) ◽  
pp. C1917-C1925 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Saunders ◽  
J. You ◽  
J. E. Trosko ◽  
H. Yamasaki ◽  
Z. Li ◽  
...  

In the current study, we examined the role of gap junctions in oscillatory fluid flow-induced changes in intracellular Ca2+concentration and prostaglandin release in osteoblastic cells. This work was completed in MC3T3-E1 cells with intact gap junctional communication as well as in MC3T3-E1 cells rendered communication deficient through expression of a dominant-negative connexin. Our results demonstrate that MC3T3-E1 cells with intact gap junctions respond to oscillatory fluid flow with significant increases in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release, whereas cells with diminished gap junctional communication do not. Furthermore, we found that cytosolic Ca2+ (Ca[Formula: see text]) response was unaltered by the disruption in gap junctional communication and was not significantly different among the cell lines. Thus our results suggest that gap junctions contribute to the PGE2 but not to the Ca[Formula: see text] response to oscillatory fluid flow. These findings implicate gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in bone cell ensemble responsiveness to oscillatory fluid flow and suggest that gap junctions and GJIC play a pivotal role in mechanotransduction mechanisms in bone.


2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda R. Kwak ◽  
Michael S. Pepper ◽  
Daniel B. Gros ◽  
Paolo Meda

Wounding of endothelial cells is associated with altered direct intercellular communication. To determine whether gap junctional communication participates to the wound repair process, we have compared connexin (Cx) expression, cell-to-cell coupling and kinetics of wound repair in monolayer cultures of PymT-transformed mouse endothelial cells (clone bEnd.3) and in bEnd.3 cells expressing different dominant negative Cx inhibitors. In parental bEnd.3 cells, mechanical wounding increased expression of Cx43 and decreased expression of Cx37 at the site of injury, whereas Cx40 expression was unaffected. These wound-induced changes in Cx expression were associated with functional changes in cell-to-cell coupling, as assessed with different fluorescent tracers. Stable transfection with cDNAs encoding for the chimeric connexin 3243H7 or the fusion protein Cx43-βGal resulted in perturbed gap junctional communication between bEnd.3 cells under both basal and wounded conditions. The time required for complete repair of a defined wound within a confluent monolayer was increased by ∼50% in cells expressing the dominant negative Cx inhibitors, whereas other cell properties, such as proliferation rate, migration of single cells, cyst formation and extracellular proteolytic activity, were unaltered. These findings demonstrate that proper Cx expression is required for coordinated migration during repair of an endothelial wound.


1995 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Sullivan ◽  
C W Lo

Gap junctions contain membrane channels that mediate the cell-to-cell movement of ions, metabolites and cell signaling molecules. As gap junctions are comprised of a hexameric array of connexin polypeptides, the expression of a mutant connexin polypeptide may exert a dominant negative effect on gap junctional communication. To examine this possibility, we constructed a connexin 43 (Cx43)/beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) expression vector in which the bacterial beta-gal protein is fused in frame to the carboxy terminus of Cx43. This vector was transfected into NIH3T3 cells, a cell line which is well coupled via gap junctions and expresses high levels of Cx43. Transfectant clones were shown to express the fusion protein by northern and western analysis. X-Gal staining further revealed that all of the fusion protein containing cells also expressed beta-gal enzymatic activity. Double immunostaining with a beta-gal and Cx43 antibody demonstrated that the fusion protein is immunolocalized to the perinuclear region of the cytoplasm and also as punctate spots at regions of cell-cell contact. This pattern is similar to that of Cx43 in the parental 3T3 cells, except that in the fusion protein expressing cells, Cx43 expression was reduced at regions of cell-cell contact. Examination of gap junctional communication (GJC) with dye injection studies further showed that dye coupling was inhibited in the fusion protein expressing cells, with the largest reduction in coupling found in a clone exhibiting little Cx43 localization at regions of cell-cell contact. When the fusion protein expression vector was transfected into the communication poor C6 cell line, abundant fusion protein expression was observed, but unlike the transfected NIH3T3 cells, no fusion protein was detected at the cell surface. Nevertheless, dye coupling was inhibited in these C6 cells. Based on these observations, we propose that the fusion protein may inhibit GJC by sequestering the Cx43 protein intracellularly. Overall, these results demonstrate that the Cx43/beta-gal fusion protein can exert a dominant negative effect on GJC in two different cell types, and suggests that it may serve as a useful approach for probing the biological function of gap junctions.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 1455-1462
Author(s):  
José L Barra ◽  
Mario R Mautino ◽  
Alberto L Rosa

eth-1r a thermosensitive allele of the Neurospora crassa S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) synthetase gene that confers ethionine resistance, has been cloned and sequenced. Replacement of an aspartic amino acid residue (D48 → N48), perfectly conserved in prokaryotic, fungal and higher eukaryotic AdoMet synthetases, was found responsible for both thermosensitivity and ethionine resistance conferred by eth-1r. Gene fusion constructs, designed to overexpress eth-1r in vivo, render transformant cells resistant to ethionine. Dominance of ethionine resistance was further demonstrated in eth-1  +/eth-1r partial diploids carrying identical gene doses of both alleles. Heterozygous eth-1  +/eth-1r cells have, at the same time, both the thermotolerance conferred by eth-1  + and the ethionine-resistant phenotype conferred by eth-1r. AdoMet levels and AdoMet synthetase activities were dramatically decreased in heterozygous eth-1  +/eth-1r cells. We propose that this negative effect exerted by eth-1r results from the in vivo formation of heteromeric eth-1  +/eth-1r AdoMet synthetase molecules.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
pp. 633-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Cuperus ◽  
David Shore

Abstract We previously described two classes of SIR2 mutations specifically defective in either telomeric/HM silencing (class I) or rDNA silencing (class II) in S. cerevisiae. Here we report the identification of genes whose protein products, when either overexpressed or directly tethered to the locus in question, can establish silencing in SIR2 class I mutants. Elevated dosage of SCS2, previously implicated as a regulator of both inositol biosynthesis and telomeric silencing, suppressed the dominant-negative effect of a SIR2-143 mutation. In a genetic screen for proteins that restore silencing when tethered to a telomere, we isolated ESC2 and an uncharacterized gene, (YOL017w), which we call ESC8. Both Esc2p and Esc8p interact with Sir2p in two-hybrid assays, and the Esc8p-Sir2 interaction is detected in vitro. Interestingly, Esc8p has a single close homolog in yeast, the ISW1-complex factor Ioc3p, and has also been copurified with Isw1p, raising the possibility that Esc8p is a component of an Isw1p-containing nucleosome remodeling complex. Whereas esc2 and esc8 deletion mutants alone have only marginal silencing defects, cells lacking Isw1p show a strong silencing defect at HMR but not at telomeres. Finally, we show that Esc8p interacts with the Gal11 protein, a component of the RNA pol II mediator complex.


Blood ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (12) ◽  
pp. 4154-4166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Ilaria ◽  
Robert G. Hawley ◽  
Richard A. Van Etten

Abstract STAT5 is a member of the signal transducers and activation of transcription (STAT) family of latent transcription factors activated in a variety of cytokine signaling pathways. We introduced alanine substitution mutations in highly conserved regions of murine STAT5A and studied the mutants for dimerization, DNA binding, transactivation, and dominant negative effects on erythropoietin-induced STAT5-dependent transcriptional activation. The mutations included two near the amino-terminus (W255KR→AAA and R290QQ→AAA), two in the DNA-binding domain (E437E→AA and V466VV→AAA), and a carboxy-terminal truncation of STAT5A (STAT5A/▵53C) analogous to a naturally occurring isoform of rat STAT5B. All of the STAT mutant proteins were tyrosine phosphorylated by JAK2 and heterodimerized with STAT5B except for the WKR mutant, suggesting an important role for this region in STAT5 for stabilizing dimerization. The WKR, EE, and VVV mutants had no detectable DNA-binding activity, and the WKR and VVV mutants, but not EE, were defective in transcriptional induction. The VVV mutant had a moderate dominant negative effect on erythropoietin-induced STAT5 transcriptional activation, which was likely due to the formation of heterodimers that are defective in DNA binding. Interestingly, the WKR mutant had a potent dominant negative effect, comparable to the transactivation domain deletion mutant, ▵53C. Stable expression of either the WKR or ▵53C STAT5 mutants in the murine myeloid cytokine-dependent cell line 32D inhibited both interleukin-3–dependent proliferation and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)–dependent differentiation, without induction of apoptosis. Expression of these mutants in primary murine bone marrow inhibited G-CSF–dependent granulocyte colony formation in vitro. These results demonstrate that mutations in distinct regions of STAT5 exert dominant negative effects on cytokine signaling, likely through different mechanisms, and suggest a role for STAT5 in proliferation and differentiation of myeloid cells.


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