scholarly journals Linking the Landscape of MYH9-Related Diseases to the Molecular Mechanisms that Control Non-Muscle Myosin II-A Function in Cells

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Asensio-Juárez ◽  
Clara Llorente-González ◽  
Miguel Vicente-Manzanares

The MYH9 gene encodes the heavy chain (MHCII) of non-muscle myosin II A (NMII-A). This is an actin-binding molecular motor essential for development that participates in many crucial cellular processes such as adhesion, cell migration, cytokinesis and polarization, maintenance of cell shape and signal transduction. Several types of mutations in the MYH9 gene cause an array of autosomal dominant disorders, globally known as MYH9-related diseases (MYH9-RD). These include May-Hegglin anomaly (MHA), Epstein syndrome (EPS), Fechtner syndrome (FTS) and Sebastian platelet syndrome (SPS). Although caused by different MYH9 mutations, all patients present macrothrombocytopenia, but may later display other pathologies, including loss of hearing, renal failure and presenile cataracts. The correlation between the molecular and cellular effects of the different mutations and clinical presentation are beginning to be established. In this review, we correlate the defects that MYH9 mutations cause at a molecular and cellular level (for example, deficient filament formation, altered ATPase activity or actin-binding) with the clinical presentation of the syndromes in human patients. We address why these syndromes are tissue restricted, and the existence of possible compensatory mechanisms, including residual activity of mutant NMII-A and/or the formation of heteropolymers or co-polymers with other NMII isoforms.

Physiology ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 213-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caspar Rüegg ◽  
Claudia Veigel ◽  
Justin E. Molloy ◽  
Stephan Schmitz ◽  
John C. Sparrow ◽  
...  

Muscle myosin II is an ATP-driven, actin-based molecular motor. Recent developments in optical tweezers technology have made it possible to study movement and force production on the single-molecule level and to find out how different myosin isoforms may have adapted to their specific physiological roles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Culver ◽  
Bryan Glaz ◽  
Samuel Stanton

Abstract Animal skeletal muscle exhibits very interesting behavior at near-stall forces (when the muscle is loaded so strongly that it can barely contract). Near this physical limit, the myosin II proteins may be unable to reach advantageous actin binding sites through simple attractive forces. It has been shown that the advantageous utilization of thermal agitation is a likely source for an increased force-production capacity and reach in myosin-V (a processing motor protein), and here we explore the dynamics of a molecular motor without hand-over-hand motion including Brownian motion to show how local elastic energy well boundaries may be overcome. We revisit a spatially two-dimensional mechanical model to illustrate how thermal agitation can be harvested for useful mechanical work in molecular machinery inspired by this biomechanical phenomenon without rate functions or empirically inspired spatial potential functions. Additionally, the model accommodates variable lattice spacing, and it paves the way for a full three-dimensional model of cross-bridge interactions where myosin II may be azimuthally misaligned with actin binding sites. With potential energy sources based entirely on realizable components, this model lends itself to the design of artificial, molecular-scale motors.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.B Cortes ◽  
M. Gordon ◽  
F. Nédélec ◽  
A.S. Maddox

ABSTRACTMolecular motors drive cytoskeletal rearrangements to change cell shape. Myosins are the motors that move, crosslink, and modify the actin cytoskeleton. The primary force generator in contractile actomyosin networks is non-muscle myosin II (NMMII), a molecular motor that assembles into ensembles that bind, slide, and crosslink actin filaments (F-actin). The multivalence of NMMII ensembles and their multiple roles have confounded the resolution of crucial questions including how the number of NMMII subunits affects dynamics, and what affects the relative contribution of ensembles’ crosslinking versus motoring activities. Since biophysical measurements of ensembles are sparse, modeling of actomyosin networks has aided in discovering the complex behaviors of NMMII ensembles. Myosin ensembles have been modeled via several strategies with variable discretization/coarse-graining and unbinding dynamics, and while general assumptions that simplify motor ensembles result in global contractile behaviors, it remains unclear which strategies most accurately depict cellular activity. Here, we used an agent-based platform, Cytosim, to implement several models of NMMII ensembles. Comparing the effects of bond type, we found that ensembles of catch-slip and catch motors were the best force generators and binders of filaments. Slip motor ensembles were capable of generating force but unbound frequently, resulting in slower contractile rates of contractile networks. Coarse-graining of these ensemble types from two sets of 16 motors on opposite ends of a stiff rod to two binders, each representing 16 motors, reduced force generation, contractility, and the total connectivity of filament networks for all ensemble types. A parallel cluster model (PCM) previously used to describe ensemble dynamics via statistical mechanics, allowed better contractility with coarse-graining, though connectivity was still markedly reduced for this ensemble type with coarse-graining. Together our results reveal substantial trade-offs associated with the process of coarse-graining NMMII ensembles and highlight the robustness of discretized catch-slip ensembles in modeling actomyosin networks.STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEAgent-based simulations of contractile networks allow us to explore the mechanics of actomyosin contractility, which drives many cell shape changes including cytokinesis, the final step of cell division. Such simulations should be able to predict the mechanics and dynamics of non-muscle contractility, however recent work has highlighted a lack of consensus on how to best model the non-muscle myosin II. These ensembles of approximately 32 motors are the key components responsible for driving contractility. Here, we explored different methods for modeling non-muscle myosin II ensembles within the context of contractile actomyosin networks. We show that the level of coarse-graining and the choice of unbinding model used to model motor unbinding under load indeed has profound effects on contractile network dynamics.


eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia G Vasquez ◽  
Sarah M Heissler ◽  
Neil Billington ◽  
James R Sellers ◽  
Adam C Martin

Non-muscle cell contractility is critical for tissues to adopt shape changes. Although, the non-muscle myosin II holoenzyme (myosin) is a molecular motor that powers contraction of actin cytoskeleton networks, recent studies have questioned the importance of myosin motor activity cell and tissue shape changes. Here, combining the biochemical analysis of enzymatic and motile properties for purified myosin mutants with in vivo measurements of apical constriction for the same mutants, we show that in vivo constriction rate scales with myosin motor activity. We show that so-called phosphomimetic mutants of the Drosophila regulatory light chain (RLC) do not mimic the phosphorylated RLC state in vitro. The defect in the myosin motor activity in these mutants is evident in developing Drosophila embryos where tissue recoil following laser ablation is decreased compared to wild-type tissue. Overall, our data highlights that myosin activity is required for rapid cell contraction and tissue folding in developing Drosophila embryos.


1991 ◽  
Vol 114 (5) ◽  
pp. 1005-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
L W Janson ◽  
J Kolega ◽  
D L Taylor

The actin-based cytoskeleton is a dynamic component of living cells with major structural and contractile properties involved in fundamental cellular processes. The action of actin-binding proteins can decrease or increase the gel structure. Changes in the actin-based cytoskeleton have long been thought to modulate the myosin II-based contractions involved in these cellular processes, but there has been some debate concerning whether maximal gelation increases or decreases contractile activity. To address this question, we have examined how contractile activity is modulated by the extent of actin gelation. The model system consists of physiologically relevant concentrations and molar ratios of actin filaments (whose lengths are controlled by gelsolin), the actin-cross-linking protein filamin, and smooth muscle myosin II. This system has been studied at the macroscopic and light microscopic levels to relate the gel structure to the rate of contraction. We present results which show that while a minimal amount of structure is necessary to transmit the contractile force, increasing the gel structure inhibits the rate of contraction, despite an increase in the actin-activated Mg(2+)-ATPase activity of myosin. Decreasing the total myosin concentration also inhibits the rate of contraction. Application of cytochalasin D to one side of the contractile network increases the rate of contraction and also induces movement comparable to flare streaming observed in isolated amoeba cytoplasm. These results are interpreted relative to current models of the relationship between the state of gelation and contraction and to the potential effects of such a relationship in the living cell.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Pertici ◽  
Giulio Bianchi ◽  
Lorenzo Bongini ◽  
Vincenzo Lombardi ◽  
Pasquale Bianco

AbstractThe emergent properties of the array arrangement of the molecular motor myosin II in the sarcomere of the striated muscle, generation of steady force and shortening, can be studied in vitro with a synthetic nanomachine, made by an ensemble of eight HMM myosin fragments from rabbit psoas muscle carried on a piezoelectric nanopositioner and brought to interact with a properly oriented actin filament attached via gelsolin (a Ca2+-regulated actin binding protein) to a bead trapped by a Dual Laser Optical Tweezers. The application of the original version of the nanomachine to investigation of the Ca2+-dependent regulation mechanisms of the other sarcomeric (regulatory or cytoskeleton) proteins, adding them on at a time, was anyway prevented by the impossibility to preserve Ca2+ as a free parameter. Here the nanomachine is implemented by assembling the bead-attached actin filament with the Ca2+-insensitive gelsolin fragment TL40. The performance of the nanomachine is determined either in the absence or in the presence of 0.1 mM Ca2+ (the concentration required for BTA preparation with gelsolin). The nanomachine exhibits a maximum power output of 5.4 aW, independently of [Ca2+], opening the possibility for future studies of the Ca2+-dependent function/dysfunction of regulatory and cytoskeletal proteins.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuuki Hayakawa ◽  
Masak Takaine ◽  
Taiga Imai ◽  
Masafumi D. Yamada ◽  
Keiko Hirose ◽  
...  

AbstractThe contraction of contractile rings (CRs) depends on interaction between actin filaments and myosin II filaments. The rate of contraction in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is less than 1/120 of the velocity of acto-myosin II movement in vitro, but the mechanism of inhibition has not been described. Here, we found that the calponin-homology actin binding domain of fission yeast IQGAP Rng2 (Rng2CHD) strongly inhibits the motility of actin filaments on skeletal muscle myosin II fragments in vitro, even at a low ratio of bound Rng2CHD to actin protomers, reducing the sliding velocity to half when the binding ratio was 1/75. Rng2CHD also induced structural changes of actin filaments and reduced the affinity between actin filaments and subfragment 1 (S1) of muscle myosin II carrying ADP. Intriguingly, actin-activated ATPase of S1 was only mildly inhibited, even by high concentrations of Rng2CHD. Moreover, the motility of actin filaments by myosin V was not inhibited by Rng2CHD. We propose a new regulatory mechanism for acto-myosin II movement that involves Rng2CHD-induced structural changes of actin filaments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 7372
Author(s):  
Irene Pertici ◽  
Giulio Bianchi ◽  
Lorenzo Bongini ◽  
Vincenzo Lombardi ◽  
Pasquale Bianco

The emergent properties of the array arrangement of the molecular motor myosin II in the sarcomere of the striated muscle, the generation of steady force and shortening, can be studied in vitro with a synthetic nanomachine made of an ensemble of eight heavy-meromyosin (HMM) fragments of myosin from rabbit psoas muscle, carried on a piezoelectric nanopositioner and brought to interact with a properly oriented actin filament attached via gelsolin (a Ca2+-regulated actin binding protein) to a bead trapped by dual laser optical tweezers. However, the application of the original version of the nanomachine to investigate the Ca2+-dependent regulation mechanisms of the other sarcomeric (regulatory or cytoskeleton) proteins, adding them one at a time, was prevented by the impossibility to preserve [Ca2+] as a free parameter. Here, the nanomachine is implemented by assembling the bead-attached actin filament with the Ca2+-insensitive gelsolin fragment TL40. The performance of the nanomachine is determined both in the absence and in the presence of Ca2+ (0.1 mM, the concentration required for actin attachment to the bead with gelsolin). The nanomachine exhibits a maximum power output of 5.4 aW, independently of [Ca2+], opening the possibility for future studies of the Ca2+-dependent function/dysfunction of regulatory and cytoskeletal proteins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Vavlukis ◽  
Daniela Pop-Gjorceva ◽  
Lidija Poposka ◽  
Emilija Sandevska ◽  
Sasko Kedev

Background: Accelerated atherosclerosis is widely present in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Objective: The aim of this review is to analyze the relationship between systemic lupus erythematosus and cardiovascular diseases, with the emphasis on acute myocardial infarction. Results: Various molecular mechanisms triggered by infection/inflammation are responsible for endothelial dysfunction and development of atherosclerosis at an earlier age. Contributing factor is the cumulative effect of traditional cardiovascular risk factors interaction with disease related characteristics. Myocardial infarction rates are 2- to 10-fold higher compared to the general population. Young women have the highest relative risk, however, men carry at least 3- fold higher risk than women. Coronary involvement varies from normal coronary artery with thrombosis, coronary microartery vasculitis, coronary arteritis, and coronary atherosclerosis. Typical clinical presentation is observed in men and older women, while atypical is more frequent in young women. Treatment is guided by the underlying mechanism, engaging invasive procedures alone, or accompanied with immunosuppressive and/or antiinflammatory therapy. There are significant gender differences in pathophysiology and clinical presentation. However, they receive the same therapeutic treatments. Conclusion: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a major contributor to atherosclerotic and non-atherosclerotic mechanisms involved in the development of myocardial infarction, which should be taken into account during therapeutic treatment. Although Systemic lupus erythematosus per se is a “female” disease, males are at increased cardiovascular risk and worse outcome. Method: We conducted a literature review through PubMed and Cochrane, using key words: SLE, atherosclerosis, atherothrombosis, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, prognosis, sex specifics.


Tumor Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
T. Jeethy Ram ◽  
Asha Lekshmi ◽  
Thara Somanathan ◽  
K. Sujathan

Cancer metastasis and therapy resistance are the foremost hurdles in oncology at the moment. This review aims to pinpoint the functional aspects of a unique multifaceted glycosylated molecule in both intracellular and extracellular compartments of a cell namely galectin-3 along with its metastatic potential in different types of cancer. All materials reviewed here were collected through the search engines PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar. Among the 15 galectins identified, the chimeric gal-3 plays an indispensable role in the differentiation, transformation, and multi-step process of tumor metastasis. It has been implicated in the molecular mechanisms that allow the cancer cells to survive in the intravascular milieu and promote tumor cell extravasation, ultimately leading to metastasis. Gal-3 has also been found to have a pivotal role in immune surveillance and pro-angiogenesis and several studies have pointed out the importance of gal-3 in establishing a resistant phenotype, particularly through the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process. Additionally, some recent findings suggest the use of gal-3 inhibitors in overcoming therapeutic resistance. All these reports suggest that the deregulation of these specific lectins at the cellular level could inhibit cancer progression and metastasis. A more systematic study of glycosylation in clinical samples along with the development of selective gal-3 antagonists inhibiting the activity of these molecules at the cellular level offers an innovative strategy for primary cancer prevention.


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