Actin structure function relationships revealed by yeast molecular genetics.
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Actins↗
Biomedical subjects
L D Belmont
Publications and source records attributed to L D Belmont.
In vivo importance of actin nucleotide exchange catalyzed by profilin.
The actin monomer-binding protein, profilin, influences the dynamics of actin filaments in vitro by suppressing nucleation, enhancing nucleotide exchange on actin, and promoting barbed-end assembly. Profilin may also link signaling pathways to actin cytoskeleton organization by binding to the phosphoinositide PIP(2) and to polyproline stretches on several proteins. Although activities of profilin have been studied extensively in vitro, the significance of each of these activities in vivo needs to be tested. To study profilin function, we extensively mutagenized the Saccharomyces cerevisiae profilin gene (PFY1) and examined the consequences of specific point mutations on growth and actin organization. The actin-binding region of profilin was shown to be critical in vivo. act1-157, an actin mutant with an increased intrinsic rate of nucleotide exchange, suppressed defects in actin organization, cell growth, and fluid-phase endocytosis of pfy1-4, a profilin mutant defective in actin binding. In reactions containing actin, profilin, and cofilin, profilin was required for fast rates of actin filament turnover. However, Act1-157p circumvented the requirement for profilin. Based on the results of these studies, we conclude that in living cells profilin promotes rapid actin dynamics by regenerating ATP actin from ADP actin-cofilin generated during filament disassembly.
Actins↗
A change in actin conformation associated with filament instability after Pi release.
The ability of actin to both polymerize into filaments and to depolymerize permits the rapid rearrangements of actin structures that are essential for actin's function in most cellular processes. Filament polarity and dynamic properties are conferred by the hydrolysis of ATP on actin filaments. Release of inorganic phosphate (Pi) from filaments after ATP hydrolysis promotes depolymerization. We identify a yeast actin mutation, Val-159 to Asn, which uncouples Pi release from the conformational change that results in filament destabilization. Three-dimensional reconstructions of electron micrographs reveal a conformational difference between ADP-Pi filaments and ADP filaments and show that ADP V159N filaments resemble ADP-Pi wild-type filaments. Crystal structures of mammalian beta-actin in which the nucleotide binding cleft is in the "open" and "closed" states can be used to model actin filaments in the ADP and ADP-Pi conformations, respectively. We propose that these two conformations of G-actin may be related to two functional states of F-actin.
Actins↗
New actin mutants allow further characterization of the nucleotide binding cleft and drug binding sites.
We have generated 9 site-specific mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae actin. These mutants display a variety of phenotypes when expressed in vivo, including slow actin filament turnover, slow fluid-phase endocytosis, and defects in actin organization. Actin mutation D157E confers resistance to the actin-sequestering drug, latrunculin A. Latrunculin A inhibits nucleotide exchange on wild-type yeast actin but not on D157E actin, suggesting that this residue is part of the latrunculin A binding site. We have refined our earlier map of the phalloidin binding site on actin, demonstrating a requirement for residue G158 in addition to D179 and R177. The nine new actin mutants as well as a large collection of existing actin mutants were also used to identify the putative binding site of another actin binding drug, tolytoxin, on actin. The actin alleles that result in decreased sensitivity to this drug cluster at a site near the nucleotide-binding pocket. Actin purified from one of these mutants has a reduced affinity for tolytoxin. In addition, tolytoxin causes a 2.4-fold increase in the t1/2 of ATP exchange, further suggesting that this drug binds near the nucleotide-binding pocket of actin. We note that the binding sites for latrunculin A, phalloidin, and tolytoxin all map close to the actin nucleotide binding pocket.
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The yeast V159N actin mutant reveals roles for actin dynamics in vivo.
Actin with a Val 159 to Asn mutation (V159N) forms actin filaments that depolymerize slowly because of a failure to undergo a conformational change after inorganic phosphate release. Here we demonstrate that expression of this actin results in reduced actin dynamics in vivo, and we make use of this property to study the roles of rapid actin filament turnover. Yeast strains expressing the V159N mutant (act1-159) as their only source of actin have larger cortical actin patches and more actin cables than wild-type yeast. Rapid actin dynamics are not essential for cortical actin patch motility or establishment of cell polarity. However, fluid phase endocytosis is defective in act1-159 strains. act1-159 is synthetically lethal with cofilin and profilin mutants, supporting the conclusion that mutations in all of these genes impair the polymerization/ depolymerization cycle. In contrast, act1-159 partially suppresses the temperature sensitivity of a tropomyosin mutant, and the loss of cytoplasmic cables seen in fimbrin, Mdm20p, and tropomyosin null mutants, suggesting filament stabilizing functions for these actin-binding proteins. Analysis of the cables in these double-mutant cells supports a role for fimbrin in organizing cytoplasmic cables and for Mdm20p and tropomyosin in excluding cofilin from the cables.
Actins↗
Identification of a protein that interacts with tubulin dimers and increases the catastrophe rate of microtubules.
Using a polymerization inhibition assay, we have purified a small, heat stable protein that physically interacts with tubulin dimers and increases the catastrophe rate of microtubules. Sequence analysis identified this protein as oncoprotein 18 (Op18)/stathmin, a conserved phosphoprotein that is highly expressed in leukemia cells. Immunodepletion experiments in Xenopus egg extracts showed that Op18/stathmin is involved in physiological regulation of mitotic microtubule dynamics. Op18/stathmin is a microtubule regulator that preferentially interacts with unpolymerized subunits. It is a candidate for increasing the microtubule catastrophe rate in mitosis and might also regulate microtubule dynamics in response to external signals.
Animals↗
Real-time visualization of cell cycle-dependent changes in microtubule dynamics in cytoplasmic extracts.
Using Xenopus egg extracts arrested in interphase or mitosis, we directly observed differences in microtubule dynamics at different stages of the cell cycle. Interphase extracts were prepared from eggs in the first interphase after meiosis. Mitotic extracts were prepared by addition of purified cyclin to interphase extracts. Microtubules were nucleated by the addition of centrosomes and visualized by fluorescence video-microscopy in extracts to which rhodamine-labeled tubulin had been added. We found a striking difference in microtubule dynamics in mitotic versus interphase extracts. Quantitative analysis revealed that the rates of polymerization and depolymerization are similar in interphase and mitosis and that within the spatial and temporal resolution of our experiments the difference in dynamics is due almost entirely to an increase in the frequency of transition from growing to shrinking (catastrophe frequency) in the mitotic extracts.
Animals↗