Chromatophores as tools for the study of organelle transport.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
L T Haimo
Publications and source records attributed to L T Haimo.
Dynein, dynactin, and kinesin II's interaction with microtubules is regulated during bidirectional organelle transport.
The microtubule motors, cytoplasmic dynein and kinesin II, drive pigmented organelles in opposite directions in Xenopus melanophores, but the mechanism by which these or other motors are regulated to control the direction of organelle transport has not been previously elucidated. We find that cytoplasmic dynein, dynactin, and kinesin II remain on pigment granules during aggregation and dispersion in melanophores, indicating that control of direction is not mediated by a cyclic association of motors with these organelles. However, the ability of dynein, dynactin, and kinesin II to bind to microtubules varies as a function of the state of aggregation or dispersion of the pigment in the cells from which these molecules are isolated. Dynein and dynactin bind to microtubules when obtained from cells with aggregated pigment, whereas kinesin II binds to microtubules when obtained from cells with dispersed pigment. Moreover, the microtubule binding activity of these motors/dynactin can be reversed in vitro by the kinases and phosphatase that regulate the direction of pigment granule transport in vivo. These findings suggest that phosphorylation controls the direction of pigment granule transport by altering the ability of dynein, dynactin, and kinesin II to interact with microtubules.
Animals↗
Ordering microtubules.
How do cells order their cytoplasm? While microtubule organizing centers have long been considered essential to conferring order by virtue of their microtubule nucleating activity, attention has currently refocused on the role that microtubule motors play in organizing microtubules. An intriguing set of recent findings reveals that cell fragments, lacking microtubule organizing centers, rapidly organize microtubules into a radial array during organelle transport driven by the microtubule motor, cytoplasmic dynein. Further, interaction of radial microtubules with the cell surface centers the array, revealing that centering information resides not with centrosomes but with organized microtubules.
Animals↗
Microtubules and microtubule motors: mechanisms of regulation.
Microtubule-based motility is precisely regulated, and the targets of regulation may be the motor proteins, the microtubules, or both components of this intricately controlled system. Regulation of microtubule behavior can be mediated by cell cycle-dependent changes in centrosomal microtubule nucleating ability and by cell-specific, microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs). Changes in microtubule organization and dynamics have been correlated with changes in phosphorylation. Regulation of motor proteins may be required both to initiate movement and to dictate its direction. Axonemal and cytoplasmic dyneins as well as kinesin can be phosphorylated and this modification may affect the motor activities of these enzymes or their ability to interact with organelles. A more complete understanding of how motors can be modulated by phosphorylation, either of the motor proteins or of other associated substrates, will be necessary in order to understand how bidirectional transport is regulated.
Animals↗
Regulation of kinesin-directed movements.
Bidirectional organelle transport along microtubules is most likely mediated by the opposing forces generated by two microtubule-based motors: kinesin and cytoplasmic dynein. Because the direction and timing of organelle movements are controlled by the cell, the activity of one or both of these motor molecules must be regulated. Recent studies demonstrate that kinesin, kinesin-like proteins and kinesin-associated proteins can be phosphorylated, and suggest that changes in their phosphorylation state may modulate kinesin's ability to interact with either microtubules or organelles. Thus, it is possible that phosphorylation regulates kinesin-driven movements.
Journal Article↗
Cytoplasmic dynein binds to phospholipid vesicles.
Cytoplasmic dynein is the putative motor protein for retrograde organelle transport along microtubules in cells and, thus, must be capable of binding to organelle membranes. Such an attachment may occur via receptor proteins or through a direct interaction of dynein with the membrane phospholipids. We show here that cytoplasmic dynein-synaptic membrane binding does not require a receptor protein and that this binding is mediated by an electrostatic interaction with acidic phospholipids. The properties of cytoplasmic dynein binding to NaOH-extracted synaptic membranes are not significantly affected when those membranes are treated with trypsin to digest endogenous integral membrane proteins. Moreover, purified cytoplasmic dynein is capable of binding to liposomes composed of pure phospholipids. Dynein binds to liposomes with a profile remarkably similar to that of dynein binding to native membranes. Dynein-liposome binding is dependent upon the presence of acidic phospholipids and is disrupted by NaCl. Thus, these studies suggest that electrostatic interactions can effect dynein-membrane binding.
Animals↗
Cytoplasmic dynein is a vesicle protein.
Microtubule-based organelle transport is thought to be mediated by the force-generating proteins cytoplasmic dynein and kinesin. These motor proteins have been characterized based on their ability to associate with and translocate microtubules. We show here that cytoplasmic dynein is also present as a peripheral membrane protein of purified synaptic vesicles. The vesicle-associated cytoplasmic dynein is identified by its photo-induced cleavage in the presence of ATP and vanadate. Purified, soluble cytoplasmic dynein is competent to bind to vesicle membranes stripped of endogenous peripheral membrane proteins by alkaline pH. Dynein binding to membranes is saturable at a concentration of 1.00 +/- 0.15 pmol/micrograms vesicle protein and has a dissociation constant of 22.3 +/- 2.4 nM. The association of cytoplasmic dynein with the membrane cannot be reversed by incubation with ATP. Furthermore, following binding to membranes, dynein retains its ability to bind ATP and to be photo-cleaved in the presence of vanadate. The presence of cytoplasmic dynein on synaptic vesicles and its ability to bind to extracted membranes supports current models of microtubule-based organelle translocation.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Control of organelle transport in melanophores: regulation of Ca2+ and cAMP levels.
Melanophores of the cichlid Tilapia mossambica can be induced to aggregate pigment by addition of epinephrine to the medium, suggesting adrenergic control of this transport. The melanophore response to adrenergic stimulation was examined using agonists and antagonists that are highly specific for each alpha-adrenoceptor subclass. The signal transduction mechanism of each subclass is unique: stimulation of alpha 1 receptors results in a rise in intracellular free Ca2+, while alpha 2 stimulation results in decreased cAMP levels [Exton, 1985: Am. J. Physiol. 248:E633-E647]. Each alpha 1 or alpha 2 specific agonist tested showed a dose dependent ability to induce aggregation and each was able to effect complete aggregation of pigment, suggesting that aggregation can be mediated either by elevating Ca2+ or by lowering cAMP. However, in the presence of either an alpha 1 or an alpha 2 receptor antagonist, none of the agonists were able to induce significant aggregation, suggesting that changes in levels of both messengers are required for pigment aggregation in the melanophores. Moreover, experiments in which intracellular levels of Ca2+ or cAMP were perturbed, using BAPTA and forskolin, respectively, indicated that elevating Ca2+ in the presence of high cAMP is not sufficient to induce aggregation and, conversely, that lowering cAMP levels in the presence of reduced Ca2+ is not sufficient to induce pigment aggregation. These data indicate that the concentrations of both cAMP and Ca2+ are important in regulating pigment aggregation in teleost melanophores, and suggest that maximal aggregation of pigment requires altering the levels of both messengers.
Animals↗
Regulation of organelle transport in melanophores by calcineurin.
Previous studies have shown that pigment granule dispersion and aggregation in melanophores of the African cichlid, Tilapia mossambica, are regulated by protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, respectively (Rozdzial, M. M., and L. T. Haimo. 1986. Cell. 47:1061-1070). The present studies suggest that calcineurin, a Ca2+/calmodulin-stimulated phosphatase, is the endogenous phosphatase that mediates pigment aggregation in melanophores. Aggregation, but not dispersion, is inhibited by okadaic acid at concentrations consistent with an inhibition of calcineurin activity. Inhibition of aggregation in melanophores that have been BAPTA loaded or treated with calmodulin antagonists implicate Ca2+ and calmodulin, respectively, in this process. Moreover, addition of calcineurin rescues aggregation in lysed melanophores which are otherwise incapable of aggregating pigment. Immunoblotting with an anticalcineurin IgG reveals that calcineurin is a component of the dermis, which contains the melanophores, and indirect immunofluorescence localizes calcineurin specifically to the melanophores. Finally, this antibody, which inhibits calcineurin's phosphatase activity (Tash, J. S., M. Krinks, J. Patel, R. L. Means, C. B. Klee, and A. R. Means. 1988. J. Cell Biol. 106:1625-1633), inhibits aggregation but has no effect on pigment granule dispersion. Together these studies indicate that retrograde transport of pigment granules to the melanophore cell center depends upon the participation of calcineurin.
Animals↗
Lysed chromatophores: a model system for the study of bidirectional organelle transport.
The development of procedures to lyse and reactivate pigment granule movements in chromatophores has provided the only information to date concerning the mechanisms by which cells regulate the direction of organelle transport. Continued analysis of motility in these models as well as in a reconstituted system containing only the pigment granules, the appropriate cytoskeletal structures, and defined soluble cell components should contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms by which protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation or Ca2+ regulate direction of transport and to the identification and characterization of the force-generating proteins responsible for producing bidirectional organelle movements.
Animals↗
Microtubule bundles of Reticulomyxa networks are of uniform polarity.
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Amoeba↗
Interaction of Chlamydomonas dynein with tubulin.
Studies were conducted to determine if dynein could bind to unpolymerized tubulin. Tubulin alone normally fractionated in the included volume of a molecular sieve Bio-Gel A-1.5m column. Incubated together, tubulin and dynein coeluted in the void volumn, suggesting that a complex had formed between the two. In addition, immunoelectron microscopy revealed preassembled microtubules were labeled with biotin antibody only when incubated in both dynein and biotinylated tubulin, evidence that dynein with bound biotinylated tubulin had decorated the microtubules. A fraction of the tubulin could be dissociated from dynein by addition of ATP and vanadate, as assayed by molecular sieve chromatography followed by densitometry of gels, suggesting that some tubulin bound to the B end of the dynein arm. Additional tubulin dissociated from the dynein under conditions of high salt. These studies, together with those indicating that tubulin blocked the A end of the dynein arm from binding to microtubules and promoted the interaction of two arms at their A ends, provide evidence that the A end of the arm also can bind tubulin. Thus, the tubulin subunits, themselves, on a microtubule rather than a particular surface lattice structure formed by adjacent protofilaments may provide the binding sites for both ends of the dynein arm.
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
Bidirectional pigment granule movements of melanophores are regulated by protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.
Studies were conducted to investigate the molecular basis for bidirectional pigment granule transport in digitonin-lysed melanophores. Pigment granule dispersion, but not aggregation, required cAMP and resulted in the phosphorylation of a 57 kd polypeptide. cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor prevented this phosphorylation as well as pigment dispersal. In contrast, both pigment aggregation and the concomitant dephosphorylation of the 57 kd polypeptide were blocked by phosphatase inhibitors. These data support a model in which pigment dispersion and aggregation require protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, respectively. Furthermore, studies using the ATP analog, ATP gamma S, suggest either that protein phosphorylation alone is sufficient for dispersion or that transport is mediated by a unique force-generating ATPase that can use ATP gamma S for hydrolyzable energy.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Reactivated melanophore motility: differential regulation and nucleotide requirements of bidirectional pigment granule transport.
To study the molecular basis for organized pigment granule transport, procedures were developed to lyse melanophores of Tilapia mossambica under conditions in which pigment granule movements could be reactivated. Gentle lysis of the melanophores resulted in a permeabilized cell model, which, in the absence of exogenous ATP, could undergo multiple rounds of pigment granule aggregation and dispersion when sequentially challenged with epinephrine and cAMP. Both directions of transport required ATP, since aggregation or dispersion in melanophores depleted of nucleotides could be reactivated only upon addition of MgATP or MgATP plus cAMP, respectively. Differences between the nucleotide sensitivities for aggregation and dispersion were demonstrated by observations that aggregation had a lower apparent Km for ATP than did dispersion and could be initiated at a lower ATP concentration. Moreover, aggregation could be initiated by ADP, but only dispersion could be reactivated by the thiophosphate ATP analog, ATP gamma S. The direction of pigment transport was determined solely by cAMP, since pigment granules undergoing dispersion reaggregated when cAMP was removed, and those undergoing aggregation dispersed when cAMP was added. These results provide evidence that pigment granule motility may be based on two distinct mechanisms that are differentially activated and regulated to produce bidirectional movements.
1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗
Motile cells lacking hyaluronidase can penetrate the hamster oocyte cumulus complex.
Sperm hyaluronidase is thought to assist in penetration of the extracellular matrix (ECM) between the cumulus and corona radiata cells surrounding mammalian oocytes. The question was asked: Can motile cells which lack hyaluronidase penetrate the hamster oocyte cumulus complex (OCC)? Sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) and frog (Rana catesbeiana) sperm and the unicellular, biflagellated, green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were extracted and found to contain no hyaluronidase activity. Moreover, none of these cells was able to disperse the cumulus cells of hamster OCC, nor did they affect the ultrastructure of the ECM between cells. Fresh hamster OCC were challenged with suspensions of each cell type. Frog and sea urchin sperm penetrated to the zona pellucida surface in less than 5 min. A cell wall-less mutant of Chlamydomonas also penetrated to the zona surface but required longer than 5 min. Wild-type Chlamydomonas penetrated only halfway to the zona, perhaps because its cell wall adhered to the ECM between the cumulus cells and retarded its movement. The motility of the frog and sea urchin sperm was not affected by the ECM of the OCC. Frog sperm exhibited slow lethargic motility yet had no difficulty penetrating to the zona; this indicates that hyperactivated motility is not required for penetration of the ECM. None of the challenge cells penetrated the zona pellucida, although the frog sperm did compress the weave of the zona. These data show that motile cells which lack the enzyme hyaluronidase can readily penetrate the ECM of the hamster cumulus and corona radiata and suggest that the significance of hyaluronidase in fertilization should be reevaluated.
Animals↗
Microtubule polarity in taxol-treated isolated spindles.
Spindles were isolated from Spisula oocytes in the presence or absence of taxol to determine if cell lysis procedures previously used to analyze spindle microtubule polarity may have resulted in the loss of any microtubules of a particular polarity. Electrophoretic analysis indicated that spindle preparations isolated in the presence of taxol contained considerably more tubulin than did those isolated in the absence of taxol. Although there was no corresponding increase in the birefringence of the taxol-treated isolated spindles, thereby suggesting that they did not possess a greater concentration of aligned microtubules between the poles and the equatorial plate, electron microscopy revealed that the taxol-treated isolated spindles did, in fact, contain more microtubules than did the nontaxol-treated isolated spindles. These microtubules were predominantly localized immediately around the centrioles, suggesting that assembly may have occurred during the lysis into taxol. The spindles were decorated with Chlamydomonas dynein to display microtubule polarity. The majority of microtubules, located between the chromosomes and poles, possessed a uniform polarity in both taxol- and nontaxol-treated isolated spindles. In the region of the chromosomes, however, up to 45% of the microtubules were oriented with a polarity opposite to the remainder and were intermingled among them. It is probable that microtubules with opposite polarities arise from the opposing poles and overlap in the equatorial region. The extent of overlap appears to be quite substantial and thus may be of significance during mitotic movements.
Alkaloids↗
Microtubule crossbridging by chlamydomonas dynein.
Dynein, obtained from axonemes of Chlamydomonas, binds by both its A and B ends to microtubules assembled from twice cycled (2X) and purified (6S) brain tubulin as well as to microtubules in native spindles, thereby inducing microtubule crossbridging. The two ends of the dynein arm exhibit distinct binding characteristics for the different microtubule preparations. Greater than 99% of the dynein arms are bound exclusively by their B ends to microtubules assembled from 6S tubulin in the presence of dynein and decorated to saturation. In contrast, greater than 80% of the dynein arms are bound by both their A and B ends to and, therefore, crossbridge 6S microtubules that are only partially dynein decorated. Binding of the A end of the dynein arm to saturated 6S microtubules can be enhanced by destabilizing the binding of the B end upon addition of ATP and vanadate. These observations suggest that Chlamydomonas dynein arms can bind by their A ends to microtubules assembled from 6S tubulin only when the B ends of the arms either are not bound or are bound but do not occupy all available dynein binding sites. Dynein exhibits a slight preference for binding by its A end to microtubules assembled from 2X tubulin and containing microtubule associated proteins (MAPs). Approximately 90% of the dynein arms crossbridge adjacent 2X microtubules that are only partially decorated. But as saturation of these microtubules with dynein is approached, the majority of the arms are bound solely by their A ends, while a smaller percentage are bound by their B ends or by both their A and B ends. These studies indicate that the type of microtubule as well as the degree of saturation of the microtubule with dynein can determine whether microtubule crossbridging occurs.
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
Dynein-microtubule interactions: ATP-sensitive dynein binding and the structural polarity of mitotic microtubules.
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Adenosine Triphosphatases↗