Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton by the protein SWAP-70 [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Jochen Kühnl

Jay Clarke

Sujets

• Biologie

Informations

• Publié par: westfalische_wilhelms-universitat_munster
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

 
 
Jochen Kühnl 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton  
by the protein SWAP‐70 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2008 














 
 
 
 
Biologie 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton  
by the protein SWAP‐70 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inaugural‐Dissertation 
zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften 
im Fachbereich Biologie 
der Mathematisch‐Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät 
der Westfälischen Wilhelms‐Universität Münster 
 
 
 
 
vorgelegt von 
Jochen Kühnl 
aus Hamburg 
‐2007‐ 





































Dekan:         Prof. Dr. Norbert Sachser 
ErsterGutachter:      Prof. Dr. Martin Bähler 
Zweiter  Prof. Dr. Volker Gerke 
Tag der mündlichen Prüfung:     01. April 2008 
Tag der Promotion:  11. April 2008 Abstract
Abstract 
The actin cytoskeleton is a major component of all eukaryotic cells and crucial for
numerous cellular functions including cell motility, endocytosis and intracellular vesicle
transport. Actin exists either in a monomeric globular form or can self-assemble into a
filamentous form (F-actin). Signaling pathways including the family of small GTPases
control the spatio-temporally coordinated assembly, cross-linking and disassembly of
F-actin which allows directed cell migration. Cells utilize several F-actin binding proteins
to facilitate the subsequent assembly of complex three-dimensional structures with
different functionality. SWAP-70 is an actin associated protein which labels a special
subset of actin filament arrays in motile cells (Hilpelä et al., 2003). SWAP-70 deficient
cells show severe defects in migration (Pearce et al., 2006) and uptake of extracellular
material via macropinocytosis (Oberbanscheidt et al., 2007). However, the role of
SWAP-70 in these processes is not understood. It is postulated, that SWAP-70 resides in
an inactive cytosolic conformation and is activated by phosphoinositides at the plasma
membrane where it associates with F-actin. For this reason, the effects of artificially
membrane-targeted SWAP-70 were investigated in this study. It turned out that membrane
targeted SWAP-70 induces an expression-level dependent disorganization of the actin
cytoskeleton leading to filopodia- and microspike-formation and elongated cell
morphology. Membrane targeted SWAP-70 affects the activity levels of small GTPases,
resulting in upregulation of activated Ras and Cdc42 and downregulation of activated
RhoA. Changes in Rac activity levels could not be observed. In order to identify the
domains of SWAP-70 responsible for these effects, cells were transfected with various
truncation constructs. This approach revealed a crucial function for the C-terminal part of
the protein containing a predicted coiled-coil-region domain and the necessity of the actin
binding C-terminal 60 residues. Different regulators of the actin cytoskeleton influence the
distribution and localization of SWAP-70 (Oberbanscheidt et al., in preparation). In this
study, the influence of different small GTPases of the Ras superfamily was investigated. It
could be shown that dominant active H- and R-Ras have a strong and unique influence on
actin filament arrays and on SWAP-70 association with F-actin. Activated PI3 kinase was
necessary for the association of SWAP-70 with actin filaments but not sufficient for the
formation of the actin filament arrays. To elucidate further the function of SWAP-70, a
bacterial two-hybrid-screen was performed to find interacting proteins of SWAP-70. An
interesting candidate identified in the screen was the RasGEF RasGRP1. The interaction is
mediated between the N-terminal part of SWAP-70 and the C-terminal part of
RasGRP1.The interaction of SWAP-70 with RasGRP1 could be confirmed by pull-down
assays and colocalisation studies. SWAP-70´s actin binding property was necessary for
filamentous colocalisation of cotransfected RasGRP1. It is hypothesized that SWAP-70
recruits RasGRP1 to cortical F-actin.


I

Table of Contents 

Abstract ................................................................................................................................. I 
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... II-VI 

1.  Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 
1.1  Cytoskeletal elements ............................................................................................. 1 
1.2  The actin cytoskeleton ............................................................................................ 2 
1.2.1  Properties of the actin molecule ...................................................................... 2 
1.2.2  Actin polarity and treadmilling mechanism .................................................... 4 
1.2.3.  Capping and monomer binding proteins preserve a high level of G-actin ...... 5 
1.3  Generation of free barbed ends ............................................................................... 6 
1.3.1  Uncapping of actin filaments ........................................................................... 6 
1.3.2  Severing of actin filaments .............................................................................. 7 
1.4  The nucleation of new actin filaments .................................................................... 7 
1.4.1  The Arp2/3 complex ........................................................................................ 8 
1.4.2  Activation of the Arp2/3 complex ................................................................... 9 
1.4.3  Formins .......................................................................................................... 12 
1.4.4  Spire ............................................................................................................... 12 
1.4.5  Cordon bleu ................................................................................................... 13 
1.5  Actin cross-linking proteins .................................................................................. 14 
1.5.1  Actin bundling proteins ................................................................................. 14 
1.5.2  Talin and Vinculin connect the actin cytoskeleton to integrins..................... 15 
1.5.3  ERM-proteins: tethering cortical actin to the plasma membrane .................. 15 
1.6  The actin cytoskeleton in cell migration: Four steps to motility .......................... 16 
1.6.1  Leading edge protrusion via synergistic effects of capping, severing and
nucleation ...................................................................................................... 16 
1.6.2  Adhesion to the extracellular matrix ............................................................. 18 
1.6.3  Ruffle formation ............................................................................................ 20 
1.6.4  Stress fiber assembly and contractility .......................................................... 21 


II

1.6.5  Detachment from the extracellular matrix, .................................................... 22 
1.7  Mechanisms of directed cell migration ................................................................. 23 
1.7.1  Cells sense and respond to extracellular gradients ........................................ 23 
1.7.2  PH-domains as important links between gradient sensing and signaling ...... 24 
1.7.3  Small GTPases are regulators of the actin cytoskeleton................................ 25 
1.8  The protein SWAP-70........................................................................................... 32 
1.8.1  Structure and expression of SWAP-70 .......................................................... 33