Project description:Classically, striated muscle contraction is initiated by calcium (Ca2+)-dependent structural changes in regulatory proteins on actin-containing thin filaments, which allow the binding of myosin motors to generate force. Additionally, dynamic switching between resting off and active on myosin states has been shown to regulate muscle contractility, a recently validated mechanism by novel myosin-targeted therapeutics. The molecular nature of this switching, however, is not understood. Here, using a combination of small-angle x-ray fiber diffraction and biochemical assays with reconstituted systems, we show that cardiac thick filaments are directly Ca2+-regulated. We find that Ca2+ induces a structural transition of myosin heads from ordered off states close to the thick filament to disordered on states closer to the thin filaments. Biochemical assays show a Ca2+-induced transition from an inactive super-relaxed (SRX) state(s) to an active disordered-relaxed (DRX) state(s) in synthetic thick filaments. We show that these transitions are an intrinsic property of cardiac myosin only when assembled into thick filaments and provide a fresh perspective on nature's two orthogonal mechanisms to regulate muscle contraction through the thin and the thick filaments.
Project description:Triptolide is a potent natural product, with documented antiproliferative, immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory, antifertility, and antipolycystic kidney disease effects. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the biology of this compound, direct intracellular target proteins have remained elusive. We synthesized a biotinylated photoaffinity derivative of triptolide, and used it to identify dCTP pyrophosphatase 1 (DCTPP1) as a triptolide-interacting protein. Free triptolide interacts directly with recombinant DCTPP1, and inhibits the enzymatic activity of this protein. Triptolide is thus the first dCTP pyrophosphatase inhibitor identified, and DCTPP1 is a biophysically validated target of triptolide.
Project description:We report a case in which sub-stoichiometric binding of an actin-binding protein has profound structural and functional consequences, providing an insight into the fundamental properties of actin regulation. Rng2 is an IQGAP contained in contractile rings in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe Here, we used high-speed atomic force microscopy and electron microscopy and found that sub-stoichiometric binding of the calponin-homology actin-binding domain of Rng2 (Rng2CHD) induces global structural changes in skeletal muscle actin filaments, including shortening of the filament helical pitch. Sub-stoichiometric binding of Rng2CHD also reduced the affinity between actin filaments and muscle myosin II carrying ADP and strongly inhibited the motility of actin filaments on myosin II in vitro. On skeletal muscle myosin II-coated surfaces, Rng2CHD stopped the actin movements at a binding ratio of 11%. Rng2CHD also inhibited actin movements on myosin II of the amoeba Dictyostelium, but in this case, by detaching actin filaments from myosin II-coated surfaces. Thus, sparsely bound Rng2CHD induces apparently cooperative structural changes in actin filaments and inhibits force generation by actomyosin II.
Project description:Ablation of nonmuscle myosin (NM) II-A or NM II-B results in mouse embryonic lethality. Here, we report the results of ablating NM II-C as well as NM II-C/II-B together in mice. NM II-C ablated mice survive to adulthood and show no obvious defects compared with wild-type littermates. However, ablation of NM II-C in mice expressing only 12% of wild-type amounts of NM II-B results in a marked increase in cardiac myocyte hypertrophy compared with the NM II-B hypomorphic mice alone. In addition, these hearts develop interstitial fibrosis associated with diffuse N-cadherin and β-catenin localization at the intercalated discs, where both NM II-B and II-C are normally concentrated. When both NM II-C and II-B are ablated the B-C-/B-C- cardiac myocytes show major defects in karyokinesis. More than 90% of B-C-/B-C- myocytes demonstrate defects in chromatid segregation and mitotic spindle formation accompanied by increased stability of microtubules and abnormal formation of multiple centrosomes. This requirement for NM II in karyokinesis is further demonstrated in the HL-1 cell line derived from mouse atrial myocytes, by using small interfering RNA knockdown of NM II or treatment with the myosin inhibitor blebbistatin. Our study shows that NM II is involved in regulating cardiac myocyte karyokinesis by affecting microtubule dynamics.
Project description:In budding yeast, the actin-based class V myosin motors, Myo2 and Myo4, transport virtually all organelles from mother to bud during cell division. Until recently, it appeared that mitochondria may be an exception, with studies showing that the Arp2/3 complex is required for their movement. However, several recent studies have proposed that Myo2 has a direct involvement in mitochondria inheritance. In this issue, Altmann et al. (Altmann, K., M. Frank, D. Neumann, S. Jakobs, and B. Westermann. 2008. J. Cell Biol. 181:119-130) provide the strongest support yet that Myo2 and its associated light chain Mlc1 function directly and significantly in both mitochondria-actin interactions and in the movement of mitochondria from mother to bud. The conflicting functions of Arp 2/3 and Myo2 may be reconciled by the existence of multiple pathways involved in mitochondrial transport.
Project description:Myosin 1c (Myo1c) is an unconventional myosin that modulates signaling pathways involved in tissue injury and repair. In this study, we observed that Myo1c expression is significantly upregulated in human chronic liver disease such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and in animal models of liver fibrosis. High throughput data from the GEO-database identified similar Myo1c upregulation in mice and human liver fibrosis. Notably, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) stimulation to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the liver pericyte and key cell type responsible for the deposition of extracellular matrix, upregulates Myo1c expression, whereas genetic depletion or pharmacological inhibition of Myo1c blunted TGF-β-induced fibrogenic responses, resulting in repression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen type I α 1 chain (Col1α1) mRNA. Myo1c deletion also decreased fibrogenic processes such as cell proliferation, wound healing response, and contractility when compared with vehicle-treated HSCs. Importantly, phosphorylation of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 2 (SMAD2) and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3 (SMAD3) were significantly blunted upon Myo1c inhibition in GRX cells as well as Myo1c knockout (Myo1c-KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) upon TGF-β stimulation. Using the genetic Myo1c-KO mice, we confirmed that Myo1c is critical for fibrogenesis, as Myo1c-KO mice were resistant to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis. Histological and immunostaining analysis of liver sections showed that deposition of collagen fibers and α-SMA expression were significantly reduced in Myo1c-KO mice upon liver injury. Collectively, these results demonstrate that Myo1c mediates hepatic fibrogenesis by modulating TGF-β signaling and suggest that inhibiting this process may have clinical application in treating liver fibrosis.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The incidences of liver fibrosis are growing at a rapid pace and have become one of the leading causes of end-stage liver disease. Although TGF-β1 is known to play a prominent role in transforming cells to produce excessive extracellular matrix that lead to hepatic fibrosis, the therapies targeting TGF-β1 have achieved very limited clinical impact. This study highlights motor protein myosin-1c-mediated mechanisms that serve as novel regulators of TGF-β1 signaling and fibrosis.
Project description:We present the genomic and expressed myosin II sequences from the giant waterbug, Lethocerus indicus. The intron rich gene appears relatively ancient and contains six regions of mutually exclusive exons that are alternatively spliced. Alternatively spliced regions may be involved in the asymmetric myosin dimer structure known as the interacting heads motif, as well as stabilizing the interacting heads motif within the thick filament. A lack of negative charge in the myosin S2 domain may explain why Lethocerus thick filaments display a perpendicular interacting heads motif, rather than one folded back to contact S2, as is seen in other thick filament types such as those from tarantula.
Project description:Myosin's affinities for nucleotides and actin are reciprocal. Actin-binding substantially reduces the affinity of ATP for myosin, but the effect of actin on myosin's ADP affinity is quite variable among myosin isoforms, serving as the principal mechanism for tuning the actomyosin system to specific physiological purposes. To understand the structural basis of this variable relationship between actin and ADP binding, we studied several constructs of the catalytic domain of Dictyostelium myosin II, varying their length (from the N-terminal origin) and cysteine content. The constructs varied considerably in their actin-activated ATPase activity and in the effect of actin on ADP affinity. Actin had no significant effect on ADP affinity for a single-cysteine catalytic domain construct, a double-cysteine construct partially restored the actin-dependence of ADP binding, and restoration of all native Cys restored it further, but full restoration of function (similar to that of skeletal muscle myosin II) was obtained only by adding all native Cys and an artificial lever arm extension. Pyrene-actin fluorescence confirmed these effects on ADP binding to actomyosin. We conclude that myosin's Cys content and lever arm both allosterically modulate the reciprocal affinities of myosin for ADP and actin, a key determinant of the biological functions of myosin isoforms.
Project description:Enoxacin has been identified as a small molecule inhibitor of binding between the B2-subunit of vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) and microfilaments. It inhibits bone resorption by calcitriol-stimulated mouse marrow cultures. We hypothesized that enoxacin acts directly and specifically on osteoclasts by disrupting the interaction between plasma membrane-directed V-ATPases, which contain the osteoclast-selective a3-subunit of V-ATPase, and microfilaments. Consistent with this hypothesis, enoxacin dose-dependently reduced the number of multinuclear cells expressing tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity produced by RANK-L-stimulated osteoclast precursors. Enoxacin (50 μM) did not induce apoptosis as measured by TUNEL and caspase-3 assays. V-ATPases containing the a3-subunit, but not the "housekeeping" a1-subunit, were isolated bound to actin. Treatment with enoxacin reduced the association of V-ATPase subunits with the detergent-insoluble cytoskeleton. Quantitative PCR revealed that enoxacin triggered significant reductions in several osteoclast-selective mRNAs, but levels of various osteoclast proteins were not reduced, as determined by quantitative immunoblots, even when their mRNA levels were reduced. Immunoblots demonstrated that proteolytic processing of TRAP5b and the cytoskeletal protein L-plastin was altered in cells treated with 50 μM enoxacin. Flow cytometry revealed that enoxacin treatment favored the expression of high levels of DC-STAMP on the surface of osteoclasts. Our data show that enoxacin directly inhibits osteoclast formation without affecting cell viability by a novel mechanism that involves changes in posttranslational processing and trafficking of several proteins with known roles in osteoclast function. We propose that these effects are downstream to blocking the binding interaction between a3-containing V-ATPases and microfilaments.
Project description:The cellular cytoskeleton is crucial for many cellular functions such as cell motility and wound healing, as well as other processes that require shape change or force generation. Actin is one cytoskeleton component that regulates cell mechanics. Important properties driving this regulation include the amount of actin, its level of cross-linking, and its coordination with the activity of specific molecular motors like myosin. While studies investigating the contribution of myosin activity to cell mechanics have been performed on cells attached to a substrate, we investigated mechanical properties of cells in suspension. To do this, we used multiple probes for cell mechanics including a microfluidic optical stretcher, a microfluidic microcirculation mimetic, and real-time deformability cytometry. We found that nonadherent blood cells, cells arrested in mitosis, and naturally adherent cells brought into suspension, stiffen and become more solidlike upon myosin inhibition across multiple timescales (milliseconds to minutes). Our results hold across several pharmacological and genetic perturbations targeting myosin. Our findings suggest that myosin II activity contributes to increased whole-cell compliance and fluidity. This finding is contrary to what has been reported for cells attached to a substrate, which stiffen via active myosin driven prestress. Our results establish the importance of myosin II as an active component in modulating suspended cell mechanics, with a functional role distinctly different from that for substrate-adhered cells.