Dataset Information

Nestin promotes the phosphorylation-dependent disassembly of vimentin intermediate filaments during mitosis.

ABSTRACT: The expression of the intermediate filament (IF) protein nestin is closely associated with rapidly proliferating progenitor cells during neurogenesis and myogenesis, but little is known about its function. In this study, we examine the effects of nestin expression on the assembly state of vimentin IFs in nestin-free cells. Nestin is introduced by transient transfection and is positively correlated with the disassembly of vimentin IFs into nonfilamentous aggregates or particles in mitotic but not interphase cells. This nestin-mediated disassembly of IFs is dependent on the phosphorylation of vimentin by the maturation/M-phase-promoting factor at ser-55 in the amino-terminal head domain. In addition, the disassembly of vimentin IFs during mitosis appears to be a unique feature of nestin-expressing cell types. Furthermore, when the expression of nestin is downregulated by the nestin-specific small interfering RNA in nestin-expressing cells, vimentin IFs remain assembled throughout all stages of mitosis. Previous studies suggest that nonfilamentous vimentin particles are IF precursors and can be transported rapidly between different cytoplasmic compartments along microtubule tracks. On the basis of these observations, we speculate that nestin may play a role in the trafficking and distribution of IF proteins and potentially other cellular factors to daughter cells during progenitor cell division.

SUBMITTER: Chou YH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC153115 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nestin promotes the phosphorylation-dependent disassembly of vimentin intermediate filaments during mitosis.

Chou Ying-Hao YH Khuon Satya S Herrmann Harald H Goldman Robert D RD

Molecular biology of the cell 20030401 4

The expression of the intermediate filament (IF) protein nestin is closely associated with rapidly proliferating progenitor cells during neurogenesis and myogenesis, but little is known about its function. In this study, we examine the effects of nestin expression on the assembly state of vimentin IFs in nestin-free cells. Nestin is introduced by transient transfection and is positively correlated with the disassembly of vimentin IFs into nonfilamentous aggregates or particles in mitotic but not ...[more]

PMID: 12686602

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Project description:Intermediate filaments (IFs), in addition to microtubules and microfilaments, are one of the three major components of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells, playing a vital role in mechanotransduction and in providing mechanical stability to cells. Despite the importance of IF mechanics for cell biology and cell mechanics, the structural basis for their mechanical properties remains unknown. Specifically, our understanding of fundamental filament properties, such as the basis for their great extensibility, stiffening properties, and their exceptional mechanical resilience remains limited. This has prevented us from answering fundamental structure-function relationship questions related to the biomechanical role of intermediate filaments, which is crucial to link structure and function in the protein material's biological context. Here we utilize an atomistic-level model of the human vimentin dimer and tetramer to study their response to mechanical tensile stress, and describe a detailed analysis of the mechanical properties and associated deformation mechanisms. We observe a transition from alpha-helices to beta-sheets with subsequent interdimer sliding under mechanical deformation, which has been inferred previously from experimental results. By upscaling our results we report, for the first time, a quantitative comparison to experimental results of IF nanomechanics, showing good agreement. Through the identification of links between structures and deformation mechanisms at distinct hierarchical levels, we show that the multi-scale structure of IFs is crucial for their characteristic mechanical properties, in particular their ability to undergo severe deformation of approximately 300% strain without breaking, facilitated by a cascaded activation of a distinct deformation mechanisms operating at different levels. This process enables IFs to combine disparate properties such as mechanosensitivity, strength and deformability. Our results enable a new paradigm in studying biological and mechanical properties of IFs from an atomistic perspective, and lay the foundation to understanding how properties of individual protein molecules can have profound effects at larger length-scales.

Dataset Information

Nestin promotes the phosphorylation-dependent disassembly of vimentin intermediate filaments during mitosis.

Publications

Nestin promotes the phosphorylation-dependent disassembly of vimentin intermediate filaments during mitosis.

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