Project description:Adenovirus serotypes have been shown to cause drastic changes in nuclear organization, including the transcription machinery, during infection. This ability of adenovirus to subvert transcription in the host cell facilitates viral replication. Because nuclear actin and nuclear myosin I, myosin V and myosin VI have been implicated as direct regulators of transcription and important factors in the replication of other viruses, we sought to determine how nuclear actin and myosins are involved in adenovirus infection. We first confirmed reorganization of the host's transcription machinery to viral replication centers. We found that nuclear actin also reorganizes to sites of transcription through the intermediate but not the advanced late phase of viral infection. Furthermore, nuclear myosin I localized with nuclear actin and sites of transcription in viral replication centers. Intriguingly, nuclear myosins V and VI, which also reorganized to viral replication centers, exhibited different localization patterns, suggesting specialized roles for these nuclear myosins. Finally, we assessed the role of actin in adenovirus infection and found both cytoplasmic and nuclear actin likely play roles in adenovirus infection and replication. Together our data suggest the involvement of actin and multiple myosins in the nuclear replication and late viral gene expression of adenovirus.
Project description:Heterochromatin mainly comprises repeated DNA sequences that are prone to ectopic recombination. In Drosophila cells, 'safe' repair of heterochromatic double-strand breaks by homologous recombination relies on the relocalization of repair sites to the nuclear periphery before strand invasion. The mechanisms responsible for this movement were unknown. Here we show that relocalization occurs by directed motion along nuclear actin filaments assembled at repair sites by the Arp2/3 complex. Relocalization requires nuclear myosins associated with the heterochromatin repair complex Smc5/6 and the myosin activator Unc45, which is recruited to repair sites by Smc5/6. ARP2/3, actin nucleation and myosins also relocalize heterochromatic double-strand breaks in mouse cells. Defects in this pathway result in impaired heterochromatin repair and chromosome rearrangements. These findings identify de novo nuclear actin filaments and myosins as effectors of chromatin dynamics for heterochromatin repair and stability in multicellular eukaryotes.
Project description:Myosin motor proteins working together with the actin cytoskeleton drive a wide range of cellular processes. In this review, we focus on their roles in autophagy - the pathway the cell uses to ensure homeostasis by targeting pathogens, misfolded proteins and damaged organelles for degradation. The actin cytoskeleton regulated by a host of nucleating, anchoring and stabilizing proteins provides the filament network for the delivery of essential membrane vesicles from different cellular compartments to the autophagosome. Actin networks have also been implicated in structurally supporting the expanding phagophore, moving autophagosomes and enabling efficient fusion with the lysosome. Only a few myosins have so far been shown to play a role in autophagy. Non-muscle myosin IIA functions in the early stages delivering membrane for the initial formation of the autophagosome, whereas myosin IC and myosin VI are involved in the final stages providing specific membranes for autophagosome maturation and its fusion with the lysosome.
Project description:Cytoskeletal motors act as cargo transporters in cells and may be harnessed for directed transport applications in molecular detection and diagnostic devices. High processivity, the ability to take many steps along a track before dissociating, is often a desirable characteristic because it allows nanoscale motors to transport cargoes over distances on the scale of micrometres, in vivo and in vitro. Natural processive myosins are dimeric and use internal tension to coordinate the detachment cycles of the two heads. Here, we show that processivity can be enhanced in engineered myosins using two non-natural strategies designed to optimize the effectiveness of random, uncoordinated stepping: (1) the formation of three-headed and four-headed myosins and (2) the introduction of flexible elements between heads. We quantify improvements using systematic single-molecule characterization of a panel of engineered motors. To test the modularity of our approach, we design a controllably bidirectional myosin that is robustly processive in both forward and backward directions, and also produce the fastest processive cytoskeletal motor measured so far, reaching a speed of 10 µm s(-1).
Project description:Clathrin-mediated endocytosis in budding yeast requires the formation of a dynamic actin network that produces the force to invaginate the plasma membrane against the intracellular turgor pressure. The type-I myosins Myo3 and Myo5 are important for endocytic membrane reshaping, but mechanistic details of their function remain scarce. Here, we studied the function of Myo3 and Myo5 during endocytosis using quantitative live-cell imaging and genetic perturbations. We show that the type-I myosins promote, in a dose-dependent way, the growth and expansion of the actin network, which controls the speed of membrane and coat internalization. We found that this myosin-activity is independent of the actin nucleation promoting activity of myosins, and cannot be compensated for by increasing actin nucleation. Our results suggest a new mechanism for type-I myosins to produce force by promoting actin filament polymerization.
Project description:Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are indispensable for cell function and are at the center of several human diseases. NPCs provide access to the nucleus and regulate the transport of proteins and RNA across the nuclear envelope. They are aqueous channels generated from a complex network of evolutionarily conserved proteins known as nucleporins. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we discuss how transport between the nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm is regulated, what we currently know about the structure of individual nucleoporins and the assembled NPC, and how the cell regulates assembly and disassembly of such a massive structure. Our aim is to provide a general overview on what we currently know about the nuclear pore and point out directions of research this area is heading to.
Project description:Myosin VI (Myo6) is unique among myosins in that it moves toward the minus (pointed) end of the actin filament. Thus to exert tension on, or move cargo along an actin filament, Myo6 is working against potentially multiple plus (barbed)-end myosins. To test the effect of plus-end motors on Myo6, the gliding actin filament assay was used to assess the motility of single-headed Myo6 in the absence and presence of cardiac myosin II (Myo2) and myosin Va (Myo5a). Myo6 alone exhibited a filament gliding velocities of 60.34 ± 13.68 nm/s. Addition of either Myo2 or Myo5a, at densities below that required to promote plus-end movement resulted in an increase in Myo6 velocity (~100-150% increase). Movement in the presence of these plus-end myosins was minus-end directed as determined using polarity tagged filaments. High densities of Myo2 or Myo5a were required to convert to plus-end directed motility indicating that Myo6 is a potent inhibitor of Myo2 and Myo5a. Previous studies have shown that two-headed Myo6 slows and then stalls in an anchored state under load. Consistent with these studies, velocity of a two headed heavy mero myosin form of Myo6 was unaffected by Myo5a at low densities, and was inhibited at high Myo5a densities.
Project description:We investigated the myosin expression profile in prostate cancer cell lines and found that Myo1b, Myo9b, Myo10, and Myo18a were expressed at higher levels in cells with high metastatic potential. Moreover, Myo1b and Myo10 were expressed at higher levels in metastatic tumors. Using an siRNA-based approach, we found that knockdown of each myosin resulted in distinct phenotypes. Myo10 knockdown ablated filopodia and decreased 2D migration speed. Myo18a knockdown increased circumferential non-muscle myosin 2A-associated actin filament arrays in the lamella and reduced directional persistence of 2D migration. Myo9b knockdown increased stress fiber formation, decreased 2D migration speed, and increased directional persistence. Conversely, Myo1b knockdown increased numbers of stress fibers but did not affect 2D migration. In all cases, the cell spread area was increased and 3D migration potential was decreased. Therefore, myosins not only act as molecular motors but also directly influence actin organization and cell morphology, which can contribute to the metastatic phenotype.
Project description:To gain more information on the manner of actin-myosin interaction, we examined how the motile properties of myosins II and V are affected by the modifications of the DNase I binding loop (D-loop) of actin, performed in two different ways, namely, the proteolytic digestion with subtilisin and the M47A point mutation. In an in vitro motility assay, both modifications significantly decreased the gliding velocity on myosin II-heavy meromyosin due to a weaker generated force but increased it on myosin V. On the other hand, single molecules of myosin V "walked" with the same velocity on both the wild-type and modified actins; however, the run lengths decreased sharply, correlating with a lower affinity of myosin for actin due to the D-loop modifications. The difference between the single-molecule and the ensemble measurements with myosin V indicates that in an in vitro motility assay the non-coordinated multiple myosin V molecules impose internal friction on each other via binding to the same actin filament, which is reduced by the weaker binding to the modified actins. These results show that the D-loop strongly modulates the force generation by myosin II and the processivity of myosin V, presumably affecting actin-myosin interaction in the actomyosin-ADP.P(i) state of both myosins.