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Local cytoskeletal and organelle interactions impact molecular-motor- driven early endosomal trafficking.

ABSTRACT: In the intracellular environment, motor-driven cargo must navigate a dense cytoskeletal network among abundant organelles.We investigated the effects of the crowded intracellular environment on early endosomal trafficking. Live-cell imaging of an endosomal cargo (endocytosed epidermal growth factor-conjugated quantum dots) combined with high-resolution tracking was used to analyze the heterogeneous motion of individual endosomes. The motile population of endosomes moved toward the perinuclear region in directed bursts of microtubule-based, dynein-dependent transport interrupted by longer periods of diffusive motion. Actin network density did not affect motile endosomes during directed runs or diffusive interruptions. Simultaneous two-color imaging was used to correlate changes in endosomal movement with potential obstacles to directed runs. Termination of directed runs spatially correlated with microtubule-dense regions, encounters with other endosomes, and interactions with the endoplasmic reticulum. During a subset of run terminations, we also observed merging and splitting of endosomes, deformation of the endoplasmic reticulum, and directional reversals at speeds up to 10-fold greater than characteristic in vitro motor velocities. These observations suggest that endosomal membrane tension is high during directed run termination.Our results indicate that the crowded cellular environment significantly impacts the motor-driven motility of organelles. Rather than simply acting as impediments to movement, interactions of trafficking cargos with intracellular obstacles may facilitate communication between membrane-bound compartments or contribute to the generation of membrane tension necessary for fusion and fission of endosomal membranes or remodeling of the endoplasmic reticulum.

SUBMITTER: Zajac AL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3738301 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Local cytoskeletal and organelle interactions impact molecular-motor- driven early endosomal trafficking.

Zajac Allison L AL Goldman Yale E YE Holzbaur Erika L F EL Ostap E Michael EM

Current biology : CB 20130613 13

<h4>Background</h4>In the intracellular environment, motor-driven cargo must navigate a dense cytoskeletal network among abundant organelles.<h4>Results</h4>We investigated the effects of the crowded intracellular environment on early endosomal trafficking. Live-cell imaging of an endosomal cargo (endocytosed epidermal growth factor-conjugated quantum dots) combined with high-resolution tracking was used to analyze the heterogeneous motion of individual endosomes. The motile population of endoso ...[more]

PMID: 23770188

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Project description:Neurofilament light (NFL) is one of the proteins forming multimeric neuron-specific intermediate filaments, neurofilaments, which fill the axonal cytoplasm, establish caliber growth, and provide structural support. Dominant missense mutations and recessive nonsense mutations in the neurofilament light gene (NEFL) are among the causes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) neuropathy, which affects the peripheral nerves with the longest axons. We previously demonstrated that a neuropathy-causing homozygous nonsense mutation in NEFL led to the absence of NFL in patient-specific neurons. To understand the disease-causing mechanisms, we investigate here the functional effects of NFL loss in human motor neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). We used genome editing to generate NEFL knockouts and compared them to patient-specific nonsense mutants and isogenic controls. iPSC lacking NFL differentiated efficiently into motor neurons with normal axon growth and regrowth after mechanical axotomy and contained neurofilaments. Electrophysiological analysis revealed that motor neurons without NFL fired spontaneous and evoked action potentials with similar characteristics as controls. However, we found that, in the absence of NFL, human motor neurons 1) had reduced axonal caliber, 2) the amplitude of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSC) was decreased, 3) neurofilament heavy (NFH) levels were reduced and no compensatory increases in other filament subunits were observed, and 4) the movement of mitochondria and to a lesser extent lysosomes was increased. Our findings elaborate the functional roles of NFL in human motor neurons. NFL is not only a structural protein forming neurofilaments and filling the axonal cytoplasm, but our study supports the role of NFL in the regulation of synaptic transmission and organelle trafficking. To rescue the NFL deficiency in the patient-specific nonsense mutant motor neurons, we used three drugs, amlexanox, ataluren (PTC-124), and gentamicin to induce translational read-through or inhibit nonsense-mediated decay. However, the drugs failed to increase the amount of NFL protein to detectable levels and were toxic to iPSC-derived motor neurons.

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Local cytoskeletal and organelle interactions impact molecular-motor- driven early endosomal trafficking.

Publications

Local cytoskeletal and organelle interactions impact molecular-motor- driven early endosomal trafficking.

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