Project description:Rac GTPases are required for neutrophil adhesion and migration, and for the neutrophil effector responses that kill pathogens. These Rac-dependent functions are impaired when neutrophils lack the activators of Rac, Rac-GEFs from the Prex, Vav and Dock families. In this study, we demonstrate that Tiam1 is also expressed in neutrophils, governing focal complexes, actin cytoskeletal dynamics, polarisation and migration, in a manner depending on the integrin ligand to which the cells adhere. Tiam1 is dispensable for the generation of reactive oxygen species but mediates degranulation and NETs release in adherent neutrophils, as well as the killing of bacteria. In vivo, Tiam1 is required for neutrophil recruitment during aseptic peritonitis and for the clearance of Streptococcus pneumoniae during pulmonary infection. However, Tiam1 functions differently to other Rac-GEFs. Instead of promoting neutrophil adhesion to ICAM1 and stimulating β2 integrin activity as could be expected, Tiam1 restricts these processes. In accordance with these paradoxical inhibitory roles, Tiam1 limits the fMLP-stimulated activation of Rac1 and Rac2 in adherent neutrophils, rather than activating Rac as expected. Tiam1 promotes the expression of several regulators of small GTPases and cytoskeletal dynamics, including αPix, Psd4, Rasa3 and Tiam2. It also controls the association of Rasa3, and potentially αPix, Git2, Psd4 and 14‐3‐3ζ/δ, with Rac. We propose these latter roles of Tiam1 underlie its effects on Rac and β2 integrin activity and on cell responses. Hence, Tiam1 is a novel regulator of Rac-dependent neutrophil responses that functions differently to other known neutrophil Rac-GEFs.
Project description:The Rho family GTPases, Rac and Rho, play critical roles in transmitting mechanical information contained within the extracellular matrix (ECM) to the cell. Rac and Rho have well described roles in regulating stiffness-dependent actin remodeling, proliferation and motility. However, much less is known about the relative roles of these GTPases in stiffness-dependent transcription, particularly at the genome-wide level. Here, we selectively inhibited Rac and Rho in mouse embryonic fibroblasts cultured on deformable substrata and used RNA sequencing to elucidate and compare the contribution of these GTPases to the early transcriptional response to ECM stiffness. Surprisingly, we found that the stiffness-dependent activation of Rac is dominant over Rho in the initial transcriptional response to ECM stiffness. We also identified Activating Transcription Factor 3 (ATF3) as a major target of stiffness/Rac-mediated signaling and show that ATF3 repression by ECM stiffness helps to explain how the stiffness-dependent activation of Rac results in the induction of cyclin D1.
Project description:The objective was to perform protein identification by ESI-LC-MSMS on a sample subjected to Acyl-RAC assay in order to study protein palmitoylation. The user transfected human paxillin (mCherry-paxillin-CAIL) into a mouse cell line and performed Acyl-RAC assay. The aim of this analysis was to determine whether human paxillin is palmitoylated and confirm the quality of the Acyl-RAC technique to detect palmitoylated proteins.
Project description:Bergmann glia (BG) are important in the inward type of radial migration of cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs). However, details regarding the functions of Cdc42 and Rac in BG for radial migration of CGN are unknown. To examine the roles of Cdc42 and Rac in BG during cerebellar corticogenesis, mice with a single deletion of Cdc42 or Rac1 and those with double deletions of Cdc42 and Rac1 under control of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter: GFAP-Cre;Cdc42flox/flox (Cdc42-KO), GFAP–Cre;Rac1flox/flox (Rac1-KO), and GFAP-Cre;Cdc42 flox/flox;Rac1flox/flox (Cdc42/Rac1-DKO) mice, were generated. Both Cdc42-KO and Rac1-KO mice, but more obviously Cdc42-KO mice, had disturbed alignment of BG in the Purkinje cell layer (PCL). We found that Cdc42-KO, but not Rac1-KO, induced impaired radial migration of CGNs in the late phase of radial migration, leading to retention of CGNs in the inferior half of the molecular layer (ML). Cdc42-KO, but not Rac1-KO, mice also showed aberrantly aligned Purkinje cells (PCs). These phenotypes were exacerbated in Cdc42/Rac1-DKO mice. Alignment of BG radial fibers in the ML and BG endfeet at the pial surface of the cerebellum evaluated by GFAP staining was disturbed and weak in Cdc42/Rac1-DKO mice, respectively. Our data indicate that that Cdc42 and Rac, but predominantly Cdc42, in BG play important roles during the late phase of radial migration of CGNs. We also report here that Cdc42 is involved in gliophilic migration of CGNs, in contrast to Rac, which is more closely connected to regulating neurophilic migration.
Project description:The protein Lgl has key roles in the regulation of cell polarity. We have shown that Lgl is inactivated by hyperphosphorylation in glioblastoma as a consequence of PTEN loss and aberrant activation of the PI 3-kinase pathway; this contributes to glioblastoma pathogenesis both by promoting invasion and repressing glioblastoma cell differentiation. Lgl is phosphorylated by atypical protein kinase C in a complex with Par6 and either activated Cdc42 or activated Rac. Here we have investigated the role of specific Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factors in Lgl hyperphosphorylation in glioblastoma. We used CRISPR/Cas9 to knockout PREX1, a PI 3-kinase pathway-responsive Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor that is overexpressed in glioblastoma. Knockout of PREX1 in patient-derived glioblastoma cells resulted in a reduction in Lgl phosphorylation and this could be reversed by re-expressing PREX1. PREX1 knockout cells showed reduced motility and altered phenotype suggestive of partial neuronal differentiation; consistent with this, RNA-seq analyses of these cells identified sets of PREX1-regulated genes with roles in promoting cell motility and repressing neuronal differentiation. Knockout of PREX1 in glioblastoma cells derived from a second patient did not affect Lgl phosphorylation. These cells overexpressed a short isoform of the Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor TIAM1; knockdown of TIAM1 in PREX1-knockout cells from this patient reduced Lgl phosphorylation. These data show that PREX1 links aberrant PI 3-kinase to Lgl phosphorylation in glioblastoma, but that TIAM1 can also promote Lgl phosphorylation in a subset of patients. While this shows redundant mechanisms for Lgl phosphorylation, PREX1 appears to have a non-redundant role in glioblastoma cell motility, as this was impaired in PREX1 knockout cells from both patients.