scholarly journals Molecular characterization of the 50-kD subunit of dynactin reveals function for the complex in chromosome alignment and spindle organization during mitosis.

1996 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
C J Echeverri ◽  
B M Paschal ◽  
K T Vaughan ◽  
R B Vallee
Keyword(s):  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Sedimentation Analysis ◽  
Spindle Poles ◽  
Chromosome Alignment ◽  
Dynactin Complex

Dynactin is a multi-subunit complex which has been implicated in cytoplasmic dynein function, though its mechanism of action is unknown. In this study, we have characterized the 50-kD subunit of dynactin, and analyzed the effects of its overexpression on mitosis in living cells. Rat and human cDNA clones revealed p50 to be novel and highly conserved, containing three predicted coiled-coil domains. Immunofluorescence staining of dynactin and cytoplasmic dynein components in cultured vertebrate cells showed that both complexes are recruited to kinetochores during prometaphase, and concentrate near spindle poles thereafter. Overexpression of p50 in COS-7 cells disrupted mitosis, causing cells to accumulate in a prometaphase-like state. Chromosomes were condensed but unaligned, and spindles, while still bipolar, were dramatically distorted. Sedimentation analysis revealed the dynactin complex to be dissociated in the transfected cultures. Furthermore, both dynactin and cytoplasmic dynein staining at prometaphase kinetochores was markedly diminished in cells expressing high levels of p50. These findings represent clear evidence for dynactin and cytoplasmic dynein codistribution within cells, and for the presence of dynactin at kinetochores. The data also provide direct in vivo evidence for a role for vertebrate dynactin in modulating cytoplasmic dynein binding to an organelle, and implicate both dynactin and dynein in chromosome alignment and spindle organization.

scholarly journals p150Glued, the largest subunit of the dynactin complex, is nonessential in Neurospora but required for nuclear distribution.

1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
J H Tinsley ◽  
P F Minke ◽  
K S Bruno ◽  
M Plamann
Keyword(s):  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Nuclear Distribution ◽  
Transport Vesicles ◽  
Dynactin Complex ◽  
Intermediate Chains

Dynactin is a multisubunit complex that is required for cytoplasmic dynein, a minus-end-directed, microtubule-associated motor, to efficiently transport vesicles along microtubules in vitro. p150Glued, the largest subunit of dynactin, has been identified in vertebrates and Drosophila and recently has been shown to interact with cytoplasmic dynein intermediate chains in vitro. The mechanism by which dynactin facilitates cytoplasmic dynein-dependent vesicle transport is unknown. We have devised a genetic screen for cytoplasmic dynein/dynactin mutants in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa. In this paper, we report that one of these mutants, ro-3, defines a gene encoding an apparent homologue of p150Glued, and we provide genetic evidence that cytoplasmic dynein and dynactin interact in vivo. The major structural features of vertebrate and Drosophila p150Glued, a microtubule-binding site at the N-terminus and two large alpha-helical coiled-coil regions contained within the distal two-thirds of the polypeptide, are conserved in Ro3. Drosophila p150Glued is essential for viability; however, ro-3 null mutants are viable, indicating that dynactin is not an essential complex in N. crassa. We show that N. crassa cytoplasmic dynein and dynactin mutants have abnormal nuclear distribution but retain the ability to organize cytoplasmic microtubules and actin in anucleate hyphae.

scholarly journals Novel TRIM5 Isoforms Expressed by Macaca nemestrina

2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (22) ◽  
pp. 12210-12217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Brennan ◽  
Yury Kozyrev ◽  
Toshiaki Kodama ◽  
Shiu-Lok Hu
Keyword(s):  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Macaca Nemestrina ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Reading Frame ◽  
Spry Domain ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Hiv Type 1 ◽  
Hiv 1

ABSTRACT The TRIM5 family of proteins contains a RING domain, one or two B boxes, and a coiled-coil domain. The TRIM5α isoform also encodes a C-terminal B30.2(SPRY) domain, differences within which define the breadth and potency of TRIM5α-mediated retroviral restriction. Because Macaca nemestrina animals are susceptible to some human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) isolates, we sought to determine if differences exist in the TRIM5 gene and transcripts of these animals. We identified a two-nucleotide deletion (Δ2) in the transcript at the 5′ terminus of exon 7 in all M. nemestrina TRIM5 cDNA clones examined. This frameshift results in a truncated protein of 300 amino acids lacking the B30.2(SPRY) domain, which we have named TRIM5θ. This deletion is likely due to a single nucleotide polymorphism that alters the 3′ splice site between intron 6 and exon 7. In some clones, a deletion of the entire 27-nucleotide exon 7 (Δexon7) resulted in the restoration of the TRIM5 open reading frame and the generation of another novel isoform, TRIM5η. There are 18 amino acid differences between M. nemestrina TRIM5η and Macaca mulatta TRIM5α, some of which are at or near locations previously shown to affect the breadth and potency of TRIM5α-mediated restriction. Infectivity assays performed on permissive CrFK cells stably transduced with TRIM5η or TRIM5θ show that these isoforms are incapable of restricting either HIV type 1 (HIV-1) or simian immunodeficiency virus infection. The expression of TRIM5 alleles incapable of restricting HIV-1 infection may contribute to the previously reported increased susceptibility of M. nemestrina to HIV-1 infection in vivo.

Real time imaging reveals a peroxisomal reticulum in living cells

2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (20) ◽  
pp. 3663-3671 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schrader ◽  
S.J. King ◽  
T.A. Stroh ◽  
T.A. Schroer
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Real Time Imaging ◽  
Peroxisomal Targeting ◽  
Microtubule Motor ◽  
Targeting Signal ◽  
Peroxisomal Targeting Signal

We have directly imaged the dynamic behavior of a variety of morphologically different peroxisomal structures in HepG2 and COS-7 cells transfected with a construct encoding GFP bearing the C-terminal peroxisomal targeting signal 1. Real time imaging revealed that moving peroxisomes interacted with each other and were engaged in transient contacts, and at higher magnification, tubular peroxisomes appeared to form a peroxisomal reticulum. Local remodeling of these structures could be observed involving the formation and detachment of tubular processes that interconnected adjacent organelles. Inhibition of cytoplasmic dynein based motility by overexpression of the dynactin subunit, dynamitin (p50), inhibited the movement of peroxisomes in vivo and interfered with the reestablishment of a uniform distribution of peroxisomes after recovery from nocodazole treatment. Isolated peroxisomes moved in vitro along microtubules in the presence of a microtubule motor fraction. Our data reveal that peroxisomal behavior in vivo is significantly more dynamic and interactive than previously thought and suggest a role for the dynein/dynactin motor in peroxisome motility.

scholarly journals Dynactin Is Required for Microtubule Anchoring at Centrosomes

1999 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.J. Quintyne ◽  
S.R. Gill ◽  
D.M. Eckley ◽  
C.L. Crego ◽  
D.A. Compton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitotic Cell ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Microtubule Organization ◽  
Cultured Fibroblasts ◽  
Cell Extracts ◽  
Dynein Motor ◽  
Mitotic Spindle Assembly ◽  
Dynactin Complex

The multiprotein complex, dynactin, is an integral part of the cytoplasmic dynein motor and is required for dynein-based motility in vitro and in vivo. In living cells, perturbation of the dynein–dynactin interaction profoundly blocks mitotic spindle assembly, and inhibition or depletion of dynein or dynactin from meiotic or mitotic cell extracts prevents microtubules from focusing into spindles. In interphase cells, perturbation of the dynein–dynactin complex is correlated with an inhibition of ER-to-Golgi movement and reorganization of the Golgi apparatus and the endosome–lysosome system, but the effects on microtubule organization have not previously been defined. To explore this question, we overexpressed a variety of dynactin subunits in cultured fibroblasts. Subunits implicated in dynein binding have effects on both microtubule organization and centrosome integrity. Microtubules are reorganized into unfocused arrays. The pericentriolar components, γ tubulin and dynactin, are lost from centrosomes, but pericentrin localization persists. Microtubule nucleation from centrosomes proceeds relatively normally, but microtubules become disorganized soon thereafter. Overexpression of some, but not all, dynactin subunits also affects endomembrane localization. These data indicate that dynein and dynactin play important roles in microtubule organization at centrosomes in fibroblastic cells and provide new insights into dynactin–cargo interactions.

scholarly journals Microinjection of fluorescent tubulin into dividing sea urchin cells.

1983 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 1249-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Wadsworth ◽  
R D Sloboda
Keyword(s):  
Sea Urchin ◽  
Daughter Cell ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Lytechinus Variegatus ◽  
Linear Polymers ◽  
Spindle Poles ◽  
Image Intensification ◽  
Fluorescent Polymer

To follow the dynamics of microtubule (MT) assembly and disassembly during mitosis in living cells, tubulin has been covalently modified with the fluorochrome 5-(4,6-dichlorotriazin-2-yl)aminofluorescein and microinjected into fertilized eggs of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. The changing distribution of the fluorescent protein probe is visualized in a fluorescence microscope coupled to an image intensification video system. Cells that have been injected with fluorescent tubulin show fluorescent linear polymers that assemble very rapidly and radiate from the spindle poles, coincident with the position of the astral fibers. No fluorescent polymer is apparent in other areas of the cytoplasm. When fluorescent tubulin is injected near the completion of anaphase, little incorporation of fluorescent tubulin into polymer is apparent, suggesting that new polymerization does not occur past a critical point in anaphase. These results demonstrate that MT polymerization is very rapid in vivo and that the assembly is both temporally and spatially regulated within the injected cells. Furthermore, the microinjected tubulin is stable within the sea urchin cytoplasm for at least 1 h since it can be reutilized in successive daughter cell spindles. Control experiments indicate that the observed fluorescence is dependent on MT assembly. The fluorescence is greatly diminished upon treatment of the cells with cold or colchicine agents known to cause the depolymerization of assembled MT. In addition, cells injected with fluorescent bovine serum albumin or assembly-incompetent fluorescent tubulin do not exhibit fluorescence localized in the spindle but rather appear diffusely fluorescent throughout the cytoplasm.

scholarly journals Dynactin, a conserved, ubiquitously expressed component of an activator of vesicle motility mediated by cytoplasmic dynein.

1991 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1639-1650 ◽  
Author(s):  
S R Gill ◽  
T A Schroer ◽  
I Szilak ◽  
E R Steuer ◽  
M P Sheetz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Gene ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Protein Product ◽  
Structural Motif ◽  
Sequence Identity ◽  
Vesicle Movement ◽  
Dynactin Complex ◽  
Activator Complex

Although cytoplasmic dynein is known to attach to microtubules and translocate toward their minus ends, dynein's ability to serve in vitro as a minus end-directed transporter of membranous organelles depends on additional soluble factors. We show here that a approximately 20S polypeptide complex (referred to as Activator I; Schroer, T. A., and M.P. Sheetz. 1991a. J. Cell Biol. 115:1309-1318.) stimulates dynein-mediated vesicle transport. A major component of the activator complex is a doublet of 150-kD polypeptides for which we propose the name dynactin (for dynein activator). The 20S dynactin complex is required for in vitro vesicle motility since depletion of it with a mAb to dynactin eliminates vesicle movement. Cloning of a brain specific isoform of dynactin from chicken reveals a 1,053 amino acid polypeptide composed of two coiled-coil alpha-helical domains interrupted by a spacer. Both this structural motif and the underlying primary sequence are highly conserved in vertebrates with 85% sequence identity within a central 1,000-residue domain of the chicken and rat proteins. As abundant as dynein, dynactin is ubiquitously expressed and appears to be encoded by a single gene that yields at least three alternative isoforms. The probable homologue in Drosophila is the gene Glued, whose protein product shares 50% sequence identity with vertebrate dynactin and whose function is essential for viability of most (and perhaps all) cells in the organism.

scholarly journals Formation of Spindle Poles by Dynein/Dynactin-Dependent Transport of Numa

2000 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Merdes ◽  
Rebecca Heald ◽  
Kumiko Samejima ◽  
William C. Earnshaw ◽  
Don W. Cleveland
Keyword(s):  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Gel Filtration ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Spindle Pole ◽  
Nuclear Envelope Breakdown ◽  
Spindle Poles ◽  
Mitotic Spindle Assembly ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Dependent Transport ◽  
Dynactin Complex

NuMA is a large nuclear protein whose relocation to the spindle poles is required for bipolar mitotic spindle assembly. We show here that this process depends on directed NuMA transport toward microtubule minus ends powered by cytoplasmic dynein and its activator dynactin. Upon nuclear envelope breakdown, large cytoplasmic aggregates of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged NuMA stream poleward along spindle fibers in association with the actin-related protein 1 (Arp1) protein of the dynactin complex and cytoplasmic dynein. Immunoprecipitations and gel filtration demonstrate the assembly of a reversible, mitosis-spe-cific complex of NuMA with dynein and dynactin. NuMA transport is required for spindle pole assembly and maintenance, since disruption of the dynactin complex (by increasing the amount of the dynamitin subunit) or dynein function (with an antibody) strongly inhibits NuMA translocation and accumulation and disrupts spindle pole assembly.

scholarly journals Characterization of the p22 Subunit of Dynactin Reveals the Localization of Cytoplasmic Dynein and Dynactin to the Midbody of Dividing Cells

1998 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 1023-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sher Karki ◽  
Bernadette LaMonte ◽  
Erika L.F. Holzbaur
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Cytoplasmic Dynein ◽  
Affinity Column ◽  
Predicted Amino Acid Sequence ◽  
Cleavage Furrow ◽  
Spindle Poles ◽  
Microtubule Motor ◽  
Dividing Cells ◽  
Cytoplasmic Structures

Dynactin, a multisubunit complex that binds to the microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein, may provide a link between dynein and its cargo. Many subunits of dynactin have been characterized, elucidating the multifunctional nature of this complex. Using a dynein affinity column, p22, the smallest dynactin subunit, was isolated and microsequenced. The peptide sequences were used to clone a full-length human cDNA. Database searches with the predicted amino acid sequence of p22 indicate that this polypeptide is novel. We have characterized p22 as an integral component of dynactin by biochemical and immunocytochemical methods. Affinity chromatography experiments indicate that p22 binds directly to the p150Glued subunit of dynactin. Immunocytochemistry with antibodies to p22 demonstrates that this polypeptide localizes to punctate cytoplasmic structures and to the centrosome during interphase, and to kinetochores and to spindle poles throughout mitosis. Antibodies to p22, as well as to other dynactin subunits, also revealed a novel localization for dynactin to the cleavage furrow and to the midbodies of dividing cells; cytoplasmic dynein was also localized to these structures. We therefore propose that dynein/dynactin complexes may have a novel function during cytokinesis.

scholarly journals The retinoblastoma protein binds to a family of E2F transcription factors.

1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 7813-7825 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Lees ◽  
M Saito ◽  
M Vidal ◽  
M Valentine ◽  
T Look ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Proliferation ◽  
Retinoblastoma Protein ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Recognition Sites ◽  
Number Of Genes ◽  
Combined Action ◽  
E2f Transcription Factors

E2F is a transcription factor that helps regulate the expression of a number of genes that are important in cell proliferation. Recently, several laboratories have isolated a cDNA clone that encodes an E2F-like protein, known as E2F-1. Subsequent characterization of this protein showed that it had the properties of E2F, but it was difficult to account for all of the suggested E2F activities through the function of this one protein. Using low-stringency hybridization, we have isolated cDNA clones that encode two additional E2F-like proteins, called E2F-2 and E2F-3. The chromosomal locations of the genes for E2F-2 and E2F-3 were mapped to 1p36 and 6q22, respectfully, confirming their independence from E2F-1. However, the E2F-2 and E2F-3 proteins are closely related to E2F-1. Both E2F-2 and E2F-3 bound to wild-type but not mutant E2F recognition sites, and they bound specifically to the retinoblastoma protein in vivo. Finally, E2F-2 and E2F-3 were able to activate transcription of E2F-responsive genes in a manner that was dependent upon the presence of at least one functional E2F binding site. These observations suggest that the E2F activities described previously result from the combined action of a family of proteins.

scholarly journals DNA-dependent macromolecular condensation drives self-assembly of the meiotic DNA break machinery

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corentin Claeys Bouuaert ◽  
Stephen Pu ◽  
Juncheng Wang ◽  
Dinshaw J. Patel ◽  
Scott Keeney
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Chromosome Structure ◽  
Coiled Coil ◽  
Double Strand Breaks ◽  
Dna Double Strand Breaks ◽  
Strand Breaks ◽  
Dna Breakage ◽  
And Control

Formation of meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by Spo11 is tightly regulated and tied to chromosome structure, but the higher-order assemblies that execute and control DNA breakage are poorly understood. We address this question through molecular characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae RMM proteins (Rec114, Mei4 and Mer2)—essential, conserved components of the DSB machinery. Each subcomplex of Rec114–Mei4 (2:1 heterotrimer) or Mer2 (homotetrameric coiled coil) is monodisperse in solution, but they independently condense with DNA into dynamic, reversible nucleoprotein clusters that share properties with phase-separated systems. Multivalent interactions drive condensation, which correlates with DSB formation in vivo. Condensates fuse into mixed Rec114–Mei4–Mer2 clusters that further recruit Spo11 complexes. Our data show how the DSB machinery self-assembles on chromosome axes to create centers of DSB activity. We propose that multilayered control of Spo11 arises from recruitment of regulatory components and modulation of biophysical properties of the condensates.

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