scholarly journals Somatic CRISPR–Cas9-induced mutations reveal roles of embryonically essential dynein chains in Caenorhabditis elegans cilia

2015 ◽  
Vol 208 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjing Li ◽  
Peishan Yi ◽  
Guangshuo Ou

Cilium formation and maintenance require intraflagellar transport (IFT). Although much is known about kinesin-2–driven anterograde IFT, the composition and regulation of retrograde IFT-specific dynein remain elusive. Components of cytoplasmic dynein may participate in IFT; however, their essential roles in cell division preclude functional studies in postmitotic cilia. Here, we report that inducible expression of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–Cas9 system in Caenorhabditis elegans generated conditional mutations in IFT motors and particles, recapitulating ciliary defects in their null mutants. Using this method to bypass the embryonic requirement, we show the following: the dynein intermediate chain, light chain LC8, and lissencephaly-1 regulate retrograde IFT; the dynein light intermediate chain functions in dendrites and indirectly contributes to ciliogenesis; and the Tctex and Roadblock light chains are dispensable for cilium assembly. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these components undergo biphasic IFT with distinct transport frequencies and turnaround behaviors. Together, our results suggest that IFT–dynein and cytoplasmic dynein have unique compositions but also share components and regulatory mechanisms.

2001 ◽  
Vol 276 (17) ◽  
pp. 14067-14074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Keung Mok ◽  
Kevin W.-H. Lo ◽  
Mingjie Zhang

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1722-1734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sher Karki ◽  
Lee A. Ligon ◽  
Jamison DeSantis ◽  
Mariko Tokito ◽  
Erika L. F. Holzbaur

We screened for polypeptides that interact specifically with dynein and identified a novel 24-kDa protein (PLAC-24) that binds directly to dynein intermediate chain (DIC). PLAC-24 is not a dynactin subunit, and the binding of PLAC-24 to the dynein intermediate chain is independent of the association between dynein and dynactin. Immunocytochemistry using PLAC-24–specific polyclonal antibodies revealed a punctate perinuclear distribution of the polypeptide in fibroblasts and isolated epithelial cells. However, as epithelial cells in culture make contact with adjacent cells, PLAC-24 is specifically recruited to the cortex at sites of contact, where the protein colocalizes with components of the adherens junction. Disruption of the cellular cytoskeleton with latrunculin or nocodazole indicates that the localization of PLAC-24 to the cortex is dependent on intact actin filaments but not on microtubules. Overexpression of β-catenin also leads to a loss of PLAC-24 from sites of cell-cell contact. On the basis of these data and the recent observation that cytoplasmic dynein is also localized to sites of cell-cell contact in epithelial cells, we propose that PLAC-24 is part of a multiprotein complex localized to sites of intercellular contact that may function to tether microtubule plus ends to the actin-rich cellular cortex.


1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 425-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbeth Berrueta ◽  
Jennifer S. Tirnauer ◽  
Scott C. Schuyler ◽  
David Pellman ◽  
Barbara E. Bierer

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2921-2933 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Yoder ◽  
Min Han

We describe phenotypic characterization of dli-1, the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of cytoplasmic dynein light intermediate chain (LIC), a subunit of the cytoplasmic dynein motor complex. Animals homozygous for loss-of-function mutations indli-1 exhibit stochastic failed divisions in late larval cell lineages, resulting in zygotic sterility. dli-1 is required for dynein function during mitosis. Depletion of thedli-1 gene product through RNA-mediated gene interference (RNAi) reveals an early embryonic requirement. One-celldli-1(RNAi) embryos exhibit failed cell division attempts, resulting from a variety of mitotic defects. Specifically, pronuclear migration, centrosome separation, and centrosome association with the male pronuclear envelope are defective indli-1(RNAi) embryos. Meiotic spindle formation, however, is not affected in these embryos. DLI-1, like its vertebrate homologs, contains a putative nucleotide-binding domain similar to those found in the ATP-binding cassette transporter family of ATPases as well as other nucleotide-binding and -hydrolyzing proteins. Amino acid substitutions in a conserved lysine residue, known to be required for nucleotide binding, confers complete rescue in a dli-1mutant background, indicating this is not an essential domain for DLI-1 function.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana R. G. De-Castro ◽  
Diogo R. M. Rodrigues ◽  
Maria J. G. De-Castro ◽  
Neide Vieira ◽  
Carmen Vieira ◽  
...  

The dynein-2 motor complex drives retrograde intraflagellar transport (IFT), playing a pivotal role in the assembly and functions of cilia. However, the mechanisms that regulate dynein-2 motility remain poorly understood. Here, we identify the Caenorhabditis elegans WDR60 homolog (WDR-60) and dissect the roles of this intermediate chain using genome editing and live imaging of endogenous dynein-2/IFT components. We find that loss of WDR-60 impairs dynein-2 recruitment to cilia and its incorporation onto anterograde IFT trains, reducing the availability of the retrograde motor at the ciliary tip. Consistently, we show that less dynein-2 motors power WDR-60-deficient retrograde IFT trains, which move at reduced velocities and fail to exit cilia, accumulating on the distal side of the transition zone. Remarkably, disrupting the transition zone's NPHP module almost fully restores ciliary exit of underpowered retrograde trains in wdr-60 mutants. This work establishes WDR-60 as a major contributor to IFT and the NPHP module as a roadblock to dynein-2 passage through the transition zone.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 162 (3) ◽  
pp. 1211-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin L M Boylan ◽  
Thomas S Hays

Abstract The microtubule motor cytoplasmic dynein powers a variety of intracellular transport events that are essential for cellular and developmental processes. A current hypothesis is that the accessory subunits of the dynein complex are important for the specialization of cytoplasmic dynein function. In a genetic approach to understanding the range of dynein functions and the contribution of the different subunits to dynein motor function and regulation, we have identified mutations in the gene for the cytoplasmic dynein intermediate chain, Dic19C. We used a functional Dic transgene in a genetic screen to recover X-linked lethal mutations that require this transgene for viability. Three Dic mutations were identified and characterized. All three Dic alleles result in larval lethality, demonstrating that the intermediate chain serves an essential function in Drosophila. Like a deficiency that removes Dic19C, the Dic mutations dominantly enhance the rough eye phenotype of Glued1, a dominant mutation in the gene for the p150 subunit of the dynactin complex, a dynein activator. Additionally, we used complementation analysis to identify an existing mutation, shortwing (sw), as an allele of the dynein intermediate chain gene. Unlike the Dic alleles isolated de novo, shortwing is homozygous viable and exhibits recessive and temperature-sensitive defects in eye and wing development. These phenotypes are rescued by the wild-type Dic transgene, indicating that shortwing is a viable allele of the dynein intermediate chain gene and revealing a novel role for dynein function during wing development.


1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (02) ◽  
pp. 910-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W Rothwell ◽  
Valerie S Calvert

SummaryIn our studies of human platelets we have detected the presence of the molecular motors kinesin and dynein. Dynein is present at a concentration (0.8 μg/g tissue) that is approximately 1/3 the concentration reported for neuronal tissue. Immunofluorescence microscopy of resting platelets shows that, while platelet microtubules are arranged in coiled hoops forming the marginal band in the cortical region of the platelet, dynein is distributed in a pattern of punctate staining throughout the cytoplasm of the platelets. Fractionation of unactivated platelets shows that dynein partitions to the soluble fraction. Stimulation of platelets with thrombin, ADP or epinephrine causes a partial translocation of dynein from the soluble fraction to the particulate fraction with thrombin being the most efficient agent at promoting this shift. Dynein intermediate chain recovered in the soluble fraction of disrupted platelets following activation displays a transient, time-dependent phosphorylation. In contrast, dynein intermediate chain recovered in the particulate fraction shows decreased phosphorylation. These results indicate that human platelets contain a complex microtubule-based system of motor proteins that is an integral part of the physiological changes occurring during platelet activation.


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