scholarly journals Kinesin-14 Family Proteins HSET/XCTK2 Control Spindle Length by Cross-Linking and Sliding Microtubules

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1348-1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shang Cai ◽  
Lesley N. Weaver ◽  
Stephanie C. Ems-McClung ◽  
Claire E. Walczak

Kinesin-14 family proteins are minus-end directed motors that cross-link microtubules and play key roles during spindle assembly. We showed previously that the Xenopus Kinesin-14 XCTK2 is regulated by Ran via the association of a bipartite NLS in the tail of XCTK2 with importin α/β, which regulates its ability to cross-link microtubules during spindle formation. Here we show that mutation of the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of human Kinesin-14 HSET caused an accumulation of HSET in the cytoplasm, which resulted in strong microtubule bundling. HSET overexpression in HeLa cells resulted in longer spindles, similar to what was seen with NLS mutants of XCTK2 in extracts, suggesting that Kinesin-14 proteins play similar roles in extracts and in somatic cells. Conversely, HSET knockdown by RNAi resulted in shorter spindles but did not affect pole formation. The change in spindle length was not dependent on K-fibers, as elimination of the K-fiber by Nuf2 RNAi resulted in an increase in spindle length that was partially rescued by co-RNAi of HSET. However, these changes in spindle length did require microtubule sliding, as overexpression of an HSET mutant that had its sliding activity uncoupled from its ATPase activity resulted in cells with spindle lengths shorter than cells overexpressing wild-type HSET. Our results are consistent with a model in which Ran regulates the association of Kinesin-14s with importin α/β to prevent aberrant cross-linking and bundling of microtubules by sequestering Kinesin-14s in the nucleus during interphase. Kinesin-14s act during mitosis to cross-link and slide between parallel microtubules to regulate spindle length.

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 2495-2505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergely Róna ◽  
Mary Marfori ◽  
Máté Borsos ◽  
Ildikó Scheer ◽  
Enikő Takács ◽  
...  

Phosphorylation adjacent to nuclear localization signals (NLSs) is involved in the regulation of nucleocytoplasmic transport. The nuclear isoform of human dUTPase, an enzyme that is essential for genomic integrity, has been shown to be phosphorylated on a serine residue (Ser11) in the vicinity of its nuclear localization signal; however, the effect of this phosphorylation is not yet known. To investigate this issue, an integrated set of structural, molecular and cell biological methods were employed. It is shown that NLS-adjacent phosphorylation of dUTPase occurs during the M phase of the cell cycle. Comparison of the cellular distribution of wild-type dUTPase with those of hyperphosphorylation- and hypophosphorylation-mimicking mutants suggests that phosphorylation at Ser11 leads to the exclusion of dUTPase from the nucleus. Isothermal titration microcalorimetry and additional independent biophysical techniques show that the interaction between dUTPase and importin-α, the karyopherin molecule responsible for `classical' NLS binding, is weakened significantly in the case of the S11E hyperphosphorylation-mimicking mutant. The structures of the importin-α–wild-type and the importin-α–hyperphosphorylation-mimicking dUTPase NLS complexes provide structural insights into the molecular details of this regulation. The data indicate that the post-translational modification of dUTPase during the cell cycle may modulate the nuclear availability of this enzyme.


2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. Ems-McClung ◽  
Yixian Zheng ◽  
Claire E. Walczak

The small GTPase Ran is essential for spindle assembly. Ran is proposed to act through its nuclear import receptors importin α and/or importin β to control the sequestration of proteins necessary for spindle assembly. To date, the molecular mechanisms by which the Ran pathway functions remain unclear. Using purified proteins, we have reconstituted Ran-regulated microtubule binding of the C-terminal kinesin XCTK2, a kinesin important for spindle assembly. We show that the tail of XCTK2 binds to microtubules and that this binding is inhibited in the presence of importin α and β (α/β) and restored by addition of Ran-GTP. The bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS) in the tail of XCTK2 is essential to this process, because mutation of the NLS abolishes importin α/β-mediated regulation of XCTK2 microtubule binding. Our data show that importin α/β directly regulates the activity of XCTK2 and that one of the molecular mechanisms of Ran-regulated spindle assembly is identical to that used in classical NLS-driven nuclear transport.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie C. Ems-McClung ◽  
Mackenzie Emch ◽  
Stephanie Zhang ◽  
Serena Mahnoor ◽  
Lesley N. Weaver ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh RanGTP around chromatin is important for governing spindle assembly during meiosis and mitosis by releasing the inhibitory effects of importin α/β. Here we examine how the Ran gradient regulates Kinesin-14 function to control spindle organization. We show that Xenopus Kinesin-14, XCTK2, and importin α/β form an effector gradient, which is highest at the poles that diminishes toward the chromatin and is inverse of the RanGTP gradient. Importin α/β preferentially inhibit XCTK2 anti-parallel microtubule cross-linking and sliding by decreasing the microtubule affinity of the XCTK2 tail domain. This change in microtubule affinity enables RanGTP to target endogenous XCTK2 to the spindle. We propose that these combined actions of the Ran pathway are critical to promote Kinesin-14 parallel microtubule cross-linking at the spindle poles to cluster centrosomes in cancer cells. Furthermore, our work illustrates that RanGTP regulation in the spindle is not simply a switch, but rather generates effector gradients where RanGTP gradually tunes the activities of spindle assembly factors.SummaryEms-McClung et al. visualize a RanGTP effector gradient of association between XCTK2 and importin α/β in the spindle. The importins preferentially inhibit XCTK2-mediate anti-parallel microtubule cross-linking and sliding, which allows XCTK2 to cross-link parallel microtubules and help focus spindle poles.


1999 ◽  
Vol 145 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efrosyni Paraskeva ◽  
Elisa Izaurralde ◽  
F. Ralf Bischoff ◽  
Jochen Huber ◽  
Ulrike Kutay ◽  
...  

Importin β is a major mediator of import into the cell nucleus. Importin β binds cargo molecules either directly or via two types of adapter molecules, importin α, for import of proteins with a classical nuclear localization signal (NLS), or snurportin 1, for import of m3G-capped U snRNPs. Both adapters have an NH2-terminal importin β–binding domain for binding to, and import by, importin β, and both need to be returned to the cytoplasm after having delivered their cargoes to the nucleus. We have shown previously that CAS mediates export of importin α. Here we show that snurportin 1 is exported by CRM1, the receptor for leucine-rich nuclear export signals (NESs). However, the interaction of CRM1 with snurportin 1 differs from that with previously characterized NESs. First, CRM1 binds snurportin 1 50-fold stronger than the Rev protein and 5,000-fold stronger than the minimum Rev activation domain. Second, snurportin 1 interacts with CRM1 not through a short peptide but rather via a large domain that allows regulation of affinity. Strikingly, snurportin 1 has a low affinity for CRM1 when bound to its m3G-capped import substrate, and a high affinity when substrate-free. This mechanism appears crucial for productive import cycles as it can ensure that CRM1 only exports snurportin 1 that has already released its import substrate in the nucleus.


Blood ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 2034-2034
Author(s):  
Masafumi Yamaguchi ◽  
Kingo Fujimura ◽  
Hanae Toga-Yamaguchi ◽  
Valentina Svetic ◽  
Naoki Okamura ◽  
...  

Abstract Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and bone marrow failure. The SDS disease locus was mapped to chromosome 7q11. We have previously reported that Shwachman-Bodian- Diamond syndrome (SBDS) gene is not required for neutrophil maturation. However, SBDS knockdown cells were sensitive to apoptotic stimuli, indicating that SBDS acts to maintain survival of granulocyte precursor cells. (Exp Hematol35; 579, 2007). A wide variety of mutations in SBDS gene has been identified, and almost of all patients show truncated immature proteins, p.K62X (c.183_184TA>CT) or p.C84fsX3 (c.258+2T>C). However, it is not yet clear how these truncated proteins affect cellular processes that result in the SDS phenotype. The SBDS protein is localized to the nucleoli but does not have the canonical nuclear localization signal. In order to clarify the molecular basis of pathogenicity of mutated SBDS proteins, we explored the subcellular distribution of normal and mutant SBDS proteins in Hela and 32Dcl3 cells. Using various N-terminal and C-terminal deletion constructs, we found N-terminal region, domain I (1-87 amino acid residue) in particular, was necessary to localize to the nucleus. The disease related mutations (C31W, K33E, N34I, L71P) and the mutations which are conserved among the species in the domain I (E44K, K62E, D70N, E82K) were generated. C31W and N34I mutants failed to localize SBDS to the nuclei. The SV40 derived nuclear localization signal was fused to these mutated SBDS protein, and these proteins were clearly localized to the nuclei. In addition to the mislocalization, the protein expression level of these mutants showed a dramatic decrease compared to the wild type. We also established SBDS wild type and domain I overexpressed 32Dcl3 cell. SBDS wild type overexpressed cells could differentiate to normal neutrophils in the presence of mG-CSF, however domain I overexpressed cells did not differentiate. Almost of all cells showed apoptosis in this domain I overexpressed cells in the presence of mG-CSF, and this was very similar like SBDS RNAi knockdown cells. The localization of endogenous SBDS protein was also analyzed in this domain I overexpressed cells. The domain I was concentrated to nuclei, however endogenous SBDS protein was diffused to cytosol. Conclusions: The present findings enable us to document the nuclear localization signals in SBDS domain I, and that the shuttling protein would promote SBDS to nuclei. These results also showed that mislocalization and/or low expression level of mutated SBDS protein would cause SDS.


2004 ◽  
Vol 280 (11) ◽  
pp. 10599-10606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Hsuan Chen ◽  
Iris Ben-Efraim ◽  
Gregory Mitrousis ◽  
Nancy Walker-Kopp ◽  
Peter J. Sims ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (21) ◽  
pp. 4781-4785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariia Bogacheva ◽  
Anna Egorova ◽  
Anna Slita ◽  
Marianna Maretina ◽  
Vladislav Baranov ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 280 (23) ◽  
pp. 21942-21948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigit E. Riley ◽  
Huda Y. Zoghbi ◽  
Harry T. Orr

SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) is a member of the ubiquitin family of proteins. SUMO targets include proteins involved in numerous roles including nuclear transport and transcriptional regulation. The previous finding that mutant ataxin-1[82Q] disrupted promyelocytic leukemia (PML) oncogenic domains prompted us to determine whether ataxin-1 disrupts another component of PML oncogenic domains, Sp100 (100-kDa Speckled protein). Similar to the PML protein, mutant ataxin-1[82Q] redistributed Sp100 to mutant ataxin-1[82Q] nuclear inclusions. Based on the ability of PML and Sp100 to be covalently modified by SUMO, we investigated the ability of ataxin-1 to be SUMOylated. SUMO-1 was found to covalently modify the polyglutamine repeat protein ataxin-1. There was a decrease in ataxin-1 SUMOylation in the presence of the expanded polyglutamine tract, ataxin-1[82Q]. The phospho-mutant, ataxin-1[82Q]-S776A, restored SUMO levels to those of wild-type ataxin-1[30Q]. SUMOylation of ataxin-1 was dependent on a functional nuclear localization signal. Ataxin-1 SUMOylation was mapped to at least five lysine residues. Lys16, Lys194 preceding the polyglutamine tract, Lys610/Lys697 in the C-terminal ataxin high mobility group domain, and Lys746 all contribute to ataxin-1 SUMOylation.


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