scholarly journals Ste20-like protein kinase SLK (LOSK) regulates microtubule organization by targeting dynactin to the centrosome

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (20) ◽  
pp. 3205-3214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga N. Zhapparova ◽  
Artem I. Fokin ◽  
Nadezhda E. Vorobyeva ◽  
Sofia A. Bryantseva ◽  
Elena S. Nadezhdina

The microtubule- and centrosome-associated Ste20-like kinase (SLK; long Ste20-like kinase [LOSK]) regulates cytoskeleton organization and cell polarization and spreading. Its inhibition causes microtubule disorganization and release of centrosomal dynactin. The major function of dynactin is minus end–directed transport along microtubules in a complex with dynein motor. In addition, dynactin is required for maintenance of the microtubule radial array in interphase cells, and depletion of its centrosomal pool entails microtubule disorganization. Here we demonstrate that SLK (LOSK) phosphorylates the p150Gluedsubunit of dynactin and thus targets it to the centrosome, where it maintains microtubule radial organization. We show that phosphorylation is required only for centrosomal localization of p150Gluedand does not affect its microtubule-organizing properties: artificial targeting of nonphosphorylatable p150Gluedto the centrosome restores microtubule radial array in cells with inhibited SLK (LOSK). The phosphorylation site is located in a microtubule-binding region that is variable for two isoforms (1A and 1B) of p150Gluedexpressed in cultured fibroblast-like cells (isoform 1B lacks 20 amino acids in the basic microtubule-binding domain). The fact that SLK (LOSK) phosphorylates only a minor isoform 1A of p150Gluedsuggests that transport and microtubule-organizing functions of dynactin are distinctly divided between the two isoforms. We also show that dynactin phosphorylation is involved in Golgi reorientation in polarized cells.

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1355-1365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Silvanovich ◽  
Min-gang Li ◽  
Madeline Serr ◽  
Sarah Mische ◽  
Thomas S. Hays

Sequence comparisons and structural analyses show that the dynein heavy chain motor subunit is related to the AAA family of chaperone-like ATPases. The core structure of the dynein motor unit derives from the assembly of six AAA domains into a hexameric ring. In dynein, the first four AAA domains contain consensus nucleotide triphosphate-binding motifs, or P-loops. The recent structural models of dynein heavy chain have fostered the hypothesis that the energy derived from hydrolysis at P-loop 1 acts through adjacent P-loop domains to effect changes in the attachment state of the microtubule-binding domain. However, to date, the functional significance of the P-loop domains adjacent to the ATP hydrolytic site has not been demonstrated. Our results provide a mutational analysis of P-loop function within the first and third AAA domains of theDrosophila cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain. Here we report the first evidence that P-loop-3 function is essential for dynein function. Significantly, our results further show that P-loop-3 function is required for the ATP-induced release of the dynein complex from microtubules. Mutation of P-loop-3 blocks ATP-mediated release of dynein from microtubules, but does not appear to block ATP binding and hydrolysis at P-loop 1. Combined with the recent recognition that dynein belongs to the family of AAA ATPases, the observations support current models in which the multiple AAA domains of the dynein heavy chain interact to support the translocation of the dynein motor down the microtubule lattice.


2007 ◽  
Vol 176 (5) ◽  
pp. 641-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hwajin Kim ◽  
Shuo-Chien Ling ◽  
Gregory C. Rogers ◽  
Comert Kural ◽  
Paul R. Selvin ◽  
...  

Dynactin links cytoplasmic dynein and other motors to cargo and is involved in organizing radial microtubule arrays. The largest subunit of dynactin, p150glued, binds the dynein intermediate chain and has an N-terminal microtubule-binding domain. To examine the role of microtubule binding by p150glued, we replaced the wild-type p150glued in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells with mutant ΔN-p150 lacking residues 1–200, which is unable to bind microtubules. Cells treated with cytochalasin D were used for analysis of cargo movement along microtubules. Strikingly, although the movement of both membranous organelles and messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes by dynein and kinesin-1 requires dynactin, the substitution of full-length p150glued with ΔN-p150glued has no effect on the rate, processivity, or step size of transport. However, truncation of the microtubule-binding domain of p150glued has a dramatic effect on cell division, resulting in the generation of multipolar spindles and free microtubule-organizing centers. Thus, dynactin binding to microtubules is required for organizing spindle microtubule arrays but not cargo motility in vivo.


Science ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 322 (5908) ◽  
pp. 1691-1695 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Carter ◽  
J. E. Garbarino ◽  
E. M. Wilson-Kubalek ◽  
W. E. Shipley ◽  
C. Cho ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 217 (11) ◽  
pp. 3886-3900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Llauró ◽  
Hanako Hayashi ◽  
Megan E. Bailey ◽  
Alex Wilson ◽  
Patryk Ludzia ◽  
...  

Kinetochores are multiprotein machines that drive chromosome segregation by maintaining persistent, load-bearing linkages between chromosomes and dynamic microtubule tips. Kinetochores in commonly studied eukaryotes bind microtubules through widely conserved components like the Ndc80 complex. However, in evolutionarily divergent kinetoplastid species such as Trypanosoma brucei, which causes sleeping sickness, the kinetochores assemble from a unique set of proteins lacking homology to any known microtubule-binding domains. Here, we show that the T. brucei kinetochore protein KKT4 binds directly to microtubules and maintains load-bearing attachments to both growing and shortening microtubule tips. The protein localizes both to kinetochores and to spindle microtubules in vivo, and its depletion causes defects in chromosome segregation. We define a microtubule-binding domain within KKT4 and identify several charged residues important for its microtubule-binding activity. Thus, despite its lack of significant similarity to other known microtubule-binding proteins, KKT4 has key functions required for driving chromosome segregation. We propose that it represents a primary element of the kinetochore–microtubule interface in kinetoplastids.


eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina L Agulto ◽  
Melissa M Rogers ◽  
Tracy C Tan ◽  
Amrita Ramkumar ◽  
Ashlyn M Downing ◽  
...  

The microtubule-associated protein, doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1), is highly expressed in a range of cancers and is a prominent therapeutic target for kinase inhibitors. The physiological roles of DCLK1 kinase activity and how it is regulated remain elusive. Here, we analyze the role of mammalian DCLK1 kinase activity in regulating microtubule binding. We find that DCLK1 autophosphorylates a residue within its C-terminal tail to restrict its kinase activity and prevent aberrant hyperphosphorylation within its microtubule-binding domain. Removal of the C-terminal tail or mutation of this residue causes an increase in phosphorylation within the doublecortin domains, which abolishes microtubule binding. Therefore, autophosphorylation at specific sites within DCLK1 have diametric effects on the molecule's association with microtubules. Our results suggest a mechanism by which DCLK1 modulates its kinase activity to tune its microtubule-binding affinity. These results provide molecular insights for future therapeutic efforts related to DCLK1's role in cancer development and progression.


2002 ◽  
Vol 115 (7) ◽  
pp. 1523-1539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Bélanger ◽  
Carole Abi Farah ◽  
Minh Dang Nguyen ◽  
Michel Lauzon ◽  
Sylvie Cornibert ◽  
...  

The expression of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), developmentally regulated by alternative splicing, coincides with neurite outgrowth. MAP2 proteins contain a microtubule-binding domain (C-terminal) that promotes microtubule assembly and a poorly characterized domain, the projection domain(N-terminal), extending at the surface of microtubules. MAP2b differs from MAP2c by an additional sequence of 1372 amino acids in the projection domain. In this study, we examined the role of the projection domain in the protrusion of microtubules from the cell surface and the subsequent process formation in Sf9 cells. In this system, MAP2b has a lower capacity to induce process formation than MAP2c. To investigate the role of the projection domain in this event, we expressed truncated forms of MAP2b and MAP2c that have partial or complete deletion of their projection domain in Sf9 cells. Our results indicate that process formation is induced by the microtubule-binding domain of these MAP2 proteins and is regulated by their projection domain. Furthermore, the microtubule-binding activity of MAP2b and MAP2c truncated forms as well as the structural properties of the microtubule bundles induced by them do not seem to be the only determinants that control the protrusion of microtubules from the cell surface in Sf9 cells. Rather, our data suggest that microtubule protrusion and process formation are regulated by intramolecular interactions between the projection domain and its microtubule-binding domain in MAP2b.


1999 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.J. Quintyne ◽  
S.R. Gill ◽  
D.M. Eckley ◽  
C.L. Crego ◽  
D.A. Compton ◽  
...  

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.


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