scholarly journals Local and global Cdc42 guanine nucleotide exchange factors for fission yeast cell polarity are coordinated by microtubules and the Tea1–Tea4–Pom1 axis

2018 ◽  
Vol 131 (14) ◽  
pp. jcs216580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Dee Tay ◽  
Marcin Leda ◽  
Andrew B. Goryachev ◽  
Kenneth E. Sawin
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clàudia Salat-Canela ◽  
Mercè Carmona ◽  
Rebeca Martín-García ◽  
Pilar Pérez ◽  
José Ayté ◽  
...  

Cdc42 rules cell polarity and growth in fission yeast. It is negatively and positively regulated by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) and by Guanine-nucleotide Exchange factors (GEFs), respectively. Active Cdc42-GTP localizes to the poles, where it associates with numerous proteins constituting the polarity module. However, little is known about its down-regulation. We describe here that oxidative stress causes Sty1 kinase-dependent Cdc42 inactivation at cell poles. Both the amount of active Cdc42 at poles and cell length inversely correlate with Sty1 activity, explaining the elongated morphology of Δsty1 cells. We have created stress-blinded cell poles by either eliminating two Cdc42 GAPs or through the constitutive tethering of a GEF to the cell tips, and biochemically demonstrate that Rga3 is a direct substrate of Sty1. We propose that stress-activated Sty1 promotes GTP hydrolysis and prevents GEF activity at the cell tips, thus leading to the inhibition of Cdc42 and polarized growth cessation.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Dee Tay ◽  
Marcin Leda ◽  
Andrew B. Goryachev ◽  
Kenneth E. Sawin

ABSTRACTThe conserved Rho-family GTPase Cdc42 plays a central role in eukaryotic cell polarity. The rod-shaped fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has two Cdc42 guanine-nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), Scd1 and Gef1, but little is known about how they are coordinated in polarized growth. Although the microtubule cytoskeleton is normally not required for polarity maintenance in fission yeast, here we show that when scdl function is compromised, disruption of microtubules or the polarity landmark proteins Tea1, Tea4, or Pom1 leads to isotropic rather than polarized growth. Surprisingly, this isotropic growth is due to spatially inappropriate activity of Gef1, which is a cytosolic protein rather than a membrane-associated protein at cell tips like Scd1. Microtubules and the Tea1/Tea4/Pom1 axis counteract inappropriate Gef1 activity by regulating the localization of the Cdc42 GTPase-activating protein Rga4. Our results thus demonstrate coordination of “local” (Scd1) and “global” (Gef1) Cdc42 GEFs via microtubules and microtubule-dependent polarity landmarks.


1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (19) ◽  
pp. 11076-11082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Quilliam ◽  
Mark M. Hisaka ◽  
Sheng Zhong ◽  
Amy Lowry ◽  
Raymond D. Mosteller ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 4830-4842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja G. Hunter ◽  
Guanglei Zhuang ◽  
Dana Brantley-Sieders ◽  
Wojciech Swat ◽  
Christopher W. Cowan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels are formed from preexisting vasculature, is critical for vascular remodeling during development and contributes to the pathogenesis of diseases such as cancer. Prior studies from our laboratory demonstrate that the EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase is a key regulator of angiogenesis in vivo. The EphA receptor-mediated angiogenic response is dependent on activation of Rho family GTPase Rac1 and is regulated by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. Here we report the identification of Vav2 and Vav3 as guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) that link the EphA2 receptor to Rho family GTPase activation and angiogenesis. Ephrin-A1 stimulation recruits the binding of Vav proteins to the activated EphA2 receptor. The induced association of EphA receptor and Vav proteins modulates the activity of Vav GEFs, leading to activation of Rac1 GTPase. Overexpression of either Vav2 or Vav3 in primary microvascular endothelial cells promotes Rac1 activation, cell migration, and assembly in response to ephrin-A1 stimulation. Conversely, loss of Vav2 and Vav3 GEFs inhibits Rac1 activation and ephrin-A1-induced angiogenic responses both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, embryonic fibroblasts derived from Vav2−/− Vav3−/− mice fail to spread on an ephrin-A1-coated surface and exhibit a significant decrease in the formation of ephrin-A1-induced lamellipodia and filopodia. These findings suggest that Vav GEFs serve as a molecular link between EphA2 receptors and the actin cytoskeleton and provide an important mechanism for EphA2-mediated angiogenesis.


Biochemistry ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (38) ◽  
pp. 5125-5133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Benabdi ◽  
François Peurois ◽  
Agata Nawrotek ◽  
Jahnavi Chikireddy ◽  
Tatiana Cañeque ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob J Stanley ◽  
Geraint MH Thomas

G proteins are an important family of signalling molecules controlled by guanine nucleotide exchange and GTPase activity in what is commonly called an 'activation/inactivation cycle'. The molecular mechanism by which guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) catalyse the activation of monomeric G proteins is well-established, however the complete reversibility of this mechanism is often overlooked. Here, we use a theoretical approach to prove that GEFs are unable to positively control G protein systems at steady-state in the absence of GTPase activity. Instead, positive regulation of G proteins must be seen as a product of the competition between guanine nucleotide exchange and GTPase activity -- emphasising a central role for GTPase activity beyond merely signal termination. We conclude that a more accurate description of the regulation of G proteins via these processes is as a 'balance/imbalance' mechanism. This result has implications for the understanding of many intracellular signalling processes, and for experimental strategies that rely on modulating G protein systems.


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