Functional Analysis of Rab27a Effector Granuphilin in Insulin Exocytosis

GDP-bound Rab27a regulates clathrin disassembly through HSPA8 after insulin secretion

Clathrin-dependent endocytosis is a key process for secretory cells, in which molecules on the plasma membrane are both degraded and recycled in a stimulus-dependent manner. There are many reports showing that disruption of endocytosis is involved in the onset of various diseases. Recently, it has been reported that such disruption in pancreatic β-cells causes impaired insulin secretion and might be associated with the pathology of diabetes mellitus. Compared with exocytosis, there are few reports on the molecular mechanism of endocytosis in pancreatic β-cells. We previously reported that GDP-bound Rab27a regulates endocytosis through its GDP-dependent effectors after insulin secretion. In this study, we identified heat shock protein family A member 8 (HSPA8) as a novel interacting protein for GDP-bound Rab27a. HSPA8 directly bound GDP-bound Rab27a via the β2 region of its substrate binding domain (SBD). The β2 fragment was capable of inhibiting the interaction between HSPA8 and GDP-bound Rab27a, and suppressed glucose-induced clathrin-dependent endocytosis in pancreatic β-cells. The region also affected clathrin dynamics on purified clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs). These results suggest that the interaction between GDP-bound Rab27a and HSPA8 regulates clathrin disassembly from CCVs and subsequent vesicle transport. The regulatory stages in endocytosis by HSPA8 differ from those for other GDP-bound Rab27a effectors. This study shows that GDP-bound Rab27a dominantly regulates each stage in glucose-induced endocytosis through its specific effectors in pancreatic β-cells.

High Functioning Autism with Missense Mutations in Synaptotagmin-Like Protein 4 (SYTL4) and Transmembrane Protein 187 (TMEM187) Genes: SYTL4- Protein Modeling, Protein-Protein Interaction, Expression Profiling and MicroRNA Studies

We describe a 7-year-old male with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and maternally-inherited rare missense variant of Synaptotagmin-like protein 4 (SYTL4) gene (Xq22.1; c.835C>T; p.Arg279Cys) and an unknown missense variant of Transmembrane protein 187 (TMEM187) gene (Xq28; c.708G>T; p. Gln236His). Multiple in-silico predictions described in our study indicate a potentially damaging status for both X-linked genes. Analysis of predicted atomic threading models of the mutant and the native SYTL4 proteins suggest a potential structural change induced by the R279C variant which eliminates the stabilizing Arg279-Asp60 salt bridge in the N-terminal half of the SYTL4, affecting the functionality of the protein's critical RAB-Binding Domain. In the European (Non-Finnish) population, the allele frequency for this variant is 0.00042. The SYTL4 gene is known to directly interact with several members of the RAB family of genes, such as, RAB27A, RAB27B, RAB8A, and RAB3A which are known autism spectrum disorder genes. The SYTL4 gene also directly interacts with three known autism genes: STX1A, SNAP25 and STXBP1. Through a literature-based analytical approach, we identified three of five (60%) autism-associated serum microRNAs (miRs) with high predictive power among the total of 298 mouse Sytl4 associated/predicted microRNA interactions. Five of 13 (38%) miRs were differentially expressed in serum from ASD individuals which were predicted to interact with the mouse equivalent Sytl4 gene. TMEM187 gene, like SYTL4, is a protein-coding gene that belongs to a group of genes which host microRNA genes in their introns or exons. The novel Q236H amino acid variant in the TMEM187 in our patient is near the terminal end region of the protein which is represented by multiple sequence alignments and hidden Markov models, preventing comparative structural analysis of the variant harboring region. Like SYTL4, the TMEM187 gene is expressed in the brain and interacts with four known ASD genes, namely, HCFC1; TMLHE; MECP2; and GPHN. TMM187 is in linkage with MECP2, which is a well-known determinant of brain structure and size and is a well-known autism gene. Other members of the TMEM gene family, TMEM132E and TMEM132D genes are associated with bipolar and panic disorders, respectively, while TMEM231 is a known syndromic autism gene. Together, TMEM187 and SYTL4 genes directly interact with recognized important ASD genes, and their mRNAs are found in extracellular vesicles in the nervous system and stimulate target cells to translate into active protein. Our evidence shows that both these genes should be considered as candidate genes for autism. Additional biological testing is warranted to further determine the pathogenicity of these gene variants in the causation of autism.

Sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c and pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction

It has long been known that excess intracellular fatty acids cause impaired insulin secretion, referred to as beta-cell lipotoxicity. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1c is a transcription factor that controls hepatic fatty acid synthesis. Activation of SREBP-1c by overnutrition also inhibits insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS-2) and induces insulin resistance in the liver. As SREBP-1c is also expressed in beta cells, we hypothesized that activation of SREBP-1c could be a part of the mechanism by which saturated fatty acids induce beta-cell lipotoxicity. We found that nuclear SREBP-1c has a negative impact on both glucose- and potassium-stimulated insulin secretion as determined in islets from beta-cell-specific SREBP-1c transgenic mice as well as SREBP-1c knockout mice. This effect of SREBP-1c involves multiple functional pathways required for insulin secretion from beta cells: (i) decreased ATP caused by energy consumption through lipogenesis and uncoupling protein-2 (UCP-2) activation; (ii) repressed IRS-2 and pancreas duodenum homeobox 1 (PDX1) expression, leading to impaired beta-cell mass; and (iii) impaired post-ATP membrane voltage-dependent steps of the insulin secretion pathway caused by upregulated granuphilin and other ion channel proteins. Saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid (PA), impair insulin secretion through SREBP-1c activation, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) restore PA-suppressed insulin secretion through suppression of SREBP-1c. These data implicate a therapeutic potential of EPA against insulin secretion defects caused by lipotoxicity.

Exophilin4/Slp2-a targets glucagon granules to the plasma membrane through unique Ca2+-inhibitory phospholipid-binding activity of the C2A domain

Rab27a and Rab27b have recently been recognized to play versatile roles in regulating the exocytosis of secretory granules and lysosome-related organelles by using multiple effector proteins. However, the precise roles of these effector proteins in particular cell types largely remain uncharacterized, except for those in pancreatic beta cells and in melanocytes. Here, we showed that one of the Rab27a/b effectors, exophilin4/Slp2-a, is specifically expressed in pancreatic alpha cells, in contrast to another effector, granuphilin, in beta cells. Like granuphilin toward insulin granules, exophilin4 promotes the targeting of glucagon granules to the plasma membrane. Although the interaction of granuphilin with syntaxin-1a is critical for the targeting activity, exophilin4 does this primarily through the affinity of its C2A domain toward the plasma membrane phospholipids phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate. Notably, the binding activity to phosphatidylserine is inhibited by a physiological range of the Ca(2+) concentration attained after secretagogue stimulation, which presents a striking contrast to the Ca(2+)-stimulatory activity of the C2A domain of synaptotagmin I. Analyses of the mutant suggested that this novel Ca(2+)-inhibitory phospholipid-binding activity not only mediates docking but also modulates the subsequent fusion of the secretory granules.