Cytoskeleton: missing links found?

Identification of morphological and biochemical changes in keratin-8/18 knock-down cells using Raman spectroscopy

Accurate understanding of cellular processes and responses to stimuli is of paramount importance in biomedical research and diagnosis. Raman spectroscopy (RS), a label-free and nondestructive spectroscopic method has the potential to serve as a novel 'theranostics' tool. Both fiber-optic and micro-Raman studies have demonstrated efficacy in diagnostics and therapeutic response monitoring. In the present study, we have evaluated the potential of micro-Raman spectroscopic maps in identifying changes induced by loss of K8/18 proteins in a tongue cancer cell line. Furthermore, we also evaluated the efficacy of less expensive and commercially available fiber probes to identify K8/18 wild and knock-down cell pellets, in view of the utility of cell pellet-based studies. The findings suggest that major differences in the cellular morphology and biochemical composition can be objectively identified and can be utilized for classification using both micro-Raman and fiber-probe-based RS. These findings highlight the potential of fiber-optic probe-based RS in noninvasive cellular phenotyping for diagnosis and therapeutic response monitoring, especially in low-resource settings.

Untethering the nuclear envelope and cytoskeleton: biologically distinct dystonias arising from a common cellular dysfunction

Most cases of early onset DYT1 dystonia in humans are caused by a GAG deletion in the TOR1A gene leading to loss of a glutamic acid (ΔE) in the torsinA protein, which underlies a movement disorder associated with neuronal dysfunction without apparent neurodegeneration. Mutation/deletion of the gene (Dst) encoding dystonin in mice results in a dystonic movement disorder termed dystonia musculorum, which resembles aspects of dystonia in humans. While torsinA and dystonin proteins do not share modular domain architecture, they participate in a similar function by modulating a structural link between the nuclear envelope and the cytoskeleton in neuronal cells. We suggest that through a shared interaction with the nuclear envelope protein nesprin-3α, torsinA and the neuronal dystonin-a2 isoform comprise a bridge complex between the outer nuclear membrane and the cytoskeleton, which is critical for some aspects of neuronal development and function. Elucidation of the overlapping roles of torsinA and dystonin-a2 in nuclear/endoplasmic reticulum dynamics should provide insights into the cellular mechanisms underlying the dystonic phenotype.

Keratin filament suspensions show unique micromechanical properties

All epithelial cells feature a prominent keratin intermediate filament (IF) network in their cytoplasm. Studies in transgenic mice and in patients with inherited epithelial fragility syndromes showed that a major function of keratin IFs is to provide mechanical support to epithelial cell sheets. Yet the micromechanical properties of keratin IFs themselves remain unknown. We used rheological methods to assess the properties of suspensions of epidermal type I and type II keratin IFs and of vimentin, a type III IF polymer. We find that both types of IFs form gels with properties akin to visco-elastic solids. With increasing deformation they display strain hardening and yield relatively rapidly. Remarkably, both types of gels recover their preshear properties upon cessation of the deformation. Repeated imposition of small deformations gives rise to a progressively stiffer gel for keratin but not vimentin IFs. The visco-elastic moduli of both gels show a weak dependence upon the frequency of the input shear stress and the concentration of the polymer, suggesting that both steric and nonsteric interactions between individual polymers contribute to the observed mechanical properties. In support of this, the length of individual polymers contributes only modestly to the properties of IF gels. Collectively these properties render IFs unique among cytoskeletal polymers and have strong implications for their function in vivo.

The intermediate filament protein peripherin is the specific interaction partner of mouse BPAG1-n (dystonin) in neurons

The dystonia musculorum (dt) mouse suffers from severe degeneration of primary sensory neurons. The mutated gene product is named dystonin and is identical to the neuronal isoform of bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 (BPAG1-n). BPAG1-n contains an actin-binding domain at its NH2 terminus and a putative intermediate filament-binding domain at its COOH terminus. Because the degenerating sensory neurons of dt mice display abnormal accumulations of intermediate filaments in the axons, BPAG1-n has been postulated to organize the neuronal cytoskeleton by interacting with both the neurofilament triplet proteins (NFTPs) and microfilaments. In this paper we show by a variety of methods that the COOH-terminal tail domain of mouse BPAG1 interacts specifically with peripherin, but in contrast to a previous study (Yang, Y., J. Dowling, Q.C. Yu, P. Kouklis, D.W. Cleveland, and E. Fuchs. 1996. Cell. 86:655-665), mouse BPAG1 fails to associate with full-length NFTPs. The tail domains interfered with the association of the NFTPs with BPAG1. In dt mice, peripherin is present in axonal swellings of degenerating sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia and is downregulated even in other neural regions, which have no obvious signs of pathology. Since peripherin and BPAG1-n also display similar expression patterns in the nervous system, we suggest that peripherin is the specific interaction partner of BPAG1-n in vivo.

Plectin: a cytolinker by design

Plectin is a cytoskeletal protein of >500 kDa that forms dumbbell-shaped homodimers comprising a central parallel alpha-helical coiled coil rod domain flanked by globular domains, thus providing a molecular backbone ideally suited to mediate the protein's interactions with an array of other cytoskeletal elements. Plectin self-associates and interacts with actin and intermediate filament cytoskeleton networks at opposite ends, and it binds at both ends to the hemidesmosomal transmembrane protein integrin beta-4, and likely to other junctional proteins. The central coiled coil rod domain can form bridges over long stretches and serves as a flexible linker between the structurally diverse N-terminal domain and the highly conserved C-terminal domain. Plectin is also a target of p34cdc2 kinase that regulates its dissociation from intermediate filaments during mitosis.

Onset of keratin 17 expression coincides with the definition of major epithelial lineages during skin development

The type I keratin 17 (K17) shows a peculiar localization in human epithelial appendages including hair follicles, which undergo a growth cycle throughout adult life. Additionally K17 is induced, along with K6 and K16, early after acute injury to human skin. To gain further insights into its potential function(s), we cloned the mouse K17 gene and investigated its expression during skin development. Synthesis of K17 protein first occurs in a subset of epithelial cells within the single-layered, undifferentiated ectoderm of embryonic day 10.5 mouse fetuses. In the ensuing 48 h, K17-expressing cells give rise to placodes, the precursors of ectoderm-derived appendages (hair, glands, and tooth), and to periderm. During early development, there is a spatial correspondence in the distribution of K17 and that of lymphoid-enhancer factor (lef-1), a DNA-bending protein involved in inductive epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. We demonstrate that ectopic lef-1 expression induces K17 protein in the skin of adult transgenic mice. The pattern of K17 gene expression during development has direct implications for the morphogenesis of skin epithelia, and points to the existence of a molecular relationship between development and wound repair.

Role of plectin in cytoskeleton organization and dynamics

Plectin and its isoforms are versatile cytoskeletal linker proteins of very large size (>500 kDa) that are abundantly expressed in a wide variety of mammalian tissues and cell types. Earlier studies indicated that plectin molecules were associated with and/or directly bound to subcomponents of all three major cytoskeletal filament networks, the subplasma membrane protein skeleton, and a variety of plasma membrane-cytoskeleton junctional complexes, including those found in epithelia, various types of muscle, and fibroblasts. In conjunction with biochemical data, this led to the concept that plectin plays an important role in cytoskeleton network organization, with consequences for viscoelastic properties of the cytoplasm and the mechanical integrity and resistance of cells and tissues. Several recent findings lent strong support to this concept. One was that a hereditary disease, epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS)-MD, characterized by severe skin blistering combined with muscular dystrophy, is caused by defects in the plectin gene. Another was the generation of plectin-deficient mice by targeted inactivation of the gene. Dying shortly after birth, these animals exhibited severe defects in skin, skeletal muscle and heart. Moreover, in vitro studies with cells derived from such animals unmasked an essential new role of plectin as regulator of cellular processes involving actin stress fibers dynamics. Comprehensive analyses of the gene locus in man, mouse, and rat point towards a complex gene expression machinery, comprising an unprecedented diversity of differentially spliced transcripts with distinct 5′ starting exons, probably regulated by different promoters. This could provide a basis for cell type-dependent and/or developmentally-controlled expression of plectin isoforms, exerting different functions through binding to distinct partners. Based on its versatile functions and structural diversification plectin emerges as a prototype cytolinker protein among a family of proteins sharing partial structural homology and functions.