Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

Quantification of nanoscale forces in lectin-mediated bacterial attachment and uptake into giant liposomes

Interactions of the bacterial lectin LecA with the host cells glycosphingolipid Gb3 have been shown to be crucial for the cellular uptake of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. LecA-induced Gb3 clustering, referred to as lipid zipper mechanism, leads to full membrane engulfment of the bacterium. Here, we aim for a nanoscale force characterization of this mechanism using two complementary force probing techniques, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and optical tweezers (OT). The LecA-Gb3 interactions are reconstituted using giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), a well-controlled minimal system mimicking the plasma membrane and nanoscale forces between either bacteria (PAO1 wild-type and LecA-deletion mutant strains) or LecA-coated probes (as minimal, synthetic bacterial model) and vesicles are measured. LecA-Gb3 interactions strengthen the bacterial attachment to the membrane (1.5-8-fold) depending on the membrane tension and the applied technique. Moreover, significantly less energy (reduction up to 80%) is required for the full uptake of LecA-coated beads into Gb3-functionalized vesicles. This quantitative approach highlights that lectin-glycolipid interactions provide adequate forces and energies to drive bacterial attachment and uptake.

Using Imaging Flow Cytometry to Quantify and Optimize Giant Vesicle Production by Water-in-oil Emulsion Transfer Methods

Many biologists, biochemists, and biophysicists study giant vesicles, which have a diameter of >1 μm, owing to their ease of characterization using standard optical methods. More recently, there has been interest in using giant vesicles as model systems for living cells and for the construction of artificial cells. In fact, there have been a number of reports about functionalizing giant vesicles using membrane-bound pore proteins and encapsulating biochemical reactions. Among the various methods for preparing giant vesicles, the water-in-oil emulsion transfer method is particularly well established. However, the giant vesicles prepared by this method have complex and heterogeneous properties, such as particle size and membrane structure. Here, we demonstrate the characterization of giant vesicles by imaging flow cytometry to provide quantitative and qualitative information about the vesicle products prepared by the water-in-oil emulsion transfer method. Through image-based analyses, several kinds of protocol byproducts, such as oil droplets and vesicles encapsulating no target molecules, were identified and successfully quantified. Further, the optimal agitation conditions for the water-in-oil emulsion transfer method were found from detailed analysis of imaging flow cytometry data. Our results indicate that a sonication-based water-in-oil emulsion transfer method exhibited a higher efficiency in producing giant vesicles, about 10 times or higher than that of vortex and rumble strip-based methods. It is anticipated that these approaches will be useful for fine-tuning giant vesicle production and subsequent applications.

Interaction of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with the Surface Nanostructures on Dragonfly Wings

The waxy epicuticle of dragonfly wings contains a unique nanostructured pattern that exhibits bactericidal properties. In light of emerging concerns of antibiotic resistance, these mechano-bactericidal surfaces represent a particularly novel solution by which bacterial colonization and the formation of biofilms on biomedical devices can be prevented. Pathogenic bacterial biofilms on medical implant surfaces cause a significant number of human deaths every year. The proposed mechanism of bactericidal activity is through mechanical cell rupture; however, this is not yet well understood and has not been well characterized. In this study, we used giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) as a simplified cell membrane model to investigate the nature of their interaction with the surface of the wings of two dragonfly species, Austrothemis nigrescens and Trithemis annulata, sourced from Victoria, Australia, and the Baix Ebre and Terra Alta regions of Catalonia, Spain. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and cryo-scanning electron microscopy techniques were used to visualize the interactions between the GUVs and the wing surfaces. When exposed to both natural and gold-coated wing surfaces, the GUVs were adsorbed on the surface, exhibiting significant deformation, in the process of membrane rupture. Differences between the tensile rupture limit of GUVs composed of 1,2-dioleoyl- sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine and the isotropic tension generated from the internal osmotic pressure were used to indirectly determine the membrane tensions, generated by the nanostructures present on the wing surfaces. These were estimated as being in excess of 6.8 mN m^-1, the first experimental estimate of such mechano-bactericidal surfaces. This simple model provides a convenient bottom-up approach toward understanding and characterizing the bactericidal properties of nanostructured surfaces.

Spontaneous Vesiculation and pH-Induced Disassembly of a Lysosomotropic Detergent: Impacts on Lysosomotropism and Lysosomal Delivery

Lysosomotropic detergents (LDs) selectively rupture lysosomal membranes through mechanisms that have yet to be characterized. A consensus view, currently, holds that LDs, which are weakly basic, diffuse across cellular membranes as monomers in an uncharged state, and via protonation in the acidic lysosomal compartment, they become trapped, accumulate, and subsequently solubilize the membrane and induce lysosomal membrane permeabilization. Here we demonstrate that the lysosomotropic detergent O-methyl-serine dodecylamide hydrochloride (MSDH) spontaneously assembles into vesicles at, and above, cytosolic pH, and that the vesicles disassemble as the pH reaches 6.4 or lower. The aggregation commences at concentrations below the range of those used in cell studies. Assembly and disassembly of the vesicles was studied via dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurements, cryo-TEM, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and was found to be reversible via control of the pH. Aggregation of MSDH into closed vesicles under cytosolic conditions is at variance with the commonly held view of LD behavior, and we propose that endocytotic pathways should be considered as possible routes of LD entry into lysosomes. We further demonstrate that MSDH vesicles can be loaded with fluorophores via a solution transition from low to high pH, for subsequent release when the pH is lowered again. The ability to encapsulate molecular cargo into MSDH vesicles together with its ability to disaggregate at low pH and to permeabilize the lysosomal membrane presents an intriguing possibility to use MSDH as a delivery system.

Inward multivesiculation at the basal membrane of adherent giant phospholipid vesicles

Adherent giant vesicles composed of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine and biotinylated lipids form clusters of inward spherical buds at their basal membrane. The process is spontaneous and occurs when the vesicles undergo a sequence of osmotic swelling and deswelling. The daughter vesicles have a uniform size (diameter ≈ 2-3 μm), engulf small volumes of outer fluid and remain attached to the region of the membrane from which they generate, even after restoring the isotonicity. A pinning-sealing mechanism of long-wavelength modes of membrane fluctuations is proposed, by which the just-deflated vesicles reduce the surplus of membrane area and avoid excessive spreading and compression via biotin anchors. The work discusses the rationale behind the mechanism that furnishes GUVs with basal endovesicles, and its prospective use to simulate cellular events or to create molecular carriers.

Template-assisted extrusion of biopolymer nanofibers under physiological conditions

Biomedical applications ranging from tissue engineering to drug delivery systems require versatile biomaterials based on the scalable and tunable production of biopolymer nanofibers under physiological conditions.

Inhibitory effect of arsenic trioxide on neuronal migration in vitro and its potential molecular mechanism

Primary neuron cultures were established from the brains of neonatal rats and the effects of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on the migration of neurons and the potential mechanism of As2O3 were investigated. Boyden chamber assay was used to detect the effect of AS2O3 on neuronal migration. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 RNA expression and doublecortin (DCX) protein expression were measured. Neuronal migration ability was significantly lower in the 20 μmol/L group compared with the other three groups (all p < 0.001). The expression of both MMP-2 and MMP-9 was significantly inversely correlated with As2O3 concentration. The expression of DCX was significantly higher in the control group compared with the other three groups (all p ≤ 0.003). Thus, the inhibitory effect of As2O3 on the migration of primary neurons might be related to the reduction in MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities and decrease in β-actin and DCX expression.

Minimal synthetic cells to study integrin-mediated adhesion

To shed light on cell-adhesion-related molecular pathways, synthetic cells offer the unique advantage of a well-controlled model system with reduced molecular complexity. Herein, we show that liposomes with the reconstituted platelet integrin αIIb β3 as the adhesion-mediating transmembrane protein are a functional minimal cell model for studying cellular adhesion mechanisms in a defined environment. The interaction of these synthetic cells with various extracellular matrix proteins was analyzed using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring. The data indicated that integrin was functionally incorporated into the lipid vesicles, thus enabling integrin-specific adhesion of the engineered liposomes to fibrinogen- and fibronectin-functionalized surfaces. Then, we were able to initiate the detachment of integrin liposomes from these surfaces in the presence of the peptide GRGDSP, a process that is even faster with our newly synthesized peptide mimetic SN529, which specifically inhibits the integrin αIIb β3 .

Reconstituting the actin cytoskeleton at or near surfaces in vitro

Actin filament dynamics have been studied for decades in pure protein solutions or in cell extracts, but a breakthrough in the field occurred at the turn of the century when it became possible to reconstitute networks of actin filaments, growing in a controlled but physiological manner on surfaces, mimicking the actin assembly that occurs at the plasma membrane during cell protrusion and cell shape changes. The story begins with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, the study of which led to the reconstitution of cellular actin polymerization on a variety of supports including plastic beads. These studies made possible the development of liposome-type substrates for filament assembly and micropatterning of actin polymerization nucleation. Based on the accumulated expertise of the last 15 years, many exciting approaches are being developed, including the addition of myosin to biomimetic actin networks to study the interplay between actin structure and contractility. The field is now poised to make artificial cells with a physiological and dynamic actin cytoskeleton, and subsequently to put these cells together to make in vitro tissues. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Mechanobiology.

Manganese superoxide dismutase promotes interaction of actin, S100A4 and Talin, and enhances rat gastric tumor cell invasion

It has been demonstrated that cancer cells are under high levels of oxidative stress and express high levels of Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) to protect themselves and support the anabolic metabolism needed for growth and cell motility. The aim of this study was to identify proteins that may have a correlation with invasion and redox regulation by mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS). MnSOD scavenges superoxide anions generated from mitochondria and is an important regulator of cellular redox status. Oxidative posttranslational modification of cysteine residues is a key mechanism that regulates protein structure and function. We hypothesized that MnSOD regulates intracellular reduced thiol status and promotes cancer invasion. A proteomic thiol-labeling approach with 5-iodoacetamidofluorescein was used to identify changes in intracellular reduced thiol-containing proteins. Our results demonstrate that overexpression of MnSOD maintained the major structural protein, actin, in a reduced state, and enhanced the invasion ability in gastric mucosal cancer cells, RGK1. We also found that the expression of Talin and S100A4 were increased in MnSOD-overexpressed RGK1 cells. Moreover, Talin bound not only with actin but also with S100A4, suggesting that the interaction of these proteins may, in part, contribute to the invasive ability of rat gastric cancer.