The proline-rich domain of fission yeast WASp (Wsp1p) interacts with actin filaments and inhibits actin polymerization

Members of the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein (WASp) family activate Arp2/3 complex (actin-related proteins 2 and 3 complex) to form actin filament branches. The proline-rich domain (PRD) of WASp contributes to branching nucleation, and the PRD of budding yeast Las17 binds actin filaments [Urbanek AN et al. (2013) Curr Biol 23, 196-203]. Biochemical assays showed the recombinant PRD of fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe Wsp1p binds actin filaments with micromolar affinity. Recombinant PRDs of both Wsp1p and Las17p slowed the elongation of actin filaments by Mg-ATP-actin monomers by half and slowed the spontaneous polymerization of Mg-ATP-actin monomers modestly. The affinity of PRDs of WASp-family proteins for actin filaments is high enough to contribute to the reported stimulation of actin filament branching by Arp2/3 complex.

Large granular lymphocyte proliferation and revertant mosaicism: two rare events in a Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome patient

We report on a 6 year old patient with an unusual clinical presentation of WAS and oligoclonal proliferation of TCR+ large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Flow cytometry demonstrated two distinct populations of lymphocytes with strongly decreased (WASP-) or normal expression levels of WASP (WASP+), respectively. Molecular analysis confirmed a splice site mutation in intron 2 of the WASP gene in the WASP- cells but not in WASP+ cells. LGL cells were WASP+, suggesting that two independent rare events, somatic revertant mosaicism and LGL expansion, have occurred in a child with WAS. Our report points to diagnostic difficulties in the presence of partial WASP reversions and LGL.

WASP localizes to the membrane skeleton of platelets

Patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), an X-linked blood cell disease, suffer from severe thrombocytopenia due to accelerated loss of defective platelets. The affected gene encodes WASP, an actin regulatory protein thought to reside in the cytoplasm of resting leucocytes. In contrast, this study showed that, for platelets, one-quarter of WASP molecules fractionate in the detergent-insoluble high speed pellet characterized as the membrane skeleton, the scaffold structure that underlies the lipid bilayer and stabilizes the surface membrane. Following treatment of platelets with thrombin and stirring, which induces cytoarchitectural remodelling, WASP and other membrane skeletal components sedimented at lower g force and partitioned in the low-speed pellet. Thrombin and stirring also induced WASP tyrosine phosphorylation, a rapid activating reaction, and proteolytic inactivation by cysteine protease calpain. Both the alteration of the sedimentation profile and the proteolytic inactivation were specific for the membrane skeletal pool of WASP and were abrogated in alphaIIb beta3 integrin-deficient platelets and in normal platelets treated with an integrin antagonist. The findings demonstrate that WASP is a component of the resting platelet membrane skeleton and participates in membrane skeletal rearrangements downstream of integrin outside-in signalling. The possible implications for the platelet defect in WAS are discussed.

Lentiviral vectors targeting WASp expression to hematopoietic cells, efficiently transduce and correct cells from WAS patients

Gene therapy has been proposed as a potential treatment for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), a severe primary immune deficiency characterized by multiple hematopoietic-specific cellular defects. In order to develop an optimal lentiviral gene transfer cassette for this application, we compared the performance of several internal promoters in a variety of cell lineages from human WAS patients. Vectors using endogenous promoters derived from short (0.5 kb) or long (1.6 kb) 5' flanking sequences of the WAS gene, expressed the transgene in T, B, dendritic cells as well as CD34(+) progenitor cells, but functioned poorly in non-hematopoietic cells. Defects of T-cell proliferation and interleukin-2 production, and the cytoskeletal anomalies in WAS dendritic cells were also corrected. The levels of reconstitution were comparable to those obtained following transduction with similar lentiviral vectors incorporating constitutive PGK-1, EF1-alpha promoters or the spleen focus forming virus gammaretroviral LTR. Thus, native regulatory sequences target the expression of the therapeutic WAS transgene to the hematopoietic system, as is naturally the case for WAS, and are effective for correction of multiple cellular defects. These vectors may have significant advantages for clinical application in terms of natural gene regulation, and reduction in the potential for adverse mutagenic events.

A WASp-binding type II phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase required for actin polymerization-driven endosome motility

Endosomes in yeast have been hypothesized to move through the cytoplasm by the momentum gained after actin polymerization has driven endosome abscision from the plasma membrane. Alternatively, after abscission, ongoing actin polymerization on endosomes could power transport. Here, we tested these hypotheses by showing that the Arp2/3 complex activation domain (WCA) of Las17 (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein [WASp] homologue) fused to an endocytic cargo protein (Ste2) rescued endosome motility in las17ΔWCA mutants, and that capping actin filament barbed ends inhibited endosome motility but not endocytic internalization. Motility therefore requires continual actin polymerization on endosomes. We also explored how Las17 is regulated. Endosome motility required the Las17-binding protein Lsb6, a type II phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase. Catalytically inactive Lsb6 interacted with Las17 and promoted endosome motility. Lsb6 therefore is a novel regulator of Las17 that mediates endosome motility independent of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate synthesis. Mammalian type II phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases may regulate WASp proteins and endosome motility.