Cytokine signaling through the JAK/STAT pathway is required for long-term memory in Drosophila.

Cytokine signaling through the JAK/STAT pathway regulates multiple cellular responses, including cell survival, differentiation, and motility. Although significant attention has been focused on the role of cytokines during inflammation and immunity, it has become clear that they are also implicated in normal brain function. However, because of the large number of different genes encoding cytokines and their receptors in mammals, the precise role of cytokines in brain physiology has been difficult to decipher. Here, we took advantage of Drosophila's being a genetically simpler model system to address the function of cytokines in memory formation. Expression analysis showed that the cytokine Upd is enriched in the Drosophila memory center, the mushroom bodies. Using tissue- and adult-specific expression of RNAi and dominant-negative proteins, we show that not only is Upd specifically required in the mushroom bodies for olfactory aversive long-term memory but the Upd receptor Dome, as well as the Drosophila JAK and STAT homologs Hop and Stat92E, are also required, while being dispensable for less stable memory forms.

Drosophila amyloid precursor protein-like is required for long-term memory.

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative pathology that first manifests as a decline of memory. While the main hypothesis for AD pathology centers on the proteolytic processing of APP, very little is known about the physiological function of the APP protein in the adult brain. Likewise, whether APP loss of function contributes to AD remains unclear. Drosophila has been used extensively as a model organism to study neuronal function and pathology. In addition, many of the molecular mechanisms underlying memory are thought to be conserved from flies to mammals, prompting us to study the function of APPL, the fly APP ortholog, during associative memory. It was previously shown that APPL expression is highly enriched in the mushroom bodies (MBs), a specialized brain structure involved in olfactory memory. We analyzed memory in flies in which APPL expression has been silenced specifically and transiently in the adult MBs. Our results show that in adult flies, APPL is not required for learning but is specifically involved in long-term memory, a long lasting memory whose formation requires de novo protein synthesis and is thought to require synaptic structural plasticity. These data support the hypothesis that disruption of normal APP function may contribute to early AD cognitive impairment.

SRC mediates a switch from microtubule- to actin-based motility of vaccinia virus.

The cascade of events that leads to vaccinia-induced actin polymerization requires Src-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of the viral membrane protein A36R. We found that a localized outside-in signaling cascade induced by the viral membrane protein B5R is required to potently activate Src and induce A36R phosphorylation at the plasma membrane. In addition, Src-mediated phosphorylation of A36R regulated the ability of virus particles to recruit and release conventional kinesin. Thus, Src activity regulates the transition between cytoplasmic microtubule transport and actin-based motility at the plasma membrane.

The conformational state of Tes regulates its zyxin-dependent recruitment to focal adhesions.

The function of the human Tes protein, which has extensive similarity to zyxin in both sequence and domain organization, is currently unknown. We now show that Tes is a component of focal adhesions that, when expressed, negatively regulates proliferation of T47D breast carcinoma cells. Coimmunoprecipitations demonstrate that in vivo Tes is complexed with actin, Mena, and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP). Interestingly, the isolated NH2-terminal half of Tes pulls out alpha-actinin and paxillin from cell extracts in addition to actin. The COOH-terminal half recruits zyxin as well as Mena and VASP from cell extracts. These differences suggest that the ability of Tes to associate with alpha-actinin, paxillin, and zyxin is dependent on the conformational state of the molecule. Consistent with this hypothesis, we demonstrate that the two halves of Tes interact with each other in vitro and in vivo. Using fibroblasts lacking Mena and VASP, we show that these proteins are not required to recruit Tes to focal adhesions. However, using RNAi ablation, we demonstrate that zyxin is required to recruit Tes, as well as Mena and VASP, but not vinculin or paxillin, to focal adhesions.

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate (PIP2)-induced vesicle movement depends on N-WASP and involves Nck, WIP, and Grb2.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP)/Scar family proteins promote actin polymerization by stimulating the actin-nucleating activity of the Arp2/3 complex. While Scar/WAVE proteins are thought to be involved in lamellipodia protrusion, the hematopoietic WASP has been implicated in various actin-based processes such as chemotaxis, podosome formation, and phagocytosis. Here we show that the ubiquitously expressed N-WASP is essential for actin assembly at the surface of endomembranes induced as a consequence of increased phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate (PIP2) levels. This process resulting in the motility of intracellular vesicles at the tips of actin comets involved the recruitment of the Src homology 3 (SH3)-SH2 adaptor proteins Nck and Grb2 as well as of WASP interacting protein (WIP). Reconstitution of vesicle movement in N-WASP-defective cells by expression of various N-WASP mutant proteins revealed three independent domains capable of interaction with the vesicle surface, of which both the WH1 and the polyproline domains contributed significantly to N-WASP recruitment and/or activation. In contrast, the direct interaction of N-WASP with the Rho-GTPase Cdc42 was not required for reconstitution of vesicle motility. Our data reveal a distinct cellular phenotype for N-WASP loss of function, which adds to accumulating evidence that the proposed link between actin and membrane dynamics may, at least partially, be reflected by the actin-based movement of vesicles through the cytoplasm.

Grb2 and Nck act cooperatively to promote actin-based motility of vaccinia virus.

The Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein family member N-WASP is a key integrator of the multiple signalling pathways that regulate actin polymerization via the Arp2/3 complex. Our previous studies have shown that N-WASP is required for the actin-based motility of vaccinia virus and is recruited via Nck and WIP. We now show that Grb2 is an additional component of the vaccinia actin tail-forming complex. Recruitment of Nck and Grb2 to viral particles requires phosphorylation of tyrosine residues 112 and 132 of A36R, the vaccinia actin tail nucleator, respectively. The presence of Grb2 on the virus is also dependent on the polyproline-rich region of N-WASP. The Grb2 pathway alone is therefore unable to nucleate actin tails, as its recruitment requires the prior recruitment of N-WASP by Nck. However, Grb2 does play an important role in actin-based motility of vaccinia, as in its absence, the mean number of actin tails per cell is reduced 2.6-fold. Thus, both Nck and Grb2 act in a cooperative manner to stabilize and/or activate the vaccinia actin-nucleating complex. We suggest that such cooperativity between "primary" and "secondary" adaptor proteins is likely to be a general feature of receptor-mediated signalling.