Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate promotes budding yeast septin filament assembly and organization.

Septins are a conserved family of GTP-binding proteins that assemble into symmetric linear heterooligomeric complexes, which in turn are able to polymerize into apolar filaments and higher-order structures. In budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and other eukaryotes, proper septin organization is essential for processes that involve membrane remodeling, such as the execution of cytokinesis. In yeast, four septin subunits form a Cdc11-Cdc12-Cdc3-Cdc10-Cdc10-Cdc3-Cdc12-Cdc11 heterooctameric rod that polymerizes into filaments thought to form a collar around the bud neck in close contact with the inner surface of the plasma membrane. To explore septin-membrane interactions, we examined the effect of lipid monolayers on septin organization at the ultrastructural level using electron microscopy. Using this methodology, we have acquired new insights into the potential effect of septin-membrane interactions on filament assembly and, more specifically, on the role of phosphoinositides. Our studies demonstrate that budding yeast septins interact specifically with phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) and indicate that the N terminus of Cdc10 makes a major contribution to the interaction of septin filaments with PIP2. Furthermore, we found that the presence of PIP2 promotes filament polymerization and organization on monolayers, even under conditions that prevent filament formation in solution or for mutants that prevent filament formation in solution. In the extreme case of septin complexes lacking the normally terminal subunit Cdc11 or the normally central Cdc10 doublet, the combination of the PIP2-containing monolayer and nucleotide permitted filament formation in vitro via atypical Cdc12-Cdc12 and Cdc3-Cdc3 interactions, respectively.

Neurite outgrowth involves adenomatous polyposis coli protein and beta-catenin.

Neuronal morphogenesis involves the initial formation of neurites and then differentiation of neurites into axons and dendrites. The mechanisms underlying neurite formation are poorly understood. A candidate protein for controlling neurite extension is the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein, which regulates membrane extensions, microtubules and beta-catenin-mediated transcription downstream of Wnt signaling. APC is enriched at the tip of several neurites of unpolarized hippocampal neurons and the tip of only the long axon in polarized hippocampal neurons. Significantly, APC localized to the tip of only one neurite, marked by dephospho-tau as the future axon, before that neurite had grown considerably longer than other neurites. To determine whether neurite outgrowth was affected by beta-catenin accumulation and signaling, a stabilized beta-catenin mutant was expressed in PC12 cells, and neurite formation was measured. Stabilized beta-catenin mutants accumulated in APC clusters and inhibited neurite formation and growth. Importantly, these effects were also observed was independently of the gene transcriptional activity of beta-catenin. These results indicate that APC is involved in both early neurite outgrowth and increased growth of the future axon, and that beta-catenin has a structural role in inhibiting APC function in neurite growth.

Adenomatous polyposis coli and EB1 localize in close proximity of the mother centriole and EB1 is a functional component of centrosomes.

Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and End-binding protein 1 (EB1) localize to centrosomes independently of cytoplasmic microtubules (MTs) and purify with centrosomes from mammalian cell lines. Localization of EB1 to centrosomes is independent of its MT binding domain and is mediated by its C-terminus. Both APC and EB1 preferentially localize to the mother centriole and EB1 forms a cap at the end of the mother centriole that contains the subdistal appendages as defined by epsilon-tubulin localization. Like endogenous APC and EB1, fluorescent protein fusions of APC and EB1 localize preferentially to the mother centriole. Depletion of EB1 by RNA interference reduces MT minus-end anchoring at centrosomes and delays MT regrowth from centrosomes. In summary, our data indicate that APC and EB1 are functional components of mammalian centrosomes and that EB1 is important for anchoring cytoplasmic MT minus ends to the subdistal appendages of the mother centriole.