Non-visual arrestins are constitutively associated with the centrosome and regulate centrosome function.

In addition to regulating receptor activity, non-visual arrestins function as scaffolds for numerous intracellular signaling cascades and as regulators of gene transcription. Here we report that the two non-visual arrestins, arrestin2 and arrestin3, localize to the centrosome, a key organelle involved in microtubule nucleation and bipolar mitotic spindle assembly. Both arrestins co-localized with the centrosomal marker gamma-tubulin during interphase and mitosis and were found in purified centrosome preparations. In vitro binding assays demonstrated that both arrestins directly interact with gamma-tubulin. Knockdown of either arrestin by RNA interference resulted in multinucleation, centrosome amplification, and mitotic defects, although only the loss of arrestin2 triggered aberrant microtubule nucleation. Importantly, overexpression of wild type arrestin rescued the multinucleation phenotype and restored normal centrosome number in arrestin siRNA-transfected cells. Moreover, overexpression of arrestin2 or -3 rescued the multinucleation defect observed in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Taken together, our data reveal that non-visual arrestins are novel centrosomal components and regulate normal centrosome function.

Structure of an arrestin2-clathrin complex reveals a novel clathrin binding domain that modulates receptor trafficking.

Non-visual arrestins play a pivotal role as adaptor proteins in regulating the signaling and trafficking of multiple classes of receptors. Although arrestin interaction with clathrin, AP-2, and phosphoinositides contributes to receptor trafficking, little is known about the configuration and dynamics of these interactions. Here, we identify a novel interface between arrestin2 and clathrin through x-ray diffraction analysis. The intrinsically disordered clathrin binding box of arrestin2 interacts with a groove between blades 1 and 2 in the clathrin beta-propeller domain, whereas an 8-amino acid splice loop found solely in the long isoform of arrestin2 (arrestin2L) interacts with a binding pocket formed by blades 4 and 5 in clathrin. The apposition of the two binding sites in arrestin2L suggests that they are exclusive and may function in higher order macromolecular structures. Biochemical analysis demonstrates direct binding of clathrin to the splice loop in arrestin2L, whereas functional analysis reveals that both binding domains contribute to the receptor-dependent redistribution of arrestin2L to clathrin-coated pits. Mutagenesis studies reveal that the clathrin binding motif in the splice loop is (L/I)(2)GXL. Taken together, these data provide a framework for understanding the dynamic interactions between arrestin2 and clathrin and reveal an essential role for this interaction in arrestin-mediated endocytosis.

Arrestin2/clathrin interaction is regulated by key N- and C-terminal regions in arrestin2.

The interaction of nonvisual arrestins with clathrin is an important step in mediating the endocytosis of cell surface receptors. Previous studies have shown that mutation of the clathrin-binding box in arrestin leads to severe defects in arrestin-mediated trafficking. However, little is known about how arrestin/clathrin interaction is regulated. Here we show that both the N- and C-terminal regions of arrestin2 function to inhibit basal interaction with clathrin. Truncation analysis revealed that clathrin binding increases as the C-tail of arrestin2 is shortened while site-directed mutagenesis identified Glu-404, Glu-405, and Glu-406 as being primarily responsible for this inhibition. Mutagenesis also identified Lys-4, Arg-7, Lys-10, and Lys-11 within the N-terminus as playing a key role in regulating clathrin binding. Based on similarities with visual arrestin, Lys-10 and Lys-11 likely function as phospho sensors in arrestin2 to initially discriminate the phosphorylation status of target receptors. Analysis of the arrestin2 structure reveals that Arg-7, Lys-10, and Lys-11 are in close proximity to Glu-389 and Asp-390, suggesting that these residues may form intramolecular interactions. In fact, simultaneous mutation of Glu-389 and Asp-390 also leads to enhanced clathrin binding. These results reveal that multiple intramolecular interactions coordinately regulate arrestin2 interaction with clathrin, highlighting this interaction as a critical step in regulating receptor trafficking.

The pST44 polycistronic expression system for producing protein complexes in Escherichia coli.

Protein complexes are responsible for key biological processes, but methods to produce recombinant protein complexes for biochemical and biophysical studies are limited. We have developed a second generation Escherichia coli polycistronic expression system which improves on the modularity of our original pST39 polycistronic system. This pST44 expression system simplifies the construction of polycis-tronic plasmids, particularly of variant plasmids expressing deletion or point mutations in any subunit. To facilitate purification of the expressed complex, we have prepared a suite of 72 plasmids which allows individual subunits to be tagged at the N- or C-terminus with six permanent or cleavable peptide affinity tags. We demonstrate these new features in a detailed deletion analysis of a three protein yeast Piccolo NuA4 histone acetyltransferase complex, and in the affinity purification of a human Piccolo NuA4 complex. We also utilize the modular design to show that the order of expression of the three subunits along the polycistronic plasmid does not affect the reconstitution of the yeast Piccolo complex in E. coli.