GORAB promotes embryonic lung maturation through antagonizing AKT phosphorylation, versican expression, and mesenchymal cell migration.

Embryonic development of the alveolar sac of the lung is dependent upon multiple signaling pathways to coordinate cell growth, migration, and the formation of the extracellular matrix. Here, we identify GORAB as a regulator of embryonic alveolar sac formation as genetically disrupting the Gorab gene in mice resulted in fatal saccular maturation defects characterized by a thickened lung mesenchyme. This abnormality is not associated with impairments in cellular proliferation and death, but aberrantly increased protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation, elevated Vcan transcription, and enhanced migration of mesenchymal fibroblasts. Genetically augmenting PDGFRα, a potent activator of AKT in lung mesenchymal cells, recapitulated the alveolar phenotypes, whereas disrupting PDGFRα partially rescued alveolar phenotypes in Gorab-deficient mice. Overexpressing or suppressing Vcan in primary embryonic lung fibroblasts could, respectively, mimic or attenuate alveolar sac-like phenotypes in a co-culture model. These findings suggest a role of GORAB in negatively regulating AKT phosphorylation, the expression of Vcan, and the migration of lung mesenchyme fibroblasts, and suggest that alveolar sac formation resembles a patterning event that is orchestrated by molecular signaling and the extracellular matrix in the mesenchyme.

RPGRIP1L is required for stabilizing epidermal keratinocyte adhesion through regulating desmoglein endocytosis.

Cilia-related proteins are believed to be involved in a broad range of cellular processes. Retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator interacting protein 1-like (RPGRIP1L) is a ciliary protein required for ciliogenesis in many cell types, including epidermal keratinocytes. Here we report that RPGRIP1L is also involved in the maintenance of desmosomal junctions between keratinocytes. Genetically disrupting the Rpgrip1l gene in mice caused intraepidermal blistering, primarily between basal and suprabasal keratinocytes. This blistering phenotype was associated with aberrant expression patterns of desmosomal proteins, impaired desmosome ultrastructure, and compromised cell-cell adhesion in vivo and in vitro. We found that disrupting the RPGRIP1L gene in HaCaT cells, which do not form primary cilia, resulted in mislocalization of desmosomal proteins to the cytoplasm, suggesting a cilia-independent function of RPGRIP1L. Mechanistically, we found that RPGRIP1L regulates the endocytosis of desmogleins such that RPGRIP1L-knockdown not only induced spontaneous desmoglein endocytosis, as determined by AK23 labeling and biotinylation assays, but also exacerbated EGTA- or pemphigus vulgaris IgG-induced desmoglein endocytosis. Accordingly, inhibiting endocytosis with dynasore or sucrose rescued these desmosomal phenotypes. Biotinylation assays on cell surface proteins not only reinforced the role of RPGRIP1L in desmoglein endocytosis, but also suggested that RPGRIP1L may be more broadly involved in endocytosis. Thus, data obtained from this study advanced our understanding of the biological functions of RPGRIP1L by identifying its role in the cellular endocytic pathway.

Gorab Is Required for Dermal Condensate Cells to Respond to Hedgehog Signals during Hair Follicle Morphogenesis.

GORAB is a golgin that localizes predominantly at the Golgi apparatus and physically interacts with small guanosine triphosphatases. GORAB is ubiquitously expressed in mammalian tissues, including the skin. However, the biological function of this golgin in skin is unknown. Here, we report that disrupting the expression of the Gorab gene in mice results in hair follicle morphogenesis defects that were characterized by impaired follicular keratinocyte differentiation. This hair follicle phenotype was associated with markedly suppressed hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway in dermal condensates in vivo. Gorab-deficient dermal mesenchymal cells also displayed a significantly reduced capability to respond to Hh pathway activation in vitro. Furthermore, we found that the formation of the primary cilium, a cellular organelle that is essential for the Hh pathway, was impaired in mutant dermal condensate cells, suggesting that Gorab may be required for the Hh pathway through facilitating the formation of primary cilia. Thus, data obtained from this study provided insight into the biological functions of Gorab during embryonic morphogenesis of the skin in which Hh signaling and primary cilia exert important functions.

Correction of Hair Shaft Defects through Allele-Specific Silencing of Mutant Krt75.

Dominant mutations in keratin genes can cause a number of inheritable skin disorders characterized by intraepidermal blistering, epidermal hyperkeratosis, or abnormalities in skin appendages, such as nail plate dystrophy and structural defects in hair. Allele-specific silencing of mutant keratins through RNA interference is a promising therapeutic approach for suppressing the expression of mutant keratins and related phenotypes in the epidermis. However, its effectiveness on skin appendages remains to be confirmed in vivo. In this study, we developed allele-specific small interfering RNAs capable of selectively suppressing the expression of a mutant Krt75, which causes hair shaft structural defects characterized by the development of blebs along the hair shaft in mice. Hair regenerated from epidermal keratinocyte progenitor cells isolated from mutant Krt75 mouse models reproduced the blebbing phenotype when grafted in vivo. In contrast, mutant cells manipulated with a lentiviral vector expressing mutant Krt75-specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) persistently suppressed this phenotype. The phenotypic correction was associated with a significant reduction of mutant Krt75 mRNA in the skin grafts. Thus, data obtained from this study demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing RNA interference to achieve durable correction of hair structural phenotypes through allele-specific silencing of mutant keratin genes.

The ciliopathy gene Rpgrip1l is essential for hair follicle development.

The primary cilium is essential for skin morphogenesis through regulating the Notch, Wnt, and hedgehog signaling pathways. Prior studies on the functions of primary cilia in the skin were based on the investigations of genes that are essential for cilium formation. However, none of these ciliogenic genes has been linked to ciliopathy, a group of disorders caused by abnormal formation or function of cilia. To determine whether there is a genetic and molecular link between ciliopathies and skin morphogenesis, we investigated the role of RPGRIP1L, a gene mutated in Joubert (JBTS) and Meckel (MKS) syndromes, two severe forms of ciliopathy, in the context of skin development. We found that RPGRIP1L is essential for hair follicle morphogenesis. Specifically, disrupting the Rpgrip1l gene in mice resulted in reduced proliferation and differentiation of follicular keratinocytes, leading to hair follicle developmental defects. These defects were associated with significantly decreased primary cilium formation and attenuated hedgehog signaling. In contrast, we found that hair follicle induction and polarization and the development of interfollicular epidermis were unaffected. This study indicates that RPGRIP1L, a ciliopathy gene, is essential for hair follicle morphogenesis likely through regulating primary cilia formation and the hedgehog signaling pathway.