ELMOD2 is a ∼32 kDa protein first purified by its GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity toward ARL2 and later shown to have uniquely broad specificity toward ARF family GTPases in in vitro assays. To begin the task of defining its functions in cells, we deleted ELMOD2 in immortalized mouse embryonic fibroblasts and discovered a number of cellular defects, which are reversed upon expression of ELMOD2-myc. We show that these defects, resulting from the loss of ELMOD2, are linked to two different pathways and two different GTPases: with ARL2 and TBCD to support microtubule nucleation from centrosomes and with ARF6 in cytokinesis. These data highlight key aspects of signaling by ARF family GAPs that contribute to previously underappreciated sources of complexity, including GAPs acting from multiple sites in cells, working with multiple GTPases, and contributing to the spatial and temporal control of regulatory GTPases by serving as both GAPs and effectors.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7543072PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E20-01-0012DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

microtubule nucleation
8
arf family
8
gtpases
5
arf gap
4
elmod2
4
gap elmod2
4
elmod2 acts
4
acts gtpases
4
gtpases regulate
4
regulate centrosomal
4

Similar Publications

Background: Numerous pathogenic variants causing human oocyte maturation arrest have been reported on the primate-specific TUBB8 gene. The main etiology is the dramatic reduction of tubulin α/β dimer, but still large numbers of variants remain unexplained.

Methods: Using microinjection mRNA and genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved pathogenic missense variants into oocytes or in generating TUBB8 variant knock-in mouse models, we investigated that the human deleterious variants alter microtubule nucleation and spindle assembly during meiosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diverse microtubule-binding repeats regulate TPX2 activities at distinct locations within the spindle.

J Cell Biol

March 2025

State Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration, Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Stomatology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Medical Research Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

TPX2 is an elongated molecule containing multiple α-helical repeats. It stabilizes microtubules (MTs), promotes MT nucleation, and is essential for spindle assembly. However, the molecular basis of how TPX2 performs these functions remains elusive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cancers and neurodegenerative disorders are associated with both disrupted proteostasis and altered nuclear morphology. Determining if changes in nuclear morphology contribute to pathology requires an understanding of the underlying mechanisms, which are difficult to elucidate in cells where pleiotropic effects of altering proteostasis might indirectly influence nuclear morphology. To investigate direct effects, we studied nuclei assembled in egg extract where potentially confounding effects of transcription, translation, cell cycle progression, and actin dynamics are absent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Structural insights into SSNA1 self-assembly and its microtubule binding for centriole maintenance.

bioRxiv

November 2024

Laboratory of Structural Cell Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, 50 South Dr., Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.

SSNA-1 is a fibrillar protein localized at the area where dynamic microtubule remodeling occurs including centrosomes. Despite the important activities of SSNA1 to microtubules such as nucleation, co-polymerization, and lattice sharing microtubule branching, the underlying molecular mechanism have remained unclear due to a lack of structural information. Here, we determined the cryo-EM structure of SSNA-1 at 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An intracellular protozoan, the Apicomplexan parasite () infects nucleated cells, in which it triggers the formation of a specialized membrane-confined cytoplasmic vacuole, named the parasitophorous vacuole (PV). One of the most prominent events in the parasite's intracellular life is the congregation of the host cell mitochondria around the PV. However, the significance of this event has remained largely unsolved since the parasite itself possesses a functional mitochondrion, which is essential for its replication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!