Dally cooperates with Drosophila Frizzled 2 to transduce Wingless signalling.

The Drosophila wingless gene (wg) encodes a protein of the Wnt family and is a critical regulator in many developmental processes. Biochemical studies have indicated that heparan sulphate proteoglycans, consisting of a protein core to which heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycans are attached, are important for Wg function. Here we show that, consistent with these findings, the Drosophila gene sulfateless (sfl), which encodes a homologue of vertebrate heparan sulphate N-deacetylase/N-sulphotransferase (an enzyme needed for the modification of heparan sulphate) is essential for Wg signalling. We have identified the product of division abnormally delayed (dally), a glycosyl-phosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-linked glypican, as a heparan sulphate proteoglycan molecule involved in Wg signalling. Our results indicate that Dally may act as a co-receptor for Wg, and that Dally, together with Drosophila Frizzled 2, modulates both short- and long-range activities of Wg.     

Chondroitin proteoglycans are involved in cell division of Caenorhabditis elegans

Glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate are extracellular sugar chains involved in intercellular signalling. Disruptions of genes encoding enzymes that mediate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis have severe consequences in Drosophila and mice. Mutations in the Drosophila gene sugarless, which encodes a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase, impairs developmental signalling through the Wnt family member Wingless, and signalling by the fibroblast growth factor and Hedgehog pathways. Heparan sulphate is involved in these pathways, but little is known about the involvement of chondroitin. Undersulphated and oversulphated chondroitin sulphate chains have been implicated in other biological processes, however, including adhesion of erythrocytes infected with malaria parasite to human placenta and regulation of neural development. To investigate chondroitin functions, we cloned a chondroitin synthase homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans and depleted expression of its product by RNA-mediated interference and deletion mutagenesis. Here we report that blocking chondroitin synthesis results in cytokinesis defects in early embryogenesis. Reversion of cytokinesis is often observed in chondroitin-depleted embryos, and cell division eventually stops, resulting in early embryonic death. Our findings show that chondroitin is required for embryonic cytokinesis and cell division.     

Crystal structure of fibroblast growth factor receptor ectodomain bound to ligand and heparin

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are a large family of structurally related proteins with a wide range of physiological and pathological activities. Signal transduction requires association of FGF with its receptor tyrosine kinase (FGFR) and heparan sulphate proteoglycan in a specific complex on the cell surface. Direct involvement of the heparan sulphate glycosaminoglycan polysaccharide in the molecular association between FGF and its receptor is essential for biological activity. Although crystal structures of binary complexes of FGF-heparin and FGF-FGFR have been described, the molecular architecture of the FGF signalling complex has not been elucidated. Here we report the crystal structure of the FGFR2 ectodomain in a dimeric form that is induced by simultaneous binding to FGF1 and a heparin decasaccharide. The complex is assembled around a central heparin molecule linking two FGF1 ligands into a dimer that bridges between two receptor chains. The asymmetric heparin binding involves contacts with both FGF1 molecules but only one receptor chain. The structure of the FGF1-FGFR2-heparin ternary complex provides a structural basis for the essential role of heparan sulphate in FGF signalling.     

Heparan sulphate proteoglycans fine-tune mammalian physiology

Heparan sulphate proteoglycans reside on the plasma membrane of all animal cells studied so far and are a major component of extracellular matrices. Studies of model organisms and human diseases have demonstrated their importance in development and normal physiology. A recurrent theme is the electrostatic interaction of the heparan sulphate chains with protein ligands, which affects metabolism, transport, information transfer, support and regulation in all organ systems. The importance of these interactions is exemplified by phenotypic studies of mice and humans bearing mutations in the core proteins or the biosynthetic enzymes responsible for assembling the heparan sulphate chains.     

The cell-surface proteoglycan Dally regulates Wingless signalling in Drosophila.

Wingless (Wg) is a member of the Wnt family of growth factors, secreted proteins that control proliferation and differentiation during development. Studies in Drosophila have shown that responses to Wg require cell-surface heparan sulphate, a glycosaminoglycan component of proteoglycans. These findings suggest that a cell-surface proteoglycan is a component of a Wg/Wnt receptor complex. We demonstrate here that the protein encoded by the division abnormally delayed (dally) gene is a cell-surface, heparan-sulphate-modified proteoglycan. dally partial loss-of-function mutations compromise Wg-directed events, and disruption of dally function with RNA interference produces phenotypes comparable to those found with RNA interference of wg or frizzled (fz)/Dfz2. Ectopic expression of Dally potentiates Wg signalling without altering levels of Wg and can rescue a wg partial loss-of-function mutant. We also show that dally, a regulator of Decapentaplegic (Dpp) signalling during post-embryonic development, has tissue-specific effects on Wg and Dpp signalling. Dally can therefore differentially influence signalling mediated by two growth factors, and may form a regulatory component of both Wg and Dpp receptor complexes.     

Exploitation of syndecan-1 shedding by Pseudomonas aeruginosa enhances virulence

Cell-surface heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are ubiquitous and abundant receptors/co-receptors of extracellular ligands, including many microbes. Their role in microbial infections is poorly defined, however, because no cell-surface HSPG has been clearly connected to the pathogenesis of a particular microbe. We have previously shown that Pseudomonas aeruginosa, through its virulence factor LasA, enhances the in vitro shedding of syndecan-1-the predominant cell-surface HSPG of epithelia. Here we show that shedding of syndecan-1 is also activated by P. aeruginosa in vivo, and that the resulting syndecan-1 ectodomains enhance bacterial virulence in newborn mice. Newborn mice deficient in syndecan-1 resist P. aeruginosa lung infection but become susceptible when given purified syndecan-1 ectodomains or heparin, but not when given ectodomain core protein, indicating that the ectodomain's heparan sulphate chains are the effectors. In wild-type newborn mice, inhibition of syndecan-1 shedding or inactivation of the shed ectodomain's heparan sulphate chains prevents lung infection. Our findings uncover a pathogenetic mechanism in which a host response to tissue injury-syndecan-1 shedding-is exploited to enhance microbial virulence apparently by modulating host defences.     

Neuronal cell-cell adhesion depends on interactions of N-CAM with heparin-like molecules

Cell-cell interactions are of critical importance during neural development, particularly since the migration of neural cells and the establishment of functional interactions between growing axons and their target cells has been suggested to depend upon cell recognition processes. Neurone-neurone adhesion has been well studied in vitro, and is mediated in part by the neural cell adhesion molecule N-CAM. N-CAM-mediated cell-cell adhesion has been postulated to occur by a homophilic binding mechanism, in which N-CAM on the surface of one cell binds to N-CAM on a neighbouring cell. Studies in our laboratory have identified a cell surface glycoprotein, now known to be N-CAM, which participates in cell-substratum interactions in the developing chicken nervous system. Although this adhesion involves a homophilic binding mechanism, the binding of the cell surface proteoglycan heparan sulphate to the glycoprotein is also required. This raises the question of whether the binding of heparan sulphate to N-CAM is also required for cell-cell adhesion. Here we show that the binding of retinal probe cells to retinal cell monolayers is inhibited by heparin, a functional analogue of heparan sulphate, but not by chondroitin sulphate. Monoclonal antibodies that recognize two different domains on N-CAM, the homophilic-binding and heparin-binding domains, inhibit cell-cell adhesion. The heparin-binding domain isolated from N-CAM by selective proteolysis also inhibits cell-cell adhesion when bound to the probe cells.     

乙酰肝素酶(HPSE)与肿瘤生长、转移关系的研究进展

目的:通过文献学习,了解乙酰肝素酶与肿瘤的生长和转移的关系。结论:1.乙酰肝素酶的表达(heparananse HPSE)通过降解硫酸乙酰肝素细胞(heparansulfate,HS)和降解硫酸乙酰肝素蛋白聚糖(heparansulfate proteoglycan,HSPG),破坏、改变细胞外基质(extracellular matrix,ECM)和基底膜(basement membranes,BM)结构,促进肿瘤细胞侵袭、转移。2.诱导血管的生成直接作用于内皮细胞以生芽方式促进血管生成,通过释放肿瘤微环境和ECM中储存的高活性的HS-bFGF复合物来诱发直接的血管反应,促进肿瘤的生长。乙酰肝素酶的表达是判断多种肿瘤预后的标记物之一。     

Caenorhabditis elegans early embryogenesis and vulval morphogenesis require chondroitin biosynthesis

Defects in glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis disrupt animal development and can cause human disease. So far much of the focus on glycosaminoglycans has been on heparan sulphate. Mutations in eight squashed vulva (sqv) genes in Caenorhabditis elegans cause defects in cytokinesis during embryogenesis and in vulval morphogenesis during postembryonic development. Seven of the eight sqv genes have been shown to control the biosynthesis of the glycosaminoglycans chondroitin and heparan sulphate. Here we present the molecular identification and characterization of the eighth gene, sqv-5. This gene encodes a bifunctional glycosyltransferase that is probably localized to the Golgi apparatus and is responsible for the biosynthesis of chondroitin but not heparan sulphate. Our findings show that chondroitin is crucial for both cytokinesis and morphogenesis during C. elegans development.     

Chondroitinase ABC promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury

The inability of axons to regenerate after a spinal cord injury in the adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS) can lead to permanent paralysis. At sites of CNS injury, a glial scar develops, containing extracellular matrix molecules including chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs). CSPGs are inhibitory to axon growth in vitro, and regenerating axons stop at CSPG-rich regions in vivo. Removing CSPG glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains attenuates CSPG inhibitory activity. To test the functional effects of degrading chondroitin sulphate (CS)-GAG after spinal cord injury, we delivered chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) to the lesioned dorsal columns of adult rats. We show that intrathecal treatment with ChABC degraded CS-GAG at the injury site, upregulated a regeneration-associated protein in injured neurons, and promoted regeneration of both ascending sensory projections and descending corticospinal tract axons. ChABC treatment also restored post-synaptic activity below the lesion after electrical stimulation of corticospinal neurons, and promoted functional recovery of locomotor and proprioceptive behaviours. Our results demonstrate that CSPGs are important inhibitory molecules in vivo and suggest that their manipulation will be useful for treatment of human spinal injuries.     

Wnt proteins are lipid-modified and can act as stem cell growth factors

Wnt signalling is involved in numerous events in animal development, including the proliferation of stem cells and the specification of the neural crest. Wnt proteins are potentially important reagents in expanding specific cell types, but in contrast to other developmental signalling molecules such as hedgehog proteins and the bone morphogenetic proteins, Wnt proteins have never been isolated in an active form. Although Wnt proteins are secreted from cells, secretion is usually inefficient and previous attempts to characterize Wnt proteins have been hampered by their high degree of insolubility. Here we have isolated active Wnt molecules, including the product of the mouse Wnt3a gene. By mass spectrometry, we found the proteins to be palmitoylated on a conserved cysteine. Enzymatic removal of the palmitate or site-directed and natural mutations of the modified cysteine result in loss of activity, and indicate that the lipid is important for signalling. The purified Wnt3a protein induces self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells, signifying its potential use in tissue engineering.     

BRI1 is a critical component of a plasma-membrane receptor for plant steroids

Most multicellular organisms use steroids as signalling molecules for physiological and developmental regulation. Two different modes of steroid action have been described in animal systems: the well-studied gene regulation response mediated by nuclear receptors, and the rapid non-genomic responses mediated by proposed membrane-bound receptors. Plant genomes do not seem to encode members of the nuclear receptor superfamily. However, a transmembrane receptor kinase, brassinosteroid-insensitive1 (BRI1), has been implicated in brassinosteroid responses. Here we show that BRI1 functions as a receptor of brassinolide, the most active brassinosteroid. The number of brassinolide-binding sites and the degree of response to brassinolide depend on the level of BRI1 protein. The brassinolide-binding activity co-immunoprecipitates with BRI1, and requires a functional BRI1 extracellular domain. Moreover, treatment of Arabidopsis seedlings with brassinolide induces autophosphorylation of BRI1, which, together with our binding studies, shows that BRI1 is a receptor kinase that transduces steroid signals across the plasma membrane.     

Subendothelial retention of atherogenic lipoproteins in early atherosclerosis

Complications of atherosclerosis are the most common cause of death in Western societies. Among the many risk factors identified by epidemiological studies, only elevated levels of lipoproteins containing apolipoprotein (apo) B can drive the development of atherosclerosis in humans and experimental animals even in the absence of other risk factors. However, the mechanisms that lead to atherosclerosis are still poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that the subendothelial retention of atherogenic apoB-containing lipoproteins is the initiating event in atherogenesis. The extracellular matrix of the subendothelium, particularly proteoglycans, is thought to play a major role in the retention of atherogenic lipoproteins. The interaction between atherogenic lipoproteins and proteoglycans involves an ionic interaction between basic amino acids in apoB100 and negatively charged sulphate groups on the proteoglycans. Here we present direct experimental evidence that the atherogenicity of apoB-containing low-density lipoproteins (LDL) is linked to their affinity for artery wall proteoglycans. Mice expressing proteoglycan-binding-defective LDL developed significantly less atherosclerosis than mice expressing wild-type control LDL. We conclude that subendothelial retention of apoB100-containing lipoprotein is an early step in atherogenesis.     

A blend of small molecules regulates both mating and development in Caenorhabditis elegans

In many organisms, population-density sensing and sexual attraction rely on small-molecule-based signalling systems. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, population density is monitored through specific glycosides of the dideoxysugar ascarylose (the 'ascarosides') that promote entry into an alternative larval stage, the non-feeding and highly persistent dauer stage. In addition, adult C. elegans males are attracted to hermaphrodites by a previously unidentified small-molecule signal. Here we show, by means of combinatorial activity-guided fractionation of the C. elegans metabolome, that the mating signal consists of a synergistic blend of three dauer-inducing ascarosides, which we call ascr#2, ascr#3 and ascr#4. This blend of ascarosides acts as a potent male attractant at very low concentrations, whereas at the higher concentrations required for dauer formation the compounds no longer attract males and instead deter hermaphrodites. The ascarosides ascr#2 and ascr#3 carry different, but overlapping, information, as ascr#3 is more potent as a male attractant than ascr#2, whereas ascr#2 is slightly more potent than ascr#3 in promoting dauer formation. We demonstrate that ascr#2, ascr#3 and ascr#4 are strongly synergistic, and that two types of neuron, the amphid single-ciliated sensory neuron type K (ASK) and the male-specific cephalic companion neuron (CEM), are required for male attraction by ascr#3. On the basis of these results, male attraction and dauer formation in C. elegans appear as alternative behavioural responses to a common set of signalling molecules. The ascaroside signalling system thus connects reproductive and developmental pathways and represents a unique example of structure- and concentration-dependent differential activity of signalling molecules.     

An LDL-receptor-related protein mediates Wnt signalling in mice

Wnt genes comprise a large family of secreted polypeptides that are expressed in spatially and tissue-restricted patterns during vertebrate embryonic development. Mutational analysis in mice has shown the importance of Wnts in controlling diverse developmental processes such as patterning of the body axis, central nervous system and limbs, and the regulation of inductive events during organogenesis. Although many components of the Wnt signalling pathway have been identified, little is known about how Wnts and their cognate Frizzled receptors signal to downstream effector molecules. Here we present evidence that a new member of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptor-related protein family, LRP6 (ref. 3), is critical for Wnt signalling in mice. Embryos homozygous for an insertion mutation in the LRP6 gene exhibit developmental defects that are a striking composite of those caused by mutations in individual Wnt genes. Furthermore, we show a genetic enhancement of a Wnt mutant phenotype in mice lacking one functional copy of LRP6. Together, our results support a broad role for LRP6 in the transduction of several Wnt signals in mammals.     

Neuroligins and neurexins link synaptic function to cognitive disease

The brain processes information by transmitting signals at synapses, which connect neurons into vast networks of communicating cells. In these networks, synapses not only transmit signals but also transform and refine them. Neurexins and neuroligins are synaptic cell-adhesion molecules that connect presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons at synapses, mediate signalling across the synapse, and shape the properties of neural networks by specifying synaptic functions. In humans, alterations in genes encoding neurexins or neuroligins have recently been implicated in autism and other cognitive diseases, linking synaptic cell adhesion to cognition and its disorders.     

Structure of the ESCRT-II endosomal trafficking complex

The multivesicular-body (MVB) pathway delivers transmembrane proteins and lipids to the lumen of the endosome. The multivesicular-body sorting pathway has crucial roles in growth-factor-receptor downregulation, developmental signalling, regulation of the immune response and the budding of certain enveloped viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus. Ubiquitination is a signal for sorting into the MVB pathway, which also requires the functions of three protein complexes, termed ESCRT-I, -II and -III (endosomal sorting complex required for transport). Here we report the crystal structure of the core of the yeast ESCRT-II complex, which contains one molecule of the Vps protein Vps22, the carboxy-terminal domain of Vps36 and two molecules of Vps25, and has the shape of a capital letter 'Y'. The amino-terminal coiled coil of Vps22 and the flexible linker leading to the ubiquitin-binding NZF domain of Vps36 both protrude from the tip of one branch of the 'Y'. Vps22 and Vps36 form nearly equivalent interactions with the two Vps25 molecules at the centre of the 'Y'. The structure suggests how ubiquitinated cargo could be passed between ESCRT components of the MVB pathway through the sequential transfer of ubiquitinated cargo from one complex to the next.     

TNF-RII and c-IAP1 mediate ubiquitination and degradation of TRAF2

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory mediator that exerts its biological functions by binding two TNF receptors (TNF-RI and TNF-RII), which initiate biological responses by interacting with adaptor and signalling proteins. Among the signalling components that associate with TNF receptors are members of the TNF-R-associated factor (TRAF) family. TRAF2 is required for TNF-alpha-mediated activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), contributes to activation of NF-kappaB, and mediates anti-apoptotic signals,. TNF-RI and TNF-RII signalling complexes also contain the anti-apoptotic ('inhibitor of apoptosis') molecules c-IAP1 and c-IAP2 (refs 5, 6), which also have RING domain-dependent ubiquitin protein ligase (E3) activity. The function of IAPs in TNF-R signalling is unknown. Here we show that binding of TNF-alpha to TNF-RII induces ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of TRAF2. Although c-IAP1 bound TRAF2 and TRAF1 in vitro, it ubiquitinated only TRAF2. Expression of wild-type c-IAP1, but not an E3-defective mutant, resulted in TRAF2 ubiquitination and degradation. Moreover, E3-defective c-IAP1 prevented TNF-alpha-induced TRAF2 degradation and inhibited apoptosis. These findings identify a physiologic role for c-IAP1 and define a mechanism by which TNF-RII-regulated ubiquitin protein ligase activity can potentiate TNF-induced apoptosis.