Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kelch proteins and Bud14 protein form a stable 520-kDa formin regulatory complex that controls actin cable assembly and cell morphogenesis.

Formins perform essential roles in actin assembly and organization in vivo, but they also require tight regulation of their activities to produce properly functioning actin structures. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Bud14 is one member of an emerging class of formin regulators that target the FH2 domain to inhibit actin polymerization, but little is known about how these regulators are themselves controlled in vivo. Kelch proteins are critical for cell polarity and morphogenesis in a wide range of organisms, but their mechanistic roles in these processes are still largely undefined. Here, we report that S. cerevisiae Kelch proteins, Kel1 and Kel2, associate with Bud14 in cell extracts to form a stable 520-kDa complex with an apparent stoichiometry of 2:2:1 Bud14/Kel1/Kel2. Using pairwise combinations of GFP- and red fluorescent protein-tagged proteins, we show that Kel1, Kel2, and Bud14 interdependently co-localize at polarity sites. By analyzing single, double, and triple mutants, we show that Kel1 and Kel2 function in the same pathway as Bud14 in regulating Bnr1-mediated actin cable formation. Loss of any component of the complex results in long, bent, and hyper-stable actin cables, accompanied by defects in secretory vesicle traffic during polarized growth and septum formation during cytokinesis. These observations directly link S. cerevisiae Kelch proteins to the control of formin activity, and together with previous observations made for S. pombe homologues tea1p and tea3p, they have broad implications for understanding Kelch function in other systems.

Ligand-induced activation of a formin-NPF pair leads to collaborative actin nucleation.

Formins associate with other nucleators and nucleation-promoting factors (NPFs) to stimulate collaborative actin assembly, but the mechanisms regulating these interactions have been unclear. Yeast Bud6 has an established role as an NPF for the formin Bni1, but whether it also directly regulates the formin Bnr1 has remained enigmatic. In this paper, we analyzed NPF-impaired alleles of bud6 in a bni1Δ background and found that Bud6 stimulated Bnr1 activity in vivo. Furthermore, Bud6 bound directly to Bnr1, but its NPF effects were masked by a short regulatory sequence, suggesting that additional factors may be required for activation. We isolated a novel in vivo binding partner of Bud6, Yor304c-a/Bil1, which colocalized with Bud6 and functioned in the Bnr1 pathway for actin assembly. Purified Bil1 bound to the regulatory sequence in Bud6 and triggered NPF effects on Bnr1. These observations define a new mode of formin regulation, which has important implications for understanding NPF-nucleator pairs in diverse systems.

Rocket launcher mechanism of collaborative actin assembly defined by single-molecule imaging.

Interacting sets of actin assembly factors work together in cells, but the underlying mechanisms have remained obscure. We used triple-color single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to image the tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and the formin mDia1 during filament assembly. Complexes consisting of APC, mDia1, and actin monomers initiated actin filament formation, overcoming inhibition by capping protein and profilin. Upon filament polymerization, the complexes separated, with mDia1 moving processively on growing barbed ends while APC remained at the site of nucleation. Thus, the two assembly factors directly interact to initiate filament assembly and then separate but retain independent associations with either end of the growing filament.

Crystal structure of a coiled-coil domain from human ROCK I.

The small GTPase Rho and one of its targets, Rho-associated kinase (ROCK), participate in a variety of actin-based cellular processes including smooth muscle contraction, cell migration, and stress fiber formation. The ROCK protein consists of an N-terminal kinase domain, a central coiled-coil domain containing a Rho binding site, and a C-terminal pleckstrin homology domain. Here we present the crystal structure of a large section of the central coiled-coil domain of human ROCK I (amino acids 535-700). The structure forms a parallel α-helical coiled-coil dimer that is structurally similar to tropomyosin, an actin filament binding protein. There is an unusual discontinuity in the coiled-coil; three charged residues (E613, R617 and D620) are positioned at what is normally the hydrophobic core of coiled-coil packing. We speculate that this conserved irregularity could function as a hinge that allows ROCK to adopt its autoinhibited conformation.

The formin DAD domain plays dual roles in autoinhibition and actin nucleation.

Formins are a large family of actin assembly-promoting proteins with many important biological roles. However, it has remained unclear how formins nucleate actin polymerization. All other nucleators are known to recruit actin monomers as a central part of their mechanisms. However, the actin-nucleating FH2 domain of formins lacks appreciable affinity for monomeric actin. Here, we found that yeast and mammalian formins bind actin monomers but that this activity requires their C-terminal DAD domains. Furthermore, we observed that the DAD works in concert with the FH2 to enhance nucleation without affecting the rate of filament elongation. We dissected this mechanism in mDia1, mapped nucleation activity to conserved residues in the DAD, and demonstrated that DAD roles in nucleation and autoinhibition are separable. Furthermore, DAD enhancement of nucleation was independent of contributions from the FH1 domain to nucleation. Together, our data show that (1) the DAD has dual functions in autoinhibition and nucleation; (2) the FH1, FH2, and DAD form a tripartite nucleation machine; and (3) formins nucleate by recruiting actin monomers and therefore are more similar to other nucleators than previously thought.

Displacement of formins from growing barbed ends by bud14 is critical for actin cable architecture and function.

Normal cellular development and function require tight spatiotemporal control of actin assembly. Formins are potent actin assembly factors that protect the growing ends of actin filaments from capping proteins. However, it is unresolved how the duration of formin-mediated actin assembly events is controlled, whether formins are actively displaced from growing ends, and how filament length is regulated in vivo. Here, we identify Bud14 as a high-affinity inhibitor of the yeast formin Bnr1 that rapidly displaces the Bnr1 FH2 domain from growing barbed ends. Consistent with these activities, bud14Delta cells display fewer actin cables, which are aberrantly long, bent, and latrunculinA resistant, leading to defects in secretory vesicle movement. Moreover, bud14Delta suppressed mutations that cause abnormally numerous and shortened cables, restoring wild-type actin architecture. From these results, we propose that formin displacement factors regulate filament length and are required in vivo to maintain proper actin network architecture and function.

Selection of non-P-glycoprotein mediated high-level etoposide resistant cell lines by adriamycin with P-gp inhibitors.

In murine erythroleukemia (MEL) A20 cells (grown in 20 ng/ml adriamycin), mutation(s) producing 10-fold adriamycin (doxorubicin) resistance emerged via an unknown mechanism. Exposure of A20 cells to further stepwise increasing concentrations of ADR in combination with MDR modulators (PSC833 and verapamil) aimed to amplify the undetermined A20 mechanism while controlling P-glycoprotein (P-gp) overexpression. The growth of the derived cell lines A30P, A40P and A60P (grown in 30, 40 and 60 ng/ml ADR with PSC833 and verapamil) was initially slow, but eventually reached near WT rates. The new cell lines A30P and A40P were only 1.3- and 1.6-fold more resistant to adriamycin than PC4 A20. Resistance to vincristine was unchanged, but resistance to etoposide (VP-16) was 3.7-fold higher in A40P than A20 (itself 97-fold higher than wild-type). Expression of mdr3 and mrp mRNA tested by RT-PCR showed no increase. Daunorubicin and etoposide accumulation was not different among the cell lines, and no changes were detected in the number of daunorubicin fluorescent lysosomes. In comparison to WT, reduced topoisomerase IIalpha (EC 5.99.1.3) activity (20%) and protein expression (80%) was similar to the parental A20 cells. No mutations in the coding sequence of topoisomerase IIalpha could be located to account for the high etoposide resistance levels. The inhibitor combination of verapamil and PSC833 prevented the emergence of transporter mediated MDR, but not ADR selection of cell lines highly resistant to etoposide.