Abnormal Vasculature Development in Zebrafish Embryos with Reduced Expression of Pantothenate Kinase 2 Gene.

Mutations in pank2 gene encoding pantothenate kinase 2 determine a pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration, a rare disorder characterized by iron deposition in the globus pallidus. To extend our previous work, we performed microinjections of a new pank2-specific morpholino to zebrafish embryos and thoroughly analyzed vasculature development. Vessels development was severely perturbed in the head, trunk, and tail, where blood accumulation was remarkable and associated with dilation of the posterior cardinal vein. This phenotype was specific as confirmed by p53 expression analysis and injection of the same morpholino in pank2-mutant embryos. We can conclude that pank2 gene is involved in vasculature development in zebrafish embryos. The comprehension of the underlining mechanisms could be of relevance for understanding of pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration.

Overexpression of wild-type and mutant ARF1 and ARF6: distinct perturbations of nonoverlapping membrane compartments.

The ARF GTP binding proteins are believed to function as regulators of membrane traffic in the secretory pathway. While the ARF1 protein has been shown in vitro to mediate the membrane interaction of the cytosolic coat proteins coatomer (COP1) and gamma-adaptin with the Golgi complex, the functions of the other ARF proteins have not been defined. Here, we show by transient transfection with epitope-tagged ARFs, that whereas ARF1 is localized to the Golgi complex and can be shown to affect predictably the assembly of COP1 and gamma-adaptin with Golgi membranes in cells, ARF6 is localized to the endosomal/plasma membrane system and has no effect on these Golgi-associated coat proteins. By immuno-electron microscopy, the wild-type ARF6 protein is observed along the plasma membrane and associated with endosomes, and overexpression of ARF6 does not appear to alter the morphology of the peripheral membrane system. In contrast, overexpression of ARF6 mutants predicted either to hydrolyze or bind GTP poorly shifts the distribution of ARF6 and affects the structure of the endocytic pathway. The GTP hydrolysis-defective mutant is localized to the plasma membrane and its overexpression results in a profound induction of extensive plasma membrane vaginations and a depletion of endosomes. Conversely, the GTP binding-defective ARF6 mutant is present exclusively in endosomal structures, and its overexpression results in a massive accumulation of coated endocytic structures.

Overexpression of Human Mutant PANK2 Proteins Affects Development and Motor Behavior of Zebrafish Embryos.

Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a genetic and early-onset neurodegenerative disorder characterized by iron accumulation in the basal ganglia. It is due to mutations in Pantothenate Kinase 2 (PANK2), an enzyme that catalyzes the phosphorylation of vitamin B5, first and essential step in coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis. Most likely, an unbalance of the neuronal levels of this important cofactor represents the initial trigger of the neurodegenerative process, yet a complete understanding of the connection between PANK2 malfunctioning and neuronal death is lacking. Most PKAN patients carry mutations in both alleles and a loss of function mechanism is proposed to explain the pathology. When PANK2 mutants were analyzed for stability, dimerization capacity, and enzymatic activity in vitro, many of them showed properties like the wild-type form. To further explore this aspect, we overexpressed the wild-type protein, two mutant forms with reduced kinase activity and two retaining the catalytic activity in zebrafish embryos and analyzed the morpho-functional consequences. While the wild-type protein had no effects, all mutant proteins generated phenotypes that partially resembled those observed in pank2 and coasy morphants and were rescued by CoA and vitamin B5 supplementation. The overexpression of PANK2 mutant forms appears to be associated with perturbation in CoA availability, irrespective of their catalytic activity.

Modulating secretion of antibodies.

Cells have means to ensure that only properly folded and assembled molecules are transported to their final destination, a phenomenon referred to as "quality control" of protein synthesis. Thus, plasma cells secrete only the polymeric form of IgM, retaining and degrading intracellularly assembly intermediates. Due to the failure to polymerize secretory IgM, B lymphocytes do not secrete IgM, while they express the membrane form of IgM on their surface. The selective retention of IgM assembly intermediates is due to disulphide interchange reactions which involve the C terminal cysteine of secretory microseconds chains and unknown protein(s) of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Assembly inhibits these reactions, as does addition of reducing agents. In the latter condition, assembly intermediates, otherwise retained and degraded in the ER, are transported to the Golgi, glycosylated and secreted. The developmental control of immunoglobulin secretion is discussed in the more general context of "quality control" of newly synthesized protein within the exocytic compartment.

Brefeldin A inhibits Golgi membrane-catalysed exchange of guanine nucleotide onto ARF protein.

The fungal metabolite brefeldin A is a powerful tool for investigating membrane traffic in eukaryotic cells. The effects of brefeldin A on traffic are partly explained by its ability to prevent binding of cytosolic coat proteins onto membranes. The non-clathrin coatomer complex binds reversibly to Golgi membranes in a GTP-controlled cycle. The low-molecular-mass GTP-binding protein ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF), which also associates reversibly with Golgi membranes, is required for coatomer binding and probably accounts for the control by guanine nucleotide of the coatomer-membrane interaction. Brefeldin A prevents the assembly of coatomer onto the membrane by inhibiting the GTP-dependent interaction of ARF with the Golgi membrane, but the nature of this interaction has not been established. Here we demonstrate that Golgi membranes can specifically catalyse the exchange of GTP onto ARF and that brefeldin A prevents this function.

Quality control of ER synthesized proteins: an exposed thiol group as a three-way switch mediating assembly, retention and degradation.

Plasma cells secrete IgM only in the polymeric form: the C-terminal cysteine of the mu heavy chain (Cys575) is responsible for both intracellular retention and assembly of IgM subunits. Polymerization is not quantitative, and part of IgM is degraded intracellularly. Neither chloroquine nor brefeldin A (BFA) inhibits degradation, suggesting that this process occurs in a pre-Golgi compartment. Degradation of IgM assembly intermediates requires Cys575: the monomeric IgMala575 mutant is stable also when endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to Golgi transport is blocked by BFA. Addition of the 20 C-terminal residues of mu to the lysosomal protease cathepsin D is sufficient to induce pre-Golgi retention and degradation of the chimeric protein: the small amounts of molecules which exit from the ER are mostly covalent dimers. By contrast, when retained by the KDEL sequence, cathepsin D is stable in the ER, indicating that retention is not sufficient to cause degradation. Replacing the C-terminal cysteine with serine restores transport through the Golgi. As all chimeric cathepsin D constructs display comparable protease activity in vitro, their different fates are not determined by gross alterations in folding. Thus, also out of its normal context, the mu chain Cys575 plays a crucial role in quality control, mediating assembly, retention and degradation.

Aluminum fluoride acts on the reversibility of ARF1-dependent coat protein binding to Golgi membranes.

The GTP-dependent interaction of ADP ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) with Golgi membranes is required for the binding of cytosolic coatomer proteins to those membranes. Whereas both GTP and GTP gamma S can support coatomer binding to membranes, by using partially purified components, GTP-driven binding is rapidly reversible (t1/2 of 2 min) while that driven by GTP gamma S is more stable (t1/2 of over 30 min). In the presence of GTP, aluminum fluoride, an activator of trimeric G proteins, promotes the stable ARF-dependent binding of coatomer to membranes, even though this reagent does not itself activate ARF. Aluminum fluoride appears to act, like GTP gamma S, to make the binding of coatomer relatively irreversible. It acts to inhibit ARF-GTP hydrolysis catalyzed by the membrane and thus makes the ARF-GTP active state persistent. This effect is not dependent on the presence of any cytosolic component, such as the coatomer. The number of molecules of ARF that can be protected from hydrolysis by aluminum fluoride, however, is only a fraction of the total amount of ARF that can bind to membranes in the presence of GTP gamma S. We propose that this population defines a set of binding sites that are sufficient for coat protein assembly onto the membrane.

Inhibition of energy metabolism down-regulates the Alzheimer related presenilin 2 gene.

Defects in energy metabolism and oxidative stress play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). In sporadic AD cases, presenilin 2 (PS2) mRNA levels are decreased in brain areas affected by the disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether mitochondrial dysfunction might influence PS2 gene expression. We demonstrated that the inhibition of energy metabolism by sodium azide down-regulates PS2 gene expression through modification of promoter activity. No one of the analyzed transcription factors, sensitive to redox status of the cell, could explain this effect. Azide effect on PS2 expression was completely inhibited by the addition of an antioxidant suggesting that the imbalance of the cellular redox homeostasis modulates the expression of this gene.

Presenilin 1 protein directly interacts with Bcl-2.

Presenilin proteins are involved in familial Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by massive death of neurons. We describe a direct interaction between presenilin 1 (PS1) and Bcl-2, a key factor in the regulation of apoptosis, by yeast two-hybrid interaction system, by co-immunoprecipitation, and by cross-linking experiments. Our data show that PS1 and Bcl-2 assemble into a macromolecular complex, and that they are released from this complex in response to an apoptotic stimulus induced by staurosporine. The results support the idea of cross-talk between these two proteins during apoptosis.