MAP1B enhances microtubule assembly rates and axon extension rates in developing neurons.

The microtubule-associated protein MAP1B is known to have important roles in neuronal development, particularly during neuronal migration and axonogenesis, but its precise molecular actions are unknown. We used RNA interference silencing of protein expression to specifically knock down MAP1B in cultured embryonic rat cortical neurons. Reduction of MAP1B in these neurons is associated with several abnormal morphological phenotypes including the production of more highly branched and slower growing axons than normal. MAP1B binds to dynamic microtubules and indirect evidence suggests that MAP1B regulates microtubule dynamics. We used the +TIP protein EB3 to assess the dynamic behaviour and orientation of microtubules in neurons in which MAP1B had been knocked down. This revealed a reduction in the speed of microtubule growth in the proximal and distal axon shaft, but not in growth cone filopodia. These observations suggest that the function of MAP1B is to suppress axon branching and enhance axon growth and that this is achieved by maintaining dynamic microtubule growth. To test this hypothesis we expressed MAP1B in a cell line that does not have endogenous MAP1B, this led to an increase in microtubule elongation rates. These findings show that MAP1B enhances microtubule assembly rates and axon extension rates in developing neurons by binding to dynamic microtubules.

ß1 integrins regulate fibroblast chemotaxis through control of N-WASP stability.

Chemotactic migration of fibroblasts towards growth factors, such as during development and wound healing, requires precise spatial coordination of receptor signalling. However, the mechanisms regulating this remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that ß1 integrins are required both for fibroblast chemotaxis towards platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and growth factor-induced dorsal ruffling. Mechanistically, we show that ß1 integrin stabilises and spatially regulates the actin nucleating endocytic protein neuronal Wiskott­Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP) to facilitate PDGF receptor traffic and directed motility. Furthermore, we show that in intact cells, PDGF binding leads to rapid activation of ß1 integrin within newly assembled actin-rich membrane ruffles. Active ß1 in turn controls assembly of N-WASP complexes with both Cdc42 and WASP-interacting protein (WIP), the latter of which acts to stabilise the N-WASP. Both of these protein complexes are required for PDGF internalisation and fibroblast chemotaxis downstream of ß1 integrins. This represents a novel mechanism by which integrins cooperate with growth factor receptors to promote localised signalling and directed cell motility.

Nonprimed and DYRK1A-primed GSK3 beta-phosphorylation sites on MAP1B regulate microtubule dynamics in growing axons.

MAP1B is a developmentally regulated microtubule-associated phosphoprotein that regulates microtubule dynamics in growing axons and growth cones. We used mass spectrometry to map 28 phosphorylation sites on MAP1B, and selected for further study a putative primed GSK3 beta site and compared it with two nonprimed GSK3 beta sites that we had previously characterised. We raised a panel of phosphospecific antibodies to these sites on MAP1B and used it to assess the distribution of phosphorylated MAP1B in the developing nervous system. This showed that the nonprimed sites are restricted to growing axons, whereas the primed sites are also expressed in the neuronal cell body. To identify kinases phosphorylating MAP1B, we added kinase inhibitors to cultured embryonic cortical neurons and monitored MAP1B phosphorylation with our panel of phosphospecific antibodies. These experiments identified dual-specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinase (DYRK1A) as the kinase that primes sites of GSK3 beta phosphorylation in MAP1B, and we confirmed this by knocking down DYRK1A in cultured embryonic cortical neurons by using shRNA. DYRK1A knockdown compromised neuritogenesis and was associated with alterations in microtubule stability. These experiments demonstrate that MAP1B has DYRK1A-primed and nonprimed GSK3 beta sites that are involved in the regulation of microtubule stability in growing axons.

The microtubule-associated protein tau is also phosphorylated on tyrosine.

Tau protein is the principal component of the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease (AD), where it is hyperphosphorylated on serine and threonine residues. It is hypothesized that this hyperphosphorylation contributes to neurodegeneration through the destabilization of microtubules. There is now evidence that phosphorylation of tau can also occur on tyrosine residues. Human tau has five tyrosines numbered 18, 29, 197, 310, and 394, according to the sequence of the longest CNS isoform. Tyrosines 18, 197, and 394 have been shown to be phosphorylated in the brain of patients with AD whereas tyrosine 394 is the only residue that has been described to date that is phosphorylated in physiological conditions. Src family kinases and spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) have been shown to phosphorylate tyrosine 18 while c-Abl is capable of phosphorylating tyrosine 394. Recently, a dual specificity kinase termed TTBK1 has been characterized in human brain and shown to be able to phosphorylate residue 197 of tau. Data about the role of tau tyrosine phosphorylation in neuronal physiology are still scarce and preliminary. In contrast, there is mounting evidence suggesting that tau tyrosine phosphorylation is an early event in the pathophysiology of AD and that Fyn and c-Abl are critical in the neurodegenerative process which occurs in tauopathies.

The microtubule-associated protein tau is phosphorylated by Syk.

Aberrant phosphorylation of tau protein on serine and threonine residues has been shown to be critical in neurodegenerative disorders called tauopathies. An increasing amount of data suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of tau might play an equally important role in pathology, with at least three putative tyrosine kinases of tau identified to date. It was recently shown that the tyrosine kinase Syk could efficiently phosphorylate alpha-synuclein, the aggregated protein found in Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies. We report herein that Syk is also a tau kinase, phosphorylating tau in vitro and in CHO cells when both proteins are expressed exogenously. In CHO cells, we have also demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation that Syk binds to tau. Finally, by site-directed mutagenesis substituting the tyrosine residues of tau with phenylalanine, we established that tyrosine 18 was the primary residue in tau phosphorylated by Syk. The identification of Syk as a common tyrosine kinase of both tau and alpha-synuclein may be of potential significance in neurodegenerative disorders and also in neuronal physiology. These results bring another clue to the intriguing overlaps between tauopathies and synucleinopathies and provide new insights into the role of Syk in neuronal physiology.

Tyrosine 394 is phosphorylated in Alzheimer's paired helical filament tau and in fetal tau with c-Abl as the candidate tyrosine kinase.

Tau is a major microtubule-associated protein of axons and is also the principal component of the paired helical filaments (PHFs) that comprise the neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. Besides phosphorylation of tau on serine and threonine residues in both normal tau and tau from neurofibrillary tangles, Tyr-18 was reported to be a site of phosphorylation by the Src-family kinase Fyn. We examined whether tyrosine residues other than Tyr-18 are phosphorylated in tau and whether other tyrosine kinases might phosphorylate tau. Using mass spectrometry, we positively identified phosphorylated Tyr-394 in PHF-tau from an Alzheimer brain and in human fetal brain tau. When wild-type human tau was transfected into fibroblasts or neuroblastoma cells, treatment with pervanadate caused tau to become phosphorylated on tyrosine by endogenous kinases. By replacing each of the five tyrosines in tau with phenylalanine, we identified Tyr-394 as the major site of tyrosine phosphorylation in tau. Tyrosine phosphorylation of tau was inhibited by PP2 (4-amino-5-(4-chlorophenyl-7-(t-butyl)pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine), which is known to inhibit Src-family kinases and c-Abl. Cotransfection of tau and kinases showed that Tyr-18 was the major site for Fyn phosphorylation, but Tyr-394 was the main residue for Abl. In vitro, Abl phosphorylated tau directly. Abl could be coprecipitated with tau and was present in pretangle neurons in brain sections from Alzheimer cases. These results show that phosphorylation of tau on Tyr-394 is a physiological event that is potentially part of a signal relay and suggest that Abl could have a pathogenic role in Alzheimer's disease.