CASK and protein 4.1 support F-actin nucleation on neurexins.

Rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton are involved in a variety of cellular processes from locomotion of cells to morphological alterations of the cell surface. One important question is how local interactions of cells with the extracellular space are translated into alterations of their membrane organization. To address this problem, we studied CASK, a member of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase homologues family of adaptor proteins. CASK has been shown to bind the erythrocyte isoform of protein 4.1, a class of proteins that promote formation of actin/spectrin microfilaments. In neurons, CASK also interacts via its PDZ domain with the cytosolic C termini of neurexins, neuron-specific cell-surface proteins. We now show that CASK binds a brain-enriched isoform of protein 4.1, and nucleates local assembly of actin/spectrin filaments. These interactions can be reconstituted on the cytosolic tail of neurexins. Furthermore, CASK can be recovered with actin filaments prepared from rat brain extracts, and neurexins are recruited together with CASK and protein 4.1 into these actin filaments. Thus, analogous to the PDZ-domain protein p55 and glycophorin C at the erythrocyte membrane, a similar complex comprising CASK and neurexins exists in neurons. Our data suggest that intercellular junctions formed by neurexins, such as junctions initiated by beta-neurexins with neuroligins, are at least partially coupled to the actin cytoskeleton via an interaction with CASK and protein 4.1.

Mints as adaptors. Direct binding to neurexins and recruitment of munc18.

Mint1 (X11/human Lin-10) and Mint2 are neuronal adaptor proteins that bind to Munc18-1 (n/rb-sec1), a protein essential for synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Mint1 has previously been characterized in a complex with CASK, another adaptor protein that in turn interacts with neurexins. Neurexins are neuron-specific cell surface proteins that act as receptors for the excitatory neurotoxin alpha-latrotoxin. Hence, one possible function for Mint1 is to mediate the recruitment of Munc18 to neurexins. In agreement with this hypothesis, we now show that the cytoplasmic tail of neurexins captures Munc18 via a multiprotein complex that involves Mint1. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both Mint1 and Mint2 can directly bind to neurexins in a PDZ domain-mediated interaction. Various Mint and/or CASK-containing complexes can be assembled on neurexins, and we demonstrate that Mint1 can bind to Munc18 and CASK simultaneously. Our data support a model whereby one of the functions of Mints is to localize the vesicle fusion protein Munc18 to those sites at the plasma membrane that are defined by neurexins, presumably in the vicinity of points of exocytosis.

Role of Cue1p in ubiquitination and degradation at the ER surface.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) degradation of aberrant proteins is mediated by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Here, a membrane-bound component of the ubiquitin system, Cue1p, was identified. It was shown to recruit the soluble ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Ubc7p to the ER membrane. In the absence of Cue1p, unassembled and thus cytosolically mislocalized Ubc7p was unable to participate in ER degradation or in the turnover of soluble non-ER proteins. Moreover, ubiquitination by Cue1p-assembled Ubc7p and Ubc6p was a prerequisite for retrograde transport of lumenal substrates out of the ER, which suggests that ubiquitination is mechanistically integrated into the ER degradation process.

Degradation of subunits of the Sec61p complex, an integral component of the ER membrane, by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

We have investigated the degradation of subunits of the trimeric Sec61p complex, a key component of the protein translocation apparatus of the ER membrane. A mutant form of Sec6lp and one of the two associated proteins (Sss1p) are selectively degraded, while the third constituent of the complex (Sbh1p) is stable. Our results demonstrate that the proteolysis of the multispanning membrane protein Sec61p is mediated by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, since it requires polyubiquitination, the presence of a membrane-bound (Ubc6) and a soluble (Ubc7) ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme and a functional proteasome. The process is proposed to be specific for unassembled Sec61p and Sss1p. Thus, our results suggest that one pathway of ER degradation of abnormal or unassembled membrane proteins is initiated at the cytoplasmic side of the ER.