A deterministic oscillatory model of microtubule growth and shrinkage for differential actions of short chain fatty acids.

Short chain fatty acids (SCFA), principally acetate, propionate, butyrate and valerate, are produced in pharmacologically relevant concentrations by the gut microbiome. Investigations indicate that they exert beneficial effects on colon epithelia. There is increasing interest in whether different SCFAs have distinct functions which may be exploited for prevention or treatment of colonic diseases including colorectal cancer (CRC), inflammatory bowel disease and obesity. Based on experimental evidence, we hypothesised that odd-chain SCFAs may possess anti-mitotic capabilities in colon cancer cells by disrupting microtubule (MT) structural integrity via dysregulation of ß-tubulin isotypes. MT dynamic instability is an essential characteristic of MT cellular activity. We report a minimal deterministic model that takes a novel approach to explore the hypothesised pathway by triggering spontaneous oscillations to represent MT dynamic behaviour. The dynamicity parameters in silico were compared to those reported in vitro. Simulations of untreated and butyrate (even-chain length) treated cells reflected MT behaviour in interphase or untreated control cells. The propionate and valerate (odd-chain length) simulations displayed increased catastrophe frequencies and longer periods of MT-fibre shrinkage. Their enhanced dynamicity was dissimilar to that observed in mitotic cells, but parallel to that induced by MT-destabilisation treatments. Antimicrotubule drugs act through upward or downward modulation of MT dynamic instability. Our computational modelling suggests that metabolic engineering of the microbiome may facilitate managing CRC risk by predicting outcomes of SCFA treatments in combination with AMDs.

Application of high content biology to yield quantitative spatial proteomic information on protein acetylations.

High content analysis (HCA; also referred to as high content biology) is a quantitative, automated, medium-throughput microscopy approach whereby cell images are segmented into relevant compartments (nuclei, cytoplasm) and the staining in each compartment quantified by computer algorithms. The extraction of quantitative information from the cell image generates a wealth of data which contributes significantly to the acceleration of drug discovery and biological research. Here we have adapted HCA to analyze protein acetylations in the cytoskeleton. This approach yields associative information on the link between acetylation and cytoskeletal organization. The protocol also describes optimization steps for cytoskeletal analysis and its application across different cell types, and HCA platforms. The methods described herein are readily adaptable to non-cytoskeletal acetylations and have been applied to the analysis of transcription factors.

A proteomic analysis of differential cellular responses to the short-chain fatty acids butyrate, valerate and propionate in colon epithelial cancer cells.

The short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACi); they are produced naturally in the colon by fermentation. They affect cellular processes at a molecular and transcriptional level, the mechanisms of which may involve large numbers of proteins and integrated pathways. Butyrate is the most biologically potent of the SCFAs in colon epithelial cells, inhibiting human colon carcinoma cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in vitro. In order to investigate the hypothesis that propionate and valerate possess unique and independent actions from butyrate, we combined proteomic and cellomic approaches for large-scale comparative analysis. Proteomic evaluation was undertaken using an iTRAQ tandem mass-spectrometry workflow and high-throughput High-content Analysis microscopy (HCA) was applied to generate cellomic information on the cell cycle and the cytoskeletal structure. Our results show that these SCFAs possess specific effects. Butyrate was shown to have more pronounced effects on the keratins and intermediate filaments (IFs); while valerate altered the ß-tubulin isotypes' expression and the microtubules (MTs); propionate was involved in both mechanisms, displaying intermediate effects. These data suggest distinct physiological roles for SCFAs in colon epithelial function, offering new possibilities for cancer therapeutics.

Modelling the microtubule: towards a better understanding of short-chain fatty acid molecular pharmacology.

Systems biology combines experimental data with computational modelling to describe complex biological mechanisms and pathways. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs-chemopreventive compounds produced in the colon lumen) impair microtubule (MT) function in colon cancer cells by altering the relative expression of ß-tubulin isotypes. The ß-tubulin isotype composition along MT fibres is believed to contribute to a "tubulin code" defining which microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) and kinesins are recruited and the arrangement of tubulin post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) along the fibre, which in turn dictate many critical cellular functions. SCFAs drive acetylation of many proteins by virtue of being histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi's). Known acetyl-proteins include transcription factors and cytoplasmic cytoskeletal keratins as well as histones. Disruption of the MT cytoskeleton is a prime target of many cancer therapies including anti-microtubule drugs (AMD). This review focuses on SCFAs as HDACi's and how they might affect tubulin dynamics, modifications and isotypes. It discusses the evolution of mechanistic models that have helped improve understanding of tubulin-MT structure and dynamics and how to develop these models, combined with those describing transcription and the cell cycle, could provide hypotheses for how SCFAs disrupt cytoskeletal function. The review demonstrates how systems biology could offer potentially novel ideas for therapies in the prevention and treatment of cancers through the continued development and elaboration of such models.