Lipid domain-dependent regulation of single-cell wound repair.

After damage, cells reseal their plasma membrane and repair the underlying cortical cytoskeleton. Although many different proteins have been implicated in cell repair, the potential role of specific lipids has not been explored. Here we report that cell damage elicits rapid formation of spatially organized lipid domains around the damage site, with different lipids concentrated in different domains as a result of both de novo synthesis and transport. One of these lipids-diacylglycerol (DAG)-rapidly accumulates in a broad domain that overlaps the zones of active Rho and Cdc42, GTPases that regulate repair of the cortical cytoskeleton. Formation of the DAG domain is required for Cdc42 and Rho activation and healing. Two DAG targets, protein kinase C (PKC) ß and η, are recruited to cell wounds and play mutually antagonistic roles in the healing process: PKCß participates in Rho and Cdc42 activation, whereas PKCη inhibits Rho and Cdc42 activation. The results reveal an unexpected diversity in subcellular lipid domains and the importance of such domains for a basic cellular process.

Pattern formation of Rho GTPases in single cell wound healing.

The Rho GTPases-Rho, Rac, and Cdc42-control an enormous variety of processes, many of which reflect activation of these GTPases in spatially confined and mutually exclusive zones. By using mathematical models and experimental results to establish model parameters, we analyze the formation and segregation of Rho and Cdc42 zones during Xenopus oocyte wound repair and the role played by Abr, a dual guanine nucleotide exchange factor-GTPase-activating protein, in this process. The Rho and Cdc42 zones are found to be best represented as manifestations of spatially modulated bistability, and local positive feedback between Abr and Rho can account for the maintenance and dynamic properties of the Rho zone. In contrast, the invocation of an Abr-independent positive feedback loop is required to account for Cdc42 spatial bistability. In addition, the model replicates the results of previous in vivo experiments in which Abr activity is manipulated. Further, simulating the model with two closely spaced wounds made nonintuitive predictions about the Rho and Cdc42 patterns; these predictions were confirmed by experiment. We conclude that the model is a useful tool for analysis of Rho GTPase signaling and that the Rho GTPases can be fruitfully considered as components of intracellular pattern formation systems.

A Rho GTPase signal treadmill backs a contractile array.

VIDEO ABSTRACT: Contractile arrays of actin filaments (F-actin) and myosin-2 power diverse biological processes. Contractile array formation is stimulated by the Rho GTPases Rho and Cdc42; after assembly, array movement is thought to result from contraction itself. Contractile array movement and GTPase activity were analyzed during cellular wound repair, in which arrays close in association with zones of Rho and Cdc42 activity. Remarkably, contraction suppression prevents translocation of F-actin and myosin-2 without preventing array or zone closure. Closure is driven by an underlying "signal treadmill" in which the GTPases are preferentially activated at the leading edges and preferentially lost from the trailing edges of their zones. Treadmill organization requires myosin-2-powered contraction and F-actin turnover. Thus, directional gradients in Rho GTPase turnover impart directional information to contractile arrays, and proper functioning of these gradients is dependent on both contraction and F-actin turnover.

Control of local Rho GTPase crosstalk by Abr.

BACKGROUND: The Rho GTPases-Rho, Rac, and Cdc42-regulate the dynamics of F-actin (filamentous actin) and myosin-2 with considerable subcellular precision. Consistent with this ability, active Rho and Cdc42 occupy mutually exclusive zones during single-cell wound repair and asymmetric cytokinesis, suggesting the existence of mechanisms for local crosstalk, but how local Rho GTPase crosstalk is controlled is unknown. RESULTS: Using a candidate screen approach for Rho GTPase activators (guanine nucleotide exchange factors; GEFs) and Rho GTPase inactivators (GTPase-activating proteins; GAPs), we find that Abr, a protein with both GEF and GAP activity, regulates Rho and Cdc42 during single-cell wound repair. Abr is targeted to the Rho activity zone via active Rho. Within the Rho zone, Abr promotes local Rho activation via its GEF domain and controls local crosstalk via its GAP domain, which limits Cdc42 activity within the Rho zone. Depletion of Abr attenuates Rho activity and wound repair. CONCLUSIONS: Abr is the first identified Rho GTPase regulator of single-cell wound healing. Its novel mode of targeting by interaction with active Rho allows Abr to rapidly amplify local increases in Rho activity using its GEF domain while its ability to inactivate Cdc42 using its GAP domain results in sharp segregation of the Rho and Cdc42 zones. Similar mechanisms of local Rho GTPase activation and segregation enforcement may be employed in other processes that exhibit local Rho GTPase crosstalk.

Rehabilitation and the single cell.

Cellular damage triggers rapid resealing of the plasma membrane and repair of the cortical cytoskeleton. Plasma membrane resealing results from calcium-dependent fusion of membranous organelles and the plasma membrane at the site of the damage. Cortical cytoskeletal repair results from local assembly of actin filaments (F-actin), myosin-2 and microtubules into an array that closes around the original wound site. Control of the cytoskeletal response is exerted by local activation of the small GTPases, Rho and Cdc42. Recent work has given insight into both the membrane fusion and cytoskeletal responses to plasma membrane damage and we propose that Rho GTPase activation results at least in part from the events that drive membrane repair.

Metabolic mapping of MCF10A human breast cells via multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging of the coenzyme NADH.

Biochemical estimation of NADH concentration is a useful method for monitoring cellular metabolism, because the NADH/NAD+ reduction-oxidation pair is crucial for electron transfer in the mitochondrial electron chain. In this article, we present a novel method for deriving functional maps of intracellular reduction-oxidation ratio in vivo via measurement of the fluorescence lifetimes and the ratio of free and protein-bound NADH using two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). Through systematic analysis of FLIM data from the control cells, it was observed that there is a statistically significant decrease in the fluorescence lifetime of both free and protein-bound NADH and the contribution of protein-bound NADH as cells progress from an early to logarithmic to confluent phase. Potassium cyanide (KCN) treatment and serum starvation of cells yielded similar changes. There was a statistically significant decrease in the fluorescence lifetime of protein-bound and free NADH at the early and logarithmic phase of the growth curve and a statistically significant decrease in the contribution of protein-bound NADH relative to that observed in the control cells at all three phases of the growth curve. The imposed perturbations (confluence, serum starvation, and KCN treatment) are all expected to result in an increase in the ratio of NADH/NAD+. Our studies suggest that the fluorescence lifetime of both the free and the protein-bound components of NADH and the ratio of free to protein-bound NADH is related to changes in the NADH/NAD+ ratio.