Vesicle-mediated transport of ALIX and ESCRT-III to the intercellular bridge during cytokinesis.

Cellular abscission is the final step of cytokinesis that leads to the physical separation of the two daughter cells. The scaffold protein ALIX and the ESCRT-I protein TSG101 contribute to recruiting ESCRT-III to the midbody, which orchestrates the final membrane scission of the intercellular bridge. Here, we addressed the transport mechanisms of ALIX and ESCRT-III subunit CHMP4B to the midbody. Structured illumination microscopy revealed gradual accumulation of ALIX at the midbody, resulting in the formation of spiral-like structures extending from the midbody to the abscission site, which strongly co-localized with CHMP4B. Live-cell microscopy uncovered that ALIX appeared together with CHMP4B in vesicular structures, whose motility was microtubule-dependent. Depletion of ALIX led to structural alterations of the midbody and delayed recruitment of CHMP4B, resulting in delayed abscission. Likewise, depletion of the kinesin-1 motor KIF5B reduced the motility of ALIX-positive vesicles and delayed midbody recruitment of ALIX, TSG101 and CHMP4B, accompanied by impeded abscission. We propose that ALIX, TSG101 and CHMP4B are associated with endosomal vesicles transported on microtubules by kinesin-1 to the cytokinetic bridge and midbody, thereby contributing to their function in abscission.

Spastin and ESCRT-III coordinate mitotic spindle disassembly and nuclear envelope sealing.

At the onset of metazoan cell division the nuclear envelope breaks down to enable capture of chromosomes by the microtubule-containing spindle apparatus. During anaphase, when chromosomes have separated, the nuclear envelope is reassembled around the forming daughter nuclei. How the nuclear envelope is sealed, and how this is coordinated with spindle disassembly, is largely unknown. Here we show that endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT)-III, previously found to promote membrane constriction and sealing during receptor sorting, virus budding, cytokinesis and plasma membrane repair, is transiently recruited to the reassembling nuclear envelope during late anaphase. ESCRT-III and its regulatory AAA (ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities) ATPase VPS4 are specifically recruited by the ESCRT-III-like protein CHMP7 to sites where the reforming nuclear envelope engulfs spindle microtubules. Subsequent association of another ESCRT-III-like protein, IST1, directly recruits the AAA ATPase spastin to sever microtubules. Disrupting spastin function impairs spindle disassembly and results in extended localization of ESCRT-III at the nuclear envelope. Interference with ESCRT-III functions in anaphase is accompanied by delayed microtubule disassembly, compromised nuclear integrity and the appearance of DNA damage foci in subsequent interphase. We propose that ESCRT-III, VPS4 and spastin cooperate to coordinate nuclear envelope sealing and spindle disassembly at nuclear envelope-microtubule intersection sites during mitotic exit to ensure nuclear integrity and genome safeguarding, with a striking mechanistic parallel to cytokinetic abscission.

Monitoring phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate in multivesicular endosome biogenesis.

The endocytic pathway comprises a variety of intracellular compartments that regulate sorting of internalized plasma membrane constituents as well as extracellular material. A major sorting station on this route is the early endosome, where internalized receptors destined for degradation are trafficked from the limiting membrane into the interior of the endosome by formation of intraluminal vesicles (ILVs). This invagination and budding process leads to the biogenesis of multivesicular endosomes (MVEs). The formation of ILVs depends on the sequential action of protein complexes that are partly recruited in a phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P)-dependent manner. The underlying mechanisms of the biogenesis of MVEs are still not completely understood and it is therefore of great interest to study the sorting of PtdIns3P in this process. We are describing several methods to track these sorting events by both light and electron microscopy and combination of both methods.

ESCRT proteins and cell signalling.

Subunits of the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) were identified as components of a molecular machinery that sorts ubiquitinated membrane proteins into the intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) of multivesicular endosomes (MVEs) for subsequent delivery to the lumen of lysosomes or related organelles. As many of the membrane proteins that undergo ESCRT-mediated sorting are signalling receptors that are ubiquitinated in response to ligand binding, ESCRT subunits have been hypothesized to play a crucial role in attenuation of cell signalling by mediating ligand-induced receptor degradation. Here we discuss this concept based on the examples from loss-of-function studies in model organisms and cell lines. The emerging picture is that ESCRTs are indeed involved in downregulation of receptor signalling pathways associated with cell survival, proliferation and polarity. In addition, the recent discovery of a positive role for the ESCRT pathway in Wnt signalling through sequestration of an inhibitory cytosolic component into MVEs illustrates that ESCRTs may also control signalling in ways that are independent of degradative receptor sorting.

Ultrastructural characterization of giant endosomes induced by GTPase-deficient Rab5.

The small GTPase Rab5 controls the fusogenic properties of early endosomes through GTP-dependent recruitment and activation of effector proteins. Expression of a GTPase-defective mutant, Rab5(Q79L), is known to cause formation of enlarged early endosomes. The ability of Rab5-GTP to recruit multiple effectors raises the question whether the Rab5(Q79L)-induced giant endosomes simply represent enlarged early endosomes or whether they have a more complex phenotype. In this report, we have addressed this issue by generating a HEp2 cell line with inducible expression of Rab5(Q79L) and performing ultrastructural analysis of Rab5(Q79L)-induced endosomes. We find that Rab5(Q79L) not only induces formation of enlarged early endosomes but also causes enlargement of later endocytic profiles. Most strikingly, Rab5(Q79L) causes formation of enlarged multivesicular endosomes with a large number of intraluminal vesicles, and endosomes that contain both early and late endocytic markers are frequently observed. In addition, we observe defects in the sorting of the EGF receptor and the transferrin receptor through this compartment.