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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 16, 11260-11270, April 21, 2006
TRPM7 Regulates Cell Adhesion by Controlling the Calcium-dependent Protease Calpain*
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From the
Received for publication, December 2, 2005 , and in revised form, January 23, 2006.
m-Calpain is a protease implicated in the control of cell adhesion through focal adhesion disassembly. The mechanism by which the enzyme is spatially and temporally controlled is not well understood, particularly because the dependence of calpain on calcium exceeds the submicromolar concentrations normally observed in cells. Here we show that the channel kinase TRPM7 localizes to peripheral adhesion complexes with m-calpain, where it regulates cell adhesion by controlling the activity of the protease. Our research revealed that overexpression of TRPM7 in cells caused cell rounding with a concomitant loss of cell adhesion that is dependent upon the channel of the protein but not its kinase activities. Knockdown of m-calpain blocked TRPM7-induced cell rounding and cell detachment. Silencing of TRPM7 by RNA interference, however, strengthened cell adhesion and increased the number of peripheral adhesion complexes in the cells. Together, our results suggest that the ion channel TRPM7 regulates cell adhesion through m-calpain by mediating the local influx of calcium into peripheral adhesion complexes.
TRPM7 is one of only two ion channels to possess its own kinase domain (1). It is a member of the transient receptor potential ion channel family with the closest similarity to its bifunctional homologue TRPM6 as well as to melastatin (TRPM1), whose reduced expression has been used as a prognosis marker for metastasis in patients with localized melanoma (2-6). TRPM7 is also distinctive in its ion permeability, allowing Ca2+ as well as Mg2+ and other cations to compose its inward current (7, 8). The channel kinase is a member of the recently discovered -kinase family (9, 10). Annexin I has been identified as a substrate for the kinase, but the functional significance of annexin I phosphorylation by TRPM7 is not yet understood (11). Autophosphorylation of the channel does not alter channel activity (12). However, phospholipase C inactivates TRPM7 channel activity through hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, which is presumably gating the channel (13, 14). Magnesium ions block channel activity (8, 15-17), and, more recently, TRPM7 current has been shown to be potentiated by protons (18). Despite these recent advances in understanding TRPM7 channel regulation, the physiological role of this unique bifunctional protein still remains unclear. The passage of Mg2+ by TRPM7 has linked it to the regulation of magnesium homeostasis in mammalian cells (19). Its capacity to carry calcium, in contrast, has been associated with calcium overload during anoxic cell death (20), calcium-dependent regulation of the cell cycle (21), and most recently, skeletogenesis and kidney stone formation in zebrafish (22). An early study by Nadler et al. (8) showed that overexpression of TRPM7 caused HEK-293 cells to detach and die, suggesting that the channel may have a role in controlling cell adhesion. Here we present evidence that TRPM7 is a potent regulator of m-calpain. Fourteen distinct members of the mammalian calpain family have been identified, but only two are well characterized: µ-calpain, which is activated by µM calcium concentrations (in vitro), and m-calpain, which is activated by millimolar concentrations of Ca2+ (in vitro) (23). Both isoforms are thought to play significant roles in the regulation of cell adhesion (23-26). µ-Calpain is involved in the activation of Rac during focal complex formation during cell spreading (27, 28), whereas m-calpain has been implicated in adhesion complex disassembly and deadhesion (29-31). We found that expression of TRPM7 in HEK-293 cells produced cell rounding and a loss of cell adhesion that was dependent upon m-calpain. TRPM7-dependent cell rounding occurred without significantly elevating cytosolic calcium concentrations, suggesting that calcium influx through the channel was creating local calcium gradients to activate the protease. Indeed, TRPM7 colocalized with m-calpain at peripheral vinculin-containing adhesion complexes, where presumably, as one of its physiological roles, TRPM7 controls the activity of m-calpain to regulate cell adhesion. Recently, the bifunctional channel has been shown to play a key role in anoxic cell death. The control of m-calpain by TRPM7 may also contribute to some of the cellular events that occur during ischemia, as well as to other pathologies associated with the calcium-dependent protease (32, 33).
MaterialsAll of the chemicals, unless otherwise stated, were from Sigma. The calpain inhibitor ALLM,2 the caspase 3 inhibitor Z-DEVD-FMK, and the Rho kinase inhibitor Y27632 were from Calbiochem.
TRPM7-expressing Cell LinesTRPM7, kinase mutants, and small hairpin RNA-expressing cell lines were made using the Flp-In system (Invitrogen) and the commercially available Flp-In T-Rex 293 cells following the manufacturer's instructions. The Flp-In T-Rex 293 cell line expresses the tetracycline repressor protein (TetR), which in the absence of tetracycline blocks transcription from the cytomegalovirus promoter containing control elements from the bacterial tetracycline resistance operon. The Flp-In T-Rex 293 cell line contains a single, stably integrated FRT site at a transcriptionally active genomic locus, so that target integration of a Flp-In expression vector ensures reproducible isogenic high level gene expression.
To make the cell lines, an expression vector (pcDNA5/FRT/TO) containing amino-terminal hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged murine TRPM7 (GenBankTM accession number AF376052 [GenBank] ), TRPM7-K1645A, TRPM7-G1618D, TRPM7 KIN, GFP-KIN, or GFP-CTKIN was cotransfected into the parental cell line with the pOG44 plasmid that expresses Flp recombinase. The respective coding sequences were then integrated into the genome via Flp recombinase-mediated DNA recombination at the specific genomic location. To test the function of the kinase domain, we created cell lines expressing a version of TRPM7 in which the catalytic kinase domain has been removed (293-TRPM7 KIN) or one in which the kinase domain has been rendered catalytically inactive (293-TRPM7-K1645A, 293-TRPM7-G1618D). The truncation of the kinase domain was made by changing the TCG codon encoding serine 1501 into a stop codon. The K1645A substitution renders the kinase inactive by mutating a critical invariant lysine to alanine. The G1618D mutation disrupts kinase activity by blocking ATP binding to the P-loop in the catalytic domain. Control experiments have shown that a GST fusion of the kinase domain harboring either the K1645A or G1618D substitutions was soluble but lacked catalytic activity (data not shown). TRPM7-K1645A, TRPM7-G1618D, and TRPM KIN were generated using QuikChange (Stratagene) with the following primers: TRPM7-K1645A, 5'-CCT GAA GTC AGG GCA TCT CTA TAT CAT TGC GTC ATT TCT TCC TGA GGT G-3' and 5'-CAC CTC AGG AAG AAA TGA CGC AAT GAT ATA GAG ATG CCC TGA CTT CAG G-3'; TRPM7-G1618D, 5'-GTA AAG AGG AAA TGG GAG ATG GTT TAC GAA GAG CAG-3' and 5'-CTG CTC TTC GTA AAC CAT CTC CCA TTT CCT CTT TAC-3'; and TRPM7 KIN, 5'-CTG TAG TAG AAG AGC GTA GAC GGA AGA CTCT CCA G-3' and 5'-CTG GAG AGT CTT CCG TCT ACG CTC TTC TAC TAC AG-3'.
shRNA Cell LinesTo fully test the hypothesis that TRPM7 is involved in regulating cell adhesion, we created 293 cells in which native TRPM7 protein levels were lowered by expression of shRNAs that target TRPM7 (34). We designed six variant shRNAs to target either human, mouse, or rat TRPM7 from the following sequences: M7shRNA1, 5'-GCA AAT GGA GTT ACC CAA AC-3'; M7shRNA2, 5'-GCA TAA ATT CCT TAC CAT TC-3'; M7shRNA3, 5'-GGT TGG ATC CTT GGA ACA AGC-3'; M7shRNA4, 5'-GGA ACA AGC TAT GCT TGA TGC-3'; M7shRNA5, 5'-GGA AAT CTT CCT CCA GGA TAT-3'; and M7shRNA6, 5'-GCA CTC CTC AGT TGC GAA AGA-3'. Cell lines were constructed by first cloning double-stranded oligonucleotides that encoded the shRNAs into the pENTR/H1/TO vector (Invitrogen). Expression from the pENTR/H1/TO vector is driven by RNA polymerase III off a H1 promoter modified to contain two tetracycline operator 2 (TetO2) sites. We screened the pENTR/H1/TO TRPM7 shRNA clones by transfecting them into 293-TRPM7 KIN-expressing cells and then evaluated their ability to attenuate TRPM7 expression (supplemental Fig. S1). Four of the best constructs were then used to make TRPM7-shRNA-expressing cell lines. First, pcDNA5/FRT/TO/GATEWAY was created using the Gateway Vector Conversion System (Invitrogen) by blunt end ligation of the Gateway cassette into the NruI and EcoRV sites of pcDNA5/FRT/TO (which removed the cytomegalovirus promotor). A Gateway LR recombination reaction (Invitrogen) was then performed to introduce the shRNA expression cassette into pcDNA5/FRT/TO/GATEWAY. The final GATEWAY vectors expressing shRNAs against TRPM7 (pcDNA5/FRT/TO/GATEWAY-M7shRNA-2, M7shRNA-3, M7shRNA-5, and M7shRNA-6) were used to generate stable cell lines employing the Flp-In system (Invitrogen). A nonsilencing sequence (5'-AAT TCT CCG AAC GTG TCA CGT-3') was used to make the control cell line 293-shRNA-C (20). Anti-TRPM7 AntibodiesThe TRPM7-specific PLIKC47 antibody ( -C47), which recognizes residues 1816-1863 from rat TRPM7, has been previously described (14). A second rabbit polyclonal TRPM7 ( -CTERM) was generated using a GST fusion protein with residues 1384-1506 of murine TRPM7 as the antigen. The -CTERM antibody was purified following protocols that have been described (14). Both -C47 and -CTERM are specific and suitable for immunocytochemistry, Western blotting, and immunoprecipitation experiments (supplemental Fig. S2). Western Blotting and Immunoprecipitation Experiments293-TRPM7 cells expressing recombinant HA-tagged TRPM7 or channel and kinase variants were lysed after a 24-h treatment with tetracycline using 2 ml of ice-cold radioimmune precipitation assay buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% Igepal CA-630, 0.5% (w/v) deoxycholate, 0.1% (w/v) SDS, and 10 mM iodoacetamide). The proteins were immunoprecipitated overnight from cell lysates from a 60-mm dish with an anti-HA affinity matrix. In the case of GFP-KIN and GFP-CTKIN, expressed proteins were immunoprecipitated using a monoclonal anti-GFP antibody (Roche Applied Science) bound to protein G-agarose. The samples were washed three times in TBST (50 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.6, 150 mM NaCl, 0.05% Tween 20), eluted by boiling in 2x SDS-PAGE sample buffer, and then resolved by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting following standard protocols. The monoclonal 12CA5 anti-HA antibody or the monoclonal 7.1 and 13.1 anti-GFP antibodies were used as the primary antibodies (Roche Applied Science). The SuperSignal West Dura maximum sensitive substrate (Pierce) was used for immunochemiluminescence detection.
To detect native TRPM7 in the HEK-293 line, cells were lysed from a 10-cm dish using 2 ml of ice-cold radioimmune precipitation assay buffer. TRPM7 was immunoprecipitated overnight from cell lysates using 10 µg of
Detection of Talin CleavageTalin was detected using a primary monoclonal antibody from Upstate%20Biotechnology">Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. (clone TA205), which recognizes an epitope within the head domain of human talin (amino acids 139-433).
Immunokinase AssayThe immunokinase assay was performed as follows. Briefly, 10-cm dishes of cells were grown to confluence and allowed to express the individual proteins by the addition of tetracycline (1 µg/ml) to the medium. After 24 h, the cells were lysed in radioimmune precipitation assay buffer, and the specific proteins were immunoprecipitated as described above. The immunocaptured proteins were washed four times with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.1% polyoxyethylenesorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20). The wash buffer was replaced by ice-cold reaction buffer (KIN-DET) containing 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.0), 50 mM NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 3.5 mM MnCl2, 0.1% Tween 20, 0.5 mM ATP, and 2 µCi of [ Immunofluorescence and Confocal Microscopy293-TRPM7 cells were plated onto polylysine coated coverslips and treated with tetracycline for 20 h to analyze the cellular distribution of HA-tagged TRPM7. The cells were fixed at room temperature for 10 min in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) with 4% paraformaldehyde (Electron Microscopy Sciences) and permeabilized in phosphate-buffered saline with 0.1% Saponin (Sigma). Primary antibodies against TRPM7 (described above) or the monoclonal 12CA5 anti-HA (Roche Applied Science) were used to visualize TRPM7 by immunofluorescence. A monoclonal antibody against vinculin (HVIN-1 clone; Sigma) was used to image peripheral adhesion complexes. A rabbit polyclonal antibody against m-calpain (Triple Point Biologics, Inc.) was used to visualize the cellular distribution of the protease. A 1:2000 dilution of Alexa Fluor 488 or Alexa Fluor 568 goat antibody to rabbit or mouse (Molecular Probes) was used as the secondary antibody. The images were obtained from a Zeiss LSM 410 confocal microscope using a 488-nm excitation wavelength and a 512-nm band pass emission filter. The pinhole size used was 30 Airy Units, and the contrast/brightness settings were kept the same for each image.
Electrophysiological Recordings and Calcium ImagingThe voltage clamp technique was used to evaluate the whole cell currents of TRPM7 expressed in HEK-293 cells as described (14). Briefly, whole cell current recordings of TRPM7-expressing cells were elicited by voltage stimuli lasting 250 ms delivered every 1 s using voltage ramps from -120 to +100 mV. The data were digitized at 2 or 5 kHz and digitally filtered off-line at 1 kHz. The internal pipette solution for macroscopic current recordings contained 145 mM cesium methanesulfonate, 8 mM NaCl, 10 mM EGTA, and 10 mM HEPES, pH adjusted to 7.2 with CsOH. The extracellular solution for whole cell recordings contained 140 mM NaCl, 5mM KCl, 2 mM CaCl2, 20 mM HEPES, and 10 mM glucose, pH adjusted to 7.4 (NaOH). Calcium imaging was conducted using an IonOptix ratio calcium imaging system. In brief, the cells were plated on 25-mm glass coverslips and incubated with Fura 2/acetoxymethyl (5 µM) for 50 min. After the extracellular Fura 2/acetoxymethyl was washed away, the cells were incubated for an additional 30 min. Fluorescence intensity at 510 nm with 340- and 380-nm excitation was collected at a rate of 1 Hz using a intensified CCD camera (Ionoptix), and the data were analyzed using Ionwizard (Ionoptix). 1 µM ionomycin was applied to each cell and was used as a reference to normalize the changes in the F340/F380 ratio. For Ca2+ imaging the extracellular Tyrode's solution contained 140 mM NaCl, 5 mM KCl, 2 mM CaCl2, 1 mM MgCl2, 20 mM HEPES, and 10 mM glucose, pH adjusted to 7.4 (NaOH). Cell Rounding AssayChanges in 293 cell morphology were scored manually employing the following criteria. The cells that had a fully round cell body with no membrane extension processes were given 1 point. Partially rounded cells with one or two membrane extensions were assigned half a point. Nonrounded cells having three or four membrane extension processes, with a cell morphology similar to wild type HEK-293 cells, were given 0 points.
Adhesion AssayCell adhesion was measured using a trypsinization assay (36). Briefly, Rho Activity AssayDetection of activated Rho was accomplished using a modified GST pull-down purification assay. To detect activated Rho, the pull-down was performed using GST fused to the Rhotekin Rho-binding domain (37). The assay was performed by incubating cell lysates with partially purified GST fused to the Rhotekin Rho-binding domain bound to glutathione beads for 1 h (Amersham Biosciences), washing the beads, and then resolving bound Rho by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting as described (38). The cells transfected with ephexin, a Rho-GEF, were used as a positive control. The ephexin expression vector was a gift of Michael Greenberg (Division of Neuroscience, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA). Calpain 2 shRNA Blockade in LTRPC7 CellsRNA interference of m-calpain (calpain 2) expression was achieved by expression of a shRNA in the pSUPERretro vector specific to human m-calpain. To make the pSUPERretro-CAPN2 vector, the following oligonucleotides were cloned into the BglII-HindIII sites of pSUPERretro (sense, 5'-GAT CCC CGG CAT ACG CCA AGA TCA ACT TCA AGA GAG TTG ATC TTG GCG TAT GCC TTT TTG GAA A-3'; antisense, 5'-AGC TTT TCC AAA AAG GCA TAC GCC AAG ATC AAC TCT CTT GAA GTT GAT CTT GGC GTA TGC CGG G-3'), in which the m-calpain target sequence is 5'-AAG GCA UAC GCC AAG AUC AAC-3'. pSUPERretro-CAPN2 was transiently transfected using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) into LTRPC7 cells (generously provided by Dr. Andrew Scharenberg, University of Washington) (8). Cells expressing the shRNA targeting m-calpain were selected using 5 µg/ml puromycin for 3 days prior to expression of TRPM7 by the addition of tetracycline (1 µg/ml) to the media. Control experiments showed that nontransfected cells treated with puromycin died within 3 days. Silencing of m-calpain was assessed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting of cell lysates, using a rabbit polyclonal antibody against m-calpain (Triple Point Biologics, Inc.). A monoclonal antibody against µ-calpain (Alexis Biochemicals) was used to show that pSUPERretro-CAPN2 did not affect µ-calpain protein levels.
TRPM7 Regulates Cell AdhesionA previous study had showed that overexpression of TRPM7 induces cell detachment and subsequent cell death (8). We therefore sought to determine whether TRPM7 is involved in the control of cell adhesion. To study the cellular function of TRPM7, we employed the Flp-In system and Flp-In T-Rex cells (Invitrogen) to generate a HEK-293 cell line that could inducibly overexpress TRPM7 with the addition of tetracycline to the growth medium (293-TRPM7). 293-TRPM7 cells expressed high levels of channel activity and produced whole cell currents with activation kinetics and current-voltage relationships similar to those described earlier (see Fig. 2A) (1, 8). As previously reported, HEK-293 cells that express TRPM7 rounded up within 18-24 h and became loosely attached to tissue culture plates (Fig. 1A) (8, 20). We tested whether expression of TRPM7 in 293-TRPM7 cells was toxic, because an earlier study by Nadler et al. (8) found that overexpression of TRPM7 in their LTRPC7 cell line led to cell rounding, detachment, and subsequent cell death. Nonexpressing 293-TRPM7 cells had comparable amounts of cell death (less than 10%) to cells expressing TRPM7 for at least 72 h, as assessed by trypan blue exclusion analysis (data not shown). However, expression of TRPM7 in the original LTRPC7 cell line, which expresses two or three times more channel activity than 293-TRPM7 cells, did cause significant cell death ( 25%) (data not shown). In addition, the effect of TRPM7 on cell morphology and adhesion is specific. Expression of TRPM1, TRPC5, lymphocyte -kinase, and TRPM6 (a second TRPM family member with a kinase domain) in HEK-293 cells failed to produce the morphological changes that were visible when TRPM7 was expressed (data not shown). This finding is consistent with a recent report showing that TRPM6 and TRPM7 are functionally nonredundant (39).
If overexpression of TRPM7 causes cell rounding and loss of adhesion, than reducing TRPM7 protein levels should produce an opposite effect. To test this idea we created the 293-M7shRNA2 cell line, in which native TRPM7 levels have been reduced by the expression of a specific shRNA that targets TRPM7. Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting analysis of 293-M7shRNA2 cells showed that native TRPM7 levels were reduced by 60-80% compared with nontransfected cells or cells expressing a nonsilencing control shRNA (293-shRNA-C) (Fig. 2B). A comparison of the whole cell currents of 293-shRNA-C cells to 293-M7shRNA2 cells showed that a TRPM7-like current was reduced by 80%, giving further evidence that the current previously identified as MagNuM (8) or MIC (17) contains TRPM7 (Fig. 2, C and D). In a cell attachment assay 293-M7shRNA2 cells adhered more firmly to tissue culture plates compared with wild type HEK-293 cells or 293-shRNA-C cells (Fig. 1B). As expected 293-TRPM7 cells that overexpressed TRPM7 attached more weakly than controls. We also found that when 293-M7shRNA2 cells were plated at a low density, they were more spread than wild type cells and produced protrusions that were 50% longer, which is the converse of the morphology of HEK-293 cells overexpressing the channel (Fig. 1A). A wound healing assay was performed to assess how silencing the channel kinase affects cell migration.
Reducing TRPM7 levels significantly enhanced the motility of HEK-293 cells (Fig. 1C); 293-M7shRNA2 cells were able to migrate into the wound 56% more efficiently than control cells. These results strongly indicate that TRPM7 regulates the adhesion and migration of HEK-293 cells.
TRPM7 Channel Activity Is Required for Changes in Cell AdhesionTo investigate the role of the channel and kinase activities of TRPM7 in regulating cell adhesion, we applied the Flp-In system to create 293-TRPM7-G1618D and 293-TRPM7-K1645A cells, which expresses kinase-inactive mutants of TRPM7. We also constructed the 293-TRPM7
TRPM7 Activates m-CalpainSeveral signaling molecules have been shown to be involved in cell rounding and the loss of adhesion in HEK-293 cells. Activation of ephrin and sphingosine 1-phosphate receptors coupled to Rho GTPase elicits cell rounding in neuronal and other cell types (40-43). Activation of caspase 3 during apoptosis produces similar changes in cell morphology through the proteolytic activation of Rho Kinase (ROCK I) (44). In addition to the Rho pathway, activation of m-calpain can also cause cell rounding (31). We tested whether overexpression of TRPM7 in the 293-TRPM7 cell line stimulates Rho using a Rho activity assay (37). For this procedure cell lysates from TRPM7-expressing and control cells were subjected to a pull-down purification assay using GST fused to the Rhotekin Rho-binding domain, which is a fusion protein of GST and the Rho-binding domain of Rhotekin that binds to active Rho-GTP. Although there was a slight increase in the amount of Rho-GTP captured from cell lysates from TRPM7-expressing cells compared with control cells (Fig. 5B), expression of dominant-negative isoforms of Rho (RhoT19N), Rac (RacT17N), and Cdc42 (Cdc42T17N) failed to prevent TRPM7-dependent cell rounding by expression of TRPM7 (data not shown). We therefore conclude that the change in cell morphology and the loss in adhesion that occurred in HEK-293 cells overexpressing TRPM7 were not dependent upon Rho, Rac, or Cdc42. Because TRPM7 activity has been linked to cell death, we next investigated whether the rounding of HEK-293 cells might be caused through channel-mediated initiation of apoptosis and caspase 3 activation (8, 20). Activated caspase 3 cleaves ROCK I within the conserved DETD113/G sequence, removing its carboxyl-terminal inhibitor domain and producing a constitutively active form that causes cell rounding (44). Treatment of the 293-TRPM7 cells with the caspase 3 inhibitor Z-DEVD-FMK or the ROCK inhibitor Y27632 had little to no effect on TRPM7-dependent morphological changes, supporting our conclusion that expression of TRPM7 does not cause cell rounding by initiating apoptosis or by activating ROCK I (Fig. 5A). Our investigation then focused on the role of calpain in mediating TRPM7-dependent changes in cell adhesion. Calpains are intracellular, nonlysosomal, Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases that are active at physiological pH (45). Treatment of 293-TRPM7-expressing cells with the calpain inhibitor ALLM blocked TRPM7-dependent changes in morphology and deadhesion (Fig. 5A), a finding strongly suggesting that TRPM7 is activating calpain to produce these cellular effects.
Recent work has revealed m-calpain as a key regulator of cell adhesion by cleaving specific substrates that are components of focal adhesions (for reviews, see Refs. 23 and 46). For example, it has been shown that m-calpain is solely responsible for the proteolysis of talin at glutamine 433 into its separate head and rod domains (47). We found that the m-calpain substrate and focal adhesion protein talin was cleaved into its head and rod domains in TRPM7-overexpressing cells (Fig. 5E), indicating that TRPM7 may be activating this protease (47, 48). Treatment of 293-TRPM7 cells with increasing concentrations of the calpain inhibitor ALLM reduced talin proteolysis, providing further evidence that TRPM7 causes cell rounding and loss of adhesion by stimulating the cleavage of key adhesion proteins through m-calpain (Fig. 5E). To test the role of m-calpain in mediating TRPM7-dependent cell rounding and the loss of cell adhesion, we reduced m-calpain protein levels by expression of a specific shRNA against the protease. Silencing of m-calpain by RNA interference blocked detachment of LTRPC7 cells (Fig. 5C), indicating that m-calpain is required for the dramatic loss of cell adhesion caused by overexpression of TRPM7. Overexpression of TRPM7 Does Not Cause Calcium OverloadThe half-maximal concentration range of calcium required for activation of m-calpain in vitro is 400-800 µM (45). Autolysis of m-calpain can reduce the half-maximal concentration range of calcium required for activity to 50-150 µM. However, because global increases in calcium to these concentrations are rarely observed in cells, there has been speculation that local transient increases of calcium mediated by calcium-permeant ion channels may be regulating calpain activation (23). The inward current of TRPM7 is extremely small at the physiological membrane potentials observed in nonexcitable cells (-10 to -20 mV; see Fig. 2A) (7). For this reason it would be too difficult to measure fluxes of local calcium concentrations surrounding the channel. Instead, we asked whether overexpression of TRPM7 under conditions that normally elicit cell rounding and loss of adhesion raises cytosolic calcium levels above those observed in nonexpressing cells. As measured by the ratiometric indicator Fura-2 and fluorescence microscopy, when cells were constantly perfused with 2 mM Ca2+ Tyrode's solution, the calcium concentrations represented by the normalized ratio of F340/F380 in TRPM7-expressing cells did not significantly differ from nonexpressing cells (Fig. 6A), indicating that TRPM7 was not activating calpain by raising global cytosolic calcium concentrations. TRPM7 Colocalizes with m-Calpain to Peripheral Vinculin-containing Adhesion ComplexesWe found that when TRPM7 was heterologously expressed at concentrations below the threshold required to cause cell rounding, the channel colocalized with m-calpain into clusters at the tips or ends of cellular protrusions emanating from the cell body of HEK-293 cells (Fig. 6B). Because many of the substrates of m-calpain are components of focal adhesions, we decided to investigate whether TRPM7 localized to these cellular structures as well. We found that TRPM7 colocalized with vinculin to the same peripheral adhesion complexes (Fig. 6B). Unfortunately, we were unable to acquire evidence that TRPM7 and calpain coassemble into a macromolecular complex, because m-calpain did not coimmunopurify with HA-TRPM7 from 293-TRPM7-expressing cell lysates (data not shown). Nevertheless, we cannot rule out that such a complex exists, because the interaction of TRPM7 with m-calpain may be weak, transient, or indirect. Knockdown of TRPM7 Increases Peripheral Adhesion Complexes in CellsBecause 293-M7shRNA2 cells adhere more tightly to the substratum (Fig. 1B), we tested whether these cells produce more peripheral adhesions. As expected, overexpression of TRPM7 in 293-TRPM7 cells greatly reduced the number of these cellular structures as compared with nonexpressing cells. In contrast, 293-M7shRNA2 cells were more elongated and spread than wild type cells and had more peripheral adhesion complexes (Fig. 7). These data suggest that 293-M7shRNA2 cells adhere more strongly to the substratum because they have more adhesive contacts.
To the best of our knowledge TRPM7 is the first ion channel shown to localize to adhesion complexes and to regulate cell adhesion and spreading. Calpain has also been implicated in these cellular processes, but there is limited understanding of what regulates its activity temporally and spatially. In this study we have identified m-calpain as a key effector of TRPM7 in regulating cell adhesion. We found that the channel activity of TRPM7 was solely regulating the calcium-dependent protease and that the kinase activity of the channel was not required to produce cell rounding and loss of adhesion. Although this study did not reveal a role for the kinase in regulating cell adhesion, we cannot rule out that the kinase, which displays significant homology to myosin heavy chain kinases from Dictyostelium, may serve specific cytoskeletal functions in other cell types. We also investigated whether TRPM7 controls m-calpain by raising cytosolic calcium levels. Our research indicates that overexpression of TRPM7 does not significantly elevate the basal calcium concentration in cells, a finding that is in agreement with other studies showing that depletion of intracellular ATP is required to significantly increase intracellular Ca2+ concentrations beyond basal levels in TRPM7-expressing LTRPC7 cells (7). These results are perhaps not surprising considering the small size of the inward current of TRPM7, especially at the physiological membrane potentials normally observed in nonexcitable cells (-10 to -20 mV; e.g. Fig. 2A). Thus, under physiological conditions, overexpression of TRPM7 does not overwhelm the ability of a HEK-293 cell to maintain normal calcium homeostasis. Because expression of the channel did not raise cytosolic calcium concentrations to the levels required for activation of m-calpain (50-150 µM), TRPM7 must have activated the protease by another mechanism. We found that TRPM7 colocalized with m-calpain to vinculin-containing peripheral adhesion complexes. These data strongly suggest a model in which TRPM7 regulates calcium concentrations within peripheral adhesion complexes to activate m-calpain and initiate the disassembly or turnover of peripheral adhesion complexes (Fig. 8). The discovery that 293-TRPM7 cells overexpressing the channel are rounded and lack these cellular structures, whereas cells that have reduced levels of the native channel are more spread and have more abundant peripheral adhesion complexes, supports this premise. The specific signaling pathway(s) that control the entry into and exit from these adhesion complexes by TRPM7 are still unknown. Additional research is required to understand how TRPM7-dependent regulation of m-calpain fits into the elaborate orchestration of proteins that regulate cell adhesion and locomotion. Nonetheless, calpain has been implicated in a number of migratory processes, including neurite outgrowth and growth cone motility (49-51), cell migration (23, 25, 52, 53), and cancer cell metastasis (24, 54-57). Calpain has also been associated with cell death during ischemia in various organs (35, 58-67). TRPM7 was originally shown to be activated by depletion of intracellular Mg·ATP levels, and the channel has been recently implicated in causing the death of cultured cortical neurons during anoxia (20). One cannot help but speculate whether anoxic-induced activation of TRPM7 causes the overstimulation of m-calpain that contributes to the demise of cells during anoxia. To better understand such cellular events, further investigation into how TRPM7-dependent regulation of m-calpain controls cell adhesion and migration in other cell types will be important to pursue.
* This work was supported by American Heart Association Grant 0335375T. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pharmacology, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 675 Hoes Ln., Piscataway, NJ 08854. Tel.: 732-235-4593; Fax: 732-235-4073; E-mail: runnellw{at}umdnj.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: ALLM, N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-methioninal; Z, benzyloxycarbonyl; FMK, fluoromethyl ketone; HA, hemagglutinin; GST, glutathione S-transferase; FRT, Flp recombination target.
We are grateful to Dr. Michael Greenberg (Children's Hospital, Boston, MA) for the ephexin expression vector and Dr. Andrew Scharenberg (University of Washington, Seattle, WA) for the LTRPC7 cell line. We thank Dr. Alexey Ryazanov (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Elizabeth Puccini, and Cindy Tong for constructive suggestions and comments.
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