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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 25, 17140-17149, June 23, 2006
Membrane Localization of Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Protein at Cellular Protrusions
TARGETING SEQUENCES AND REGULATION BY
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| ABSTRACT |
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, and ASEF) and
-catenin-binding domains. The Armadillo domain was predicted to inhibit APC membrane localization through sequestration of the kinesin-KAP3A complex. The role of
-catenin in APC membrane localization was unexpected but affirmed by overexpressing the APC binding sequence of
-catenin, which similarly reduced APC membrane staining. Furthermore, we used RNA interference to show that loss of
-catenin reduced APC at membrane clusters in migrating cells. In addition, we report that transiently expressed APC-yellow fluorescent protein co-localized with
-catenin, KAP3A, EB1, and DLG-1 at membrane clusters, but only
-catenin stimulated APC anchorage at the membrane. Our findings identify
-catenin as a regulator of APC targeting to membrane clusters and link these two proteins to cell migration. | INTRODUCTION |
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-catenin degradation, causing oncogenic
-catenin to accumulate in the nucleus and activate transcription of genes that promote cell transformation (1, 6). The subcellular localization of APC is regulated by nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking (7) and by plus-end-directed KAP3A/kinesin-dependent movement along microtubule filaments toward the cell periphery (810). APC, like CLIP170 and EB1, is now recognized as a microtubule plus-end-binding protein (11).
Two distinct sites of APC localization at the cell membrane have been linked to cell migration. In polarized Vero fibroblasts, APC was found to accumulate at the actin-rich leading membrane lamellipodia of migrating cells (12). The most frequent concentration of APC occurs at the tips of microtubule-dependent cellular protrusions (8, 13), and this membrane cluster pattern is often linked to the polarity of cell migration (13, 14). The accumulation of APC at lamellipodia was recently found to be mediated through a direct interaction of APC with the Rac1/Cdc42 effector protein, IQGAP1 (12). The proteins that regulate APC localization at distinct cellular protrusions, however, have not yet been defined.
APC forms a stabilizing complex at microtubule plus-ends with EB1 (15) and co-localizes at the basal membrane in membrane clusters with endogenous
-catenin (13), KAP3A (9), and DLG-1 (16). The interaction of APC with KAP3A/kinesin stimulates movement of APC along microtubules toward the membrane (9), whereas phosphorylation of APC by GSK-3
can cause APC to dissociate from microtubules (17) and prevents its accumulation at cell protrusions (14). In this study, we adopted a systematic deletion mapping approach to characterize the APC sequences that mediate accumulation of APC in membrane clusters at the tips of cellular protrusions. We employed different methods including competition assays, co-transfection experiments, and siRNA silencing with the aim of identifying the binding partners that regulate APC membrane localization. Our findings support a role for KAP3A in the translocation of APC to the membrane but strongly implicate a role for
-catenin in the clustering and anchorage of APC at cellular protrusions. We propose that
-catenin mediates the effects of Cdc42-mediated inactivation of GSK-3
on APC aggregation at cell migration-associated protrusions.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Cell Scratch-induced Migration AssayNIH 3T3 or Madin-Darby canine kidney cells were grown to confluence on coverslips. Individual wounds were made with a Gilson P-1000 pipette tip. Cells were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline, and fresh medium was added. Cells were fixed at 6 h after wounding and immunostained as below. For siRNA experiments, cells were transfected 48 h before wounding.
Immunofluorescence Microscopy and AntibodiesCells were grown on coverslips at medium density and fixed in 3.7% formalin (tissue culture grade from Sigma)/phosphate-buffered saline for 20 min, followed by permeabilization with 0.2% Triton X-100/phosphate-buffered saline for 10 min at 36 h post-transfection, and incubated with various antibodies as previously described (19). The following primary antibodies or serum were used: anti-APC Mab (Ab7, 1:80 dilution; Oncogene Research Products), anti-APC rabbit polyclonal M-APC (purified used at 1:1000, unpurified used at 1:80 and supplied by Dr. Inke Nathke), anti-Axin rabbit polyclonal (Zymed Laboratories; validated by detection of ectopic Axin in transfected cells), anti-FLAG Mab (M2, 1:1000 dilution; Sigma), anti-hemagglutinin tag rabbit polyclonal (sc-805, 1:250 dilution; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), anti-EB1 goat polyclonal (N-18, 1:100 dilution; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), or EB1 monoclonal (610534/clone5, 1:100; BD Biosciences), anti-
-catenin rabbit serum (1:500 dilution; Sigma) or
-catenin Mab C19220
[GenBank]
(1:100 dilution; Transduction Laboratory), anti-
-tubulin Mab (A-11126, 1:200 dilution; Molecular Probes), and anti-DLG-1 (Mab 2D11, 1:50 dilution; Santa Cruz Biotechnology). Secondary antibodies used were fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated anti-mouse IgG and anti-rabbit IgG (1:100; Sigma); biotinylated anti-mouse IgG or anti-rabbit IgG (1:500; DAKO), and anti-goat IgG (1:100; Santa Cruz). Avidin-Texas Red (1:800; Vector Laboratories) was used to label biotinylated antibodies. Phalloidin-TRITC or fluorescein isothiocyanate (1:500; Sigma) was used to visualize actin fibers. Cell nuclei were stained with the chromosome dye Hoechst 33285 (Sigma). Coverslips were mounted with Vectorshield aqueous mountant (Vector Laboratories) and observed and photographed using an Olympus BL51 fluorescence microscope at x400 magnification. A SPOT32 camera was used for general image capture. Higher resolution imaging of stained cells was also performed with a Leica TCS SP2 confocal system attached to a Leica upright fluorescence microscope (DMRE) using Leica Confocal Software Version 2.00.
Plasmid ConstructionThe expression vectors encoding full-length APC (pCMV-APC) or C-terminal truncated APC (pCMV-APC-(12644), -(11941), and -(11309) were previously described (3, 20). pCMV-APC-(12226) was constructed by introducing a linker containing a FLAG tag and STOP codon into the first XhoI site of the APC cDNA. Construction of pAPC-YFP was described by Henderson et al. (21). Other expression vectors were supplied by colleagues as indicated: p-HA-hGSK-3
,6 p-FLAG-hAxin (from Trevor Dale; Ref. 22), p-HA-B56
(from D. Virshup; Ref. 23), pDLG-GFP (from T. Akiyama; Ref. 24), pKAP3A and KAP3A(
Arm) (from T. Akiyama; Ref. 9), FLAG-tagged
-catenin vectors pFLAG-
-catenin(wild type) and pFLAG-
-catenin S33Y/
218467 and S33Y/
695 (from E. Fearon; Ref. 25). Full-length EB1 expression vector pCMV-EB1 was supplied by Dr. B. Vogelstein (26). A series of GFP-tagged APC expression plasmids were constructed by PCR amplifying DNA sequences from the pCMV-APC template using primers that contained BamHI and SalI restriction enzyme sites and cloning the purified PCR products in-frame into the corresponding BamHI/SalI sites of pEGFP-N1. The actual sequences for the forward and reverse primers are given in Table 1, and this approach was used to construct the following plasmids: pGFP-tagged APC-(334900), APC-(22262644), APC-(26502843), APC-(19412226), APC-(19412032), and APC-(20332061). The same strategy was used to clone pGFP-tagged APC-(1302) except that the restriction sites used were HindIII and PstI (primers in Table 1). The sequence APC-(13792080) is contained in the plasmid pAPC-HC-GFP that was described by Rosin-Arbesfeld et al. (27) and kindly supplied by Dr. Mariann Bienz (Cambridge).
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-catenin, p
-catenin-(218467)-GFP, the pFLAG-
-catenin cDNA was used as template to amplify the sequence aa 218467 using the forward primer 5'-GTCGACGGTACCCATGTTGCATAACCTTTCCCATCATCGTG-3' (contains KpnI site) and reverse primer 5'-ACCGGTGGATCCCAAGCACAGATGGCAGGCTCAGTGATGTC-3' (Bam-HI site underlined). The PCR fragment was cut with KpnI and BamHI and inserted in-frame into the same sites in pEGFP-N1 (Clontech). Construct integrity was confirmed by restriction analysis and sequencing. The same cloning strategy and vector were used to construct the plasmid p
-catenin-(1218)-GFP using the PCR forward primer 5'-GTCGACGGTACCCATGGCTACTCAAGCTGATTTGATG-3' (KpnI site underlined) and reverse primer 5'-ACCGGTGGATCCCGGGTCCCAGCGGTACAACGAGCTG-3' (BamHI site underlined).
Cell Extract Preparation and Western Blot AnalysisCells were resuspended in protein extraction buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 100 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 0.5% Nonidet P-40, supplemented with protease inhibitor mix; Roche Diagnostics) and shock frozen in liquid nitrogen. After a quick thaw at 37 °C, cells were refrozen in liquid nitrogen, thawed on ice for 20 min, and cleared of insoluble components by centrifugation at 13,000 rpm at 4 °C for 15 min. The supernatant containing total protein was quantitated using Bio-Rad protein assay. Cell extracts were then denatured at 95 °C for 5 min in sample buffer (100 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 20% glycerol, 0.01% bromphenol blue, 10%
-mercaptoethanol, 5% SDS), and 40 µg of proteins were separated on a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel and transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes (Millipore). Membranes were treated in blocking solution (5% dry milk in phosphate-buffered saline containing 0.2% Tween 20) and incubated with primary anti-GFP antibody (1:1000; Roche Applied Science) at room temperature for 2 h, followed by incubation with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (1:5000; Sigma) for 1 h at room temperature. Membranes were developed using ECL (Amersham Biosciences) exposed to x-ray film and quantified on a GE Healthcare densitometer.
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-catenin were purchased as purified duplexes (Qiagen-Xeragon Inc.). The DNA target sequences were number 1, 5'-CAGGGTGCTATTCCACGACTA-3', and number 2, 5'-CAGATAGAAATGGTCCGA-3'. The control siRNA used was 5'-AATTCTCCGAACGTGTCACGT-3'. Cells at medium density were transfected with 3 µg of RNA duplexes in 1 ml of Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium using Lipofectamine for 6 h and harvested 48 h post-transfection for analysis. Statistical AnalysisStatistical analysis was performed on the data using the STATVIEW program (version 5; SAS Institute). Multiple samples in various treatment groups were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance with post hoc Fisher's progressive least significant differences test to establish any differences between treatments or transfections. Results were considered significant when p < 0.05.
| RESULTS |
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-catenin (13), DLG-1 (16), KAP3A (9), and to a lesser extent EB1 (15, 28). We also observed that endogenous APC frequently co-localizes with
-catenin, EB1, and DLG-1 at cortical clusters, and confocal microscopy determined co-localization with
-catenin at the basal membrane (see supplemental Figs. S3 and S4).
Etienne-Manneville and Hall (14) showed in rat astrocytes that the appearance of APC at membrane clusters correlated with cdc42-dependent inactivation of the kinase GSK-3
. To determine whether APC accumulation at membrane clusters in NIH 3T3 cells is likewise regulated by cdc42, we overexpressed a cdc42 dominant negative mutant in NIH 3T3 cells and observed an
50% reduction in APC cluster staining, whereas constitutively active cdc42 had no significant effect (data not shown). Therefore, APC targeting and anchorage at membrane clusters in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts display similar characteristics to that reported in other cell types and thus provide a suitable model system to analyze APC at the membrane.
We transfected NIH 3T3 cells with pAPC-YFP and observed staining at both microtubule filaments and at membrane clusters as revealed by co-staining microtubules with
-tubulin antibody (Fig. 1A); YFP alone stained diffusely throughout the cell (data not shown). In addition, association of APC-YFP with microtubules was abolished by the microtubule-disrupting drug nocodazole (data not shown). Three APC sequences have been proposed to mediate microtubule association, either directly via the Basic domain (2, 29) or indirectly through the APC-binding proteins EB1 (15, 30) or KAP3A (9) (see Fig. 1B). The influence of protein interactions on APC microtubule-dependent localization or at membrane clusters is, however, poorly defined.
Defining the Minimal Sequence Required for Targeting of APC to Membrane ClustersWe next mapped the sequences that promote APC localization at microtubules or membrane clusters. The sequence reported for APC binding to, and stabilization of, microtubules is the so-called Basic domain (2, 8, 17) (see Fig. 2A). There is less agreement regarding targeting of APC at membrane clusters, with different sequences having been proposed including aa 12158 (8), 461777 (ARM domain; Refs. 9, 28) and 9321866 (9). To help resolve this issue, we performed a systematic deletion mapping to identify the membrane cluster targeting sequence(s) of APC. A series of C-terminal APC truncation mutants (Fig. 2A) were transfected into NIH 3T3 (APCwt/wt) and SW480 (APCmut/mut) cells, and the transfected cells were then compared for APC distribution at microtubule filaments or membrane clusters (Fig. 2, B and C). The distribution profiles were similar in both cell lines, and successive C-terminal deletions caused a progressive reduction in APC at microtubule filaments. The least active mutant, APC-(11309), is similar to the endogenous form expressed in SW480 colon cancer cells, which does not locate at cellular protrusions or contribute to their assembly.
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4060% reduction in localization at microtubules and at membrane clusters (Fig. 2, B and C). DLG-1 and EB1 bind to the extreme C terminus of APC and may therefore contribute to regulation of APC at microtubules and the membrane. Further deletion of the Basic domain abolished association with microtubule filaments. This is consistent with a role for the Basic domain in the binding and stabilization of microtubules. However, deleting the Basic domain restored APC membrane cluster localization to wild-type levels, suggesting that a domain outside of the Basic domain and the C terminus contributes to APC membrane localization. Of all the deleted sequences tested, APC-(12226) was preferentially targeted to the tips of cellular protrusions, and this was greatly reduced by further removal of the sequence aa 19412226. The sequence aa 19412226 contains two 20 aa repeat
-catenin binding elements and a SAMP3 Axin-binding domain. To determine whether these or other APC protein interaction domains can facilitate targeting to membrane clusters, we constructed a series of GFP-tagged APC sequences, transfected them into NIH 3T3 cells, and compared their localization profiles. Of the sequences tested, the central
-catenin binding region showed the highest level of cluster staining when compared with GFP alone (see Fig. 3A); however, we emphasize that even this APC sequence displayed relatively poor membrane cluster staining (visible in 69% of cells, data not shown) when compared with the APC-(12226) sequence (37% of cells, Fig. 2C). This indicates that subdivision of the 12226 sequence results in significant loss of membrane targeting. In contrast to a previous report (28), the GFP-ARM domain sequence did not efficiently locate at membrane clusters (Fig. 3A). Our findings are most consistent with those of Mimori-Kiyosue et al. (8) and indicate that the minimal core sequence required to efficiently target ectopic human APC to membrane clusters is aa 12226.
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-Catenin Binding Region, and the Basic DomainThe GFP-tagged APC sequences described in Fig. 3, A and B, were transiently overexpressed in NIH 3T3 cells, and the cells were then stained with antibodies to detect endogenous APC. Integrity of GFP-APC fusions was assayed by Western blot and fluorescence microscopy (Fig. 3B and supplemental Fig. S5). Transfected cells (>200 cells/sample) were individually scored for accumulation of endogenous APC at the tips of cellular protrusions (Figs. 3C and 4). Of those fragments tested, two sequences (the N-terminal sequence 1302 and the C-terminal SAMP3 Axin-binding domain) did not compete for APC membrane localization. The other fragments showed varying levels of competition, with the weakest inhibition by the C-terminal EB1/DLG binding sequence (26502843), indicating that disrupted binding of DLG-1 and EB1 does not significantly affect clustering of APC at protrusions even though they can co-locate in the same vicinity. Of the other sequences tested, three displayed active competition: the Armadillo repeats, the
-catenin binding region, and the Basic domain (see Fig. 3C). The latter sequence effectively blocks microtubule association of APC and was thus predicted to prevent APC movement along microtubules toward the microtubule-dependent membrane clusters. Surprisingly, a recent report (31) suggested no effect by this same sequence on APC cluster formation in rat astrocytes. The Armadillo domain is the primary binding site for KAP3A (9), and we speculate that disruption of binding to KAP3A reduces movement of endogenous APC to the membrane. Of course, we cannot exclude the possible involvement of other ARM binding factors such as APC-stimulated guanine nucleotide exchange factor or B56
, although we note that the co-expression of these partners actually reduced APC at membrane clusters (supplemental Fig. S10 and data not shown).
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-catenin and Axin binding motifs; however, a comparison of subfragments that bind only to Axin-(20332061) or only to
-catenin-(19412032) revealed that the competition for
-catenin binding specifically diminished APC at membrane clusters. In contrast, competing out Axin with the sequence 20332061 caused a modest increase in APC at clusters; this may correlate with the stabilization of
-catenin that results from loss of Axin. These findings are consistent with the deletion analysis of Fig. 2 and suggest that the combination of KAP3A and
-catenin contributes to localization of APC at membrane clusters. To further validate this hypothesis, we constructed two short GFP-tagged
-catenin sequences, one corresponding to the APC-binding domain of
-catenin (aa 218467) and a control N-terminal fragment (aa 1217). When transfected into NIH 3T3 cells, staining for endogenous APC revealed that the APC-binding domain of
-catenin caused a specific inhibition of APC accumulation at membrane clusters, and this was similar to the degree of inhibition observed for the APC
-catenin binding sequence (up to 55% of cells) (see Fig. 5). The
-catenin-(1217) peptide had no effect on membrane targeting of APC.
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-Catenin Silencing by RNA Interference Confirms a Role for
-Catenin in APC Localization at Membrane ClustersWe next compared the staining patterns of endogenous APC and
-catenin at membrane clusters in migrating NIH 3T3 cells. In a scratch-induced migration assay, NIH 3T3 cells were assessed 6 h after wounding (see "Materials and Methods"), when cells at the wound edge are known to be actively migrating, and cellular protrusions were clearly visible in those cells (see Fig. 6A and supplemental Fig. S7). The localization of endogenous APC at the ends of protrusions was scored in cells that showed either the presence or absence of
-catenin staining at the same cluster location. Interestingly, only 21% of control cells with no visible
-catenin at membrane clusters stained positive for APC at clusters (Fig. 6C). In contrast, APC was detected at 12 clusters in 90% of cells that were positive for
-catenin at membrane clusters (Fig. 6C). We next treated NIH 3T3 cells with an siRNA oligomer that selectively targets mouse
-catenin and observed effective reduction of total endogenous
-catenin protein levels by
85% as determined by immunofluorescence microscopy and by Western blot (Fig. 6, A and B). The silencing of
-catenin did not reduce the total number of cellular protrusions formed (see supplemental Figs. S2B and S6) nor did it alter microtubule formation (see images in supplemental Fig. S7). Knock down of
-catenin did, however, have a clear effect on APC at membrane clusters. In
-catenin siRNA-treated cells, the proportion of cells with no APC clusters increased from 34 to 50%. As we observed for control cells, only 22% of
-catenin siRNA-treated cells with no
-catenin at membrane clusters displayed APC cluster staining. A similar result was obtained using a second siRNA that effectively targets a different
-catenin mRNA sequence (see supplemental Fig. S8 and "Materials and Methods"). The siRNA experiment confirms that induced loss of
-catenin at membrane clusters caused a corresponding decrease in APC cluster formation. In contrast, APC co-located with
-catenin in
90% of all
-catenin-positive membrane clusters. These findings support the hypothesis that
-catenin contributes to APC accumulation at these migration-associated structures.
Regulation of Ectopic APC-YFP at Cellular Protrusions by
-Catenin and KAP3ATransiently expressed APC-YFP localizes in the cell along microtubule filaments and accumulates at the ends of cellular protrusions at membrane clusters (e.g. Fig. 1A). We next investigated whether the co-expression of APC-YFP and
-catenin affected their localization patterns at microtubules or at cellular protrusions (Fig. 7). Following transfection into NIH 3T3 cells, FLAG-tagged
-catenin was detected by immunofluorescence microscopy and found to display very poor staining at microtubules or at membrane clusters on its own (Fig. 7, A and C). The co-transfection of APC-YFP induced accumulation of ectopic
-catenin at the microtubule cytoskeleton in 58% of cells and at membrane clusters in 41% of cells (see Fig. 7C). A similar result was obtained for endogenous
-catenin in SW480 cells (supplemental Fig. S9). To confirm the specificity of this regulation, we showed that only
-catenin fragments containing the APC-binding domain were recruited to microtubules or to membrane clusters by APC (Fig. 7A). Conversely, the co-expression of
-catenin significantly increased the proportion of cells in which APC-YFP located at membrane clusters (Fig. 7C). These results indicate that transiently expressed APC and
-catenin can positively affect one another's microtubule-dependent membrane localization and are quite consistent with our competition and siRNA experiments for endogenous APC.
The endogenous forms of KAP3A, EB1, and DLG-1 have been reported to co-localize at membrane clusters with APC (9, 15,16) (supplemental Fig. S3). In contrast to
-catenin, however, the ectopic forms of KAP3A, EB1, and DLG-1 did not enhance APC-YFP localization at cellular protrusions (Fig. 7C). We next tested whether APC could recruit these binding partners to microtubule structures. In transfected 3T3 cells, there was no microtubule association observed for full-length forms of untagged EB1, GFP-DLG, or GFP-KAP3A when expressed individually. However, the co-transfection of APC-YFP stimulated localization of these proteins to microtubule filaments in 2045% of transfected cells and to membrane clusters in 1726% of transfected cells (Fig. 7, B and C). These results indicate that in a transient expression system, APC-YFP can co-localize with
-catenin, EB1, KAP3A, and DLG-1 at membrane clusters and along microtubules, but of these cofactors only
-catenin stimulated APC accumulation at membrane clusters.
Consistent with a regulatory translocation role of KAP3A (a kinesin adaptor protein), the co-expression of KAP3A mutant
ARM5 reduced APC at microtubules and, in particular, at cellular protrusions (Fig. 7C). KAP3A-
ARM5 acts as a KAP3A dominant negative inhibitor by disrupting kinesin association of APC (9), supporting the conjecture that APC localization at cellular protrusions is at least partly dependent on kinesin transport (9).
We also tested the binding partners GSK-3
, B56
, and Axin and found that these partners did not co-stain with ectopic APC at membrane clusters but, in fact, reduced membrane localization and microtubule association of APC (see supplemental Fig. S10). The inhibitory influence of GSK-3
is consistent with previous reports (14, 17). Given that each of these cofactors promotes
-catenin degradation (1), it is possible that their effects on APC at membrane clusters are in part an indirect consequence of
-catenin turnover.
| DISCUSSION |
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-catenin as a regulator of APC at membrane clusters. The interaction of APC and
-catenin is normally associated with
-catenin degradation (1, 6). Our findings reveal that APC-
-catenin complexes, including possible pre-degradation assemblies of either protein, may be integrally linked to other processes in the cell, such as directed cell movement. APC can stabilize microtubule polymers in vitro (2, 3, 17), and together with other proteins, including CLIP170 and EB1, it accumulates at the plus-ends of microtubules (8, 13). At the tips of microtubule polymers in cellular protrusions, APC becomes deposited in aggregates or clusters that localize in the vicinity of the basal membrane (see supplemental Fig. S4) and is likely to be associated with cortical actin (8). APC is known to translocate as granules or puncta along microtubule filaments in a plus-end-directed and ATP-dependent fashion (8). This same processive movement is potentially facilitated by the interaction of APC with the KAP3A-kinesin motor protein complex (9). Once it has arrived at the plus-ends of those microtubule polymers that stretch out to the peripheral membrane, APC somehow must disengage from the microtubule cap complex and be captured by a protein complex associated with cortical actin. Recently, Watanabe et al. (12) showed that the Rac1 effector protein IQGAP1 could mediate association of APC with cortical actin that formed part of the leading edge of a migrating cell; however, they indicated that IQGAP1 is not involved with accumulation of APC at the membrane clusters studied here. Other binding partners, including DLG-1 (12) and EB1 (15), have been postulated to mediate the anchorage of APC at the actin cortex; DLG-1 in particular was a prime candidate because it can bind both to APC and, through its PDZ domains, also to actin. Although it is possible that DLG-1 and EB1 may contribute to regulation of APC at membrane clusters, our findings demonstrate that these proteins are not essential for membrane targeting of APC (Figs. 2, 3, 7).
The microtubule-dependent translocation of APC to the membrane may involve its interaction with the kinesin heavy chain adaptor protein KAP3A, which binds to the Armadillo domain of APC (9). Jimbo et al. (9) showed that endogenous APC and KAP3A can co-localize at membrane clusters, which is consistent with our finding that the co-expression of ectopic APC and KAP3A results in their co-localization at membrane clusters (Fig. 7). When APC-YFP was co-expressed with a dominant negative form of KAP3A that can bind APC but not kinesin, a dimunition in APC membrane staining was observed (Fig. 7C). Combined with our observation that the APC Armadillo domain competed for membrane cluster staining of endogenous APC, we speculate that our results support a role for KAP3A in the translocation of APC to the membrane. The fact that overexpressed KAP3A did not stimulate APC accrual at membrane clusters may be due to its singular role in translocation, rather than in anchoring APC at the membrane cortical region.
In this study we co-expressed full-length forms of seven different APC binding partners; of these, only one protein,
-catenin, was found to consistently stimulate APC accumulation at membrane clusters.
-catenin is usually viewed not as a regulator of APC but is itself regulated by the APC/Axin-dependent degradation process (reviewed in Refs. 6, 34). It has been known for some time that
-catenin frequently co-locates with APC at membrane clusters (9, 13, 19, 35). Here, we have provided the first direct evidence that both ectopic and endogenous forms of full-length
-catenin contribute to the accumulation of APC at membrane clusters. Because the absence of
-catenin at cellular protrusions did not always prevent APC clustering at these structures but did reduce it, we postulate that
-catenin acts in conjunction with another factor(s) as a regulator of APC anchorage in the membrane cluster region.
-catenin does not bind directly to actin filaments but indirectly associates with actin via an interaction with other proteins (e.g.
-catenin, Axin, DLG-1, IQGAP1). It will be of interest in regard to APC subcellular localization, and its roles in microtubule capture at the actin cortex and in cell migration, to identify the additional factor(s) involved in APC membrane cluster localization and to determine whether this other factor acts in co-operation with
-catenin.
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, B56
, and Axin on APC localization at microtubules and membrane clusters (supplemental Fig. S5). These proteins all contribute to
-catenin degradation and their individual overexpression is sufficient to cause loss of
-catenin (23, 36), suggesting that this might partly contribute to the decline of APC at the membrane. Conversely, the competition of Axin by APC-(20332061) peptide resulted in a modest enhancement of APC at membrane clusters (Fig. 3C). GSK-3
kinase activity has elsewhere been reported to promote dissociation of APC from microtubules (17) and to prevent APC accumulation at membrane clusters (14). In particular, Etienne-Manneville and Hall (14) claimed that spatially localized inhibition of GSK-3
(via cdc42 and Par6-atypical protein kinase) at membrane clusters was required to stimulate APC localization at the membrane and to establish cell polarity. Our identification of
-catenin provides a plausible explanation for the effects of cdc42 on APC localization, in that cdc42-dependent inactivation of GSK-3
would result in the stabilization and increased expression of
-catenin at cellular protrusions, leading to increased APC anchorage and clustering at this structure. In view of recent studies that link APC-dependent degradation of
-catenin to the tips of neurite extensions (37) or at cytosolic locations exclusive of microtubules (38), it will be interesting to determine how and when stabilized forms of
-catenin modulate APC at the membrane. | FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Figs. S1S10. ![]()
1 Both authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
2 Present address: Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Dundee, WTB/MSI, Dow St., Dundee DD15EH, United Kingdom. ![]()
3 Present address: Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. ![]()
4 An NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. To whom correspondence should be addressed: Westmead Millennium Inst., Darcy Rd. (P. O. Box 412), Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia. Tel.: 61-2-9845-9057; Fax: 61-2-9845-9102; E-mail: beric_henderson{at}wmi.usyd.edu.au.
5 The abbreviations used are: APC, adenomatous polyposis coli; EB1, end-binding protein 1; GFP, green fluorescent protein; aa, amino acid; GSK-3
, glycogen synthase kinase-3
; YFP, yellow fluorescent protein; siRNA, small interference RNA; MT, microtubule; ARM, Armadillo; TRITC, tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate; Mab, monoclonal antibody. ![]()
6 J. Woodgett, unpublished information. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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M. Sharma and B. R. Henderson IQ-domain GTPase-activating Protein 1 Regulates beta-Catenin at Membrane Ruffles and Its Role in Macropinocytosis of N-cadherin and Adenomatous Polyposis Coli J. Biol. Chem., March 16, 2007; 282(11): 8545 - 8556. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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