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Eukaryotic Cell, March 2005, p. 567-576, Vol. 4, No. 3
1535-9778/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/EC.4.3.567-576.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Cell Division Laboratory, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Received 15 July 2004/ Accepted 6 December 2004
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In recent years, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has emerged as a powerful model organism with which to study cytokinesis, due to its well characterized cell cycle and the availability of mutants defective at various steps in cytokinesis. Importantly, fission yeast cells divide through the use of an actomyosin ring, composed of over 20 proteins, including two type II myosins, Myo2p and Myp2p (12). Myo2p is essential for cytokinesis and cell viability; it associates with two light chains, Cdc4p and Rlc1p (19, 23, 27). Myo2p is detected at the division site during cytokinesis in fission yeast cells (18, 22).
A growing body of evidence from a diverse set of organisms ranging from unicellular to multicellular eukaryotes has implicated the involvement of proteins containing UCS domains in myosin structure and/or function (40). The phenotypes observed on disruption of genes encoding UCS domain proteins indicate abnormalities in specific myosin-associated processes. The UCS domain-containing protein in S. pombe, Rng3p, has previously been shown to be essential for formation of the cytokinetic actomyosin ring, with several lines of evidence indicating an involvement of Rng3p in modulation of Myo2p function (39).
An additional player was introduced when Barral et al., in a landmark study (7), showed that the Caenorhabditis elegans UCS domain protein (Unc45p), which is essential for myosin assembly into thick filaments (6), bound the chaperone protein Hsp90. Hsp90-like proteins have been identified from numerous eukaryotes and aid in the folding, maintenance, and regulation of a diverse set of proteins including cochaperones, kinases, and transcription factors (30). Recent work by Srikakulam and Winkelmann (34) demonstrates that nascent myosin filaments in differentiating muscle cells consist of myosin molecules with unfolded motor domains in a complex with Hsp90 and Hsc70 chaperone proteins.
In this study, we have characterized the in vivo role of Swo1p (the fission yeast Hsp90 homolog) in myosin II assembly and/or function in S. pombe. We show that Swo1p is important for myosin II function in fission yeast and that it cooperates with Rng3p to maintain Myo2p in a functionally stable form.
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TABLE 1. S. pombe strains used in this study
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Construction of Swo1p-GFP. Plasmid pCDL927 was created to generate a strain that expressed a Swo1p-GFP carboxy-terminal fusion protein from its genomic locus. To make pCDL927, the last 1 kb of the swo1+ gene was amplified by PCR using primers bearing the KpnI (5' GCGCGCGGTACCCGCCGTGTTTTCATTACCGA CG3') and SmaI (5' GCGCGCCCCGGGATCGACTTCCTCCATCTTGC 3') sites. The 5' primer with the KpnI site carried an in-frame stop codon to prevent translation of the untagged copy. The 1-kb KpnI-swo1-SmaI fragment was directionally cloned upstream and fused in frame in the GFP gene in the pJK210 GFP plasmid (39). Plasmid pCDL927 was linearized with EcoRI and introduced into the wild-type strain MBY192 (leu1-32 ura4-D18 h), creating strain MBY2440 (swo1-GFP::ura4+ leu1-32 ura4-D18 h). Putative integrants selected on plates lacking uracil were subjected to PCR analysis and nucleotide sequence determination to confirm that the desired integration had occurred. Genetic crosses between the individual cytokinesis mutants and MBY2440 were used to create all cytokinesis mutant strains that express the Swo1p-GFP fusion.
Two-hybrid system.
A two-hybrid interaction assay using a 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl
-D-galactosidase (X-Gal)-based two-hybrid system was carried out using the Matchmaker two-hybrid system (Clontech Laboratories Inc.). The full-length S. pombe rng3 gene was amplified from genomic DNA by PCR with CATGCCATGGAGATGACCCACGAGCTTTCCTC as the 5' primer and CGCGGATCCTCATTTGCTTCCTTGAAGTC as the 3' primer and cloned into the NcoI-BamHI sites of the Gal4BD (pAS2-1) and Gal4AD (pACT2) vectors to create pCDL836 and pCDL841, respectively. The S. pombe myo2 gene corresponding to amino acids 1 to 836 (which includes the head and the two IQ domains of Myo2p) was similarly cloned, using CATGCCATGGAGATGACAGAAGTAATATCTAATAAAATAACTGC as the 5' primer and TCCCCCGGTAGATTGAAAAATAACTTAGTTT as the 3' primer, into the NcoI-BamHI sites of Gal4BD and Gal4AD vectors to create pCDL839 and pCDL844, respectively. The full-length S. pombe swo1 gene was also cloned, using CATGCCATGGAGATGTCGAACACAGAAACTTTCAAG as the 5' primer and CGCGGATCCTTAATCGACTTCCTCCATCTTGC as the 3' primer, into the NcoI-BamHI sites of Gal4BD and Gal4AD vectors to create pCDL838 and pCDL843, respectively. The two types of hybrid plasmids (which carry the yeast TRP1 and LEU2 marker genes) were then cotransformed into the yeast strain Y190 (which is auxotrophic for tryptophan and leucine and has lacZ and his3 reporter genes, each under the independent control of two different GAL4 promoters) using the lithium acetate method of transformation (15). The transformants were first replica plated onto medium lacking leucine and tryptophan to select for those that contained both plasmids. Primary transformants were replica plated onto medium containing 35 mM 3-aminotriazole and lacking histidine as well as tryptophan and leucine to check for expression of the HIS3 reporter gene, indicative of a protein-protein interaction. This interaction was further confirmed by determining the function of the lacZ reporter in His+ Trp+ Leu+ transformants by assaying for ß-galactosidase activity using a colony-lift filter assay as described in the Clontech manual.
Protein extraction, immunoblotting, and immunoprecipitation. Protein extracts were prepared in NP-40 buffer as described previously (37). Briefly, total-cell extracts were prepared from log-phase cells by bead beating in NP-40 buffer (1% Triton X-100, 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 6 mM Na2HPO4, 4 mM NaH2PO4, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 2 mM benzamidine, supplemented with protease inhibitor [Complete, EDTA-free; Roche Diagnostics]). For immunoblotting, cells were cultured in YES medium supplemented with 1.2 M sorbitol to an optical density at 595 nm of 0.2, washed twice with YES medium, and grown in YES medium at 36°C for 5 h. Cell extracts were clarified by centrifugation at 16,100 x g for 10 min at 4°C. Equal amounts of total proteins were loaded on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) 0-12% polyacrylamide gels. Myo2p and Arp3p (used as control for normalization) were detected using affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies as previously described (39). Immunoblots were quantitated by densitometry (Bio-rad). For each immunoprecipitation, 3 to 4 mg of soluble protein was incubated with 5 µl of anti-Myo2p, anti-GFP (Molecular Probes), or anti-HA (12CA5; Sigma) antibodies for 1 h at 4°C. Then 100 µl of preswollen Sepharose-protein A beads (Amersham Biosciences) was added to the antigen-antibody immunocomplex, and the mixture was incubated for 45 min at 4°C. The beads were washed six times with 1 ml of NP-40 buffer with 10-min intervals of incubation on the rotor. After the final wash, the beads were resuspended in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) gel loading buffer and heated at 95°C for 5 min.
Proteins were separated on SDS-8% polyacrylamide gels and transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride sequencing. membrane (Millipore Corp., Bedford, Mass.). The membrane was blocked with 5% nonfat milk in phosphate-buffered saline-Tween 20. Primary anti-GFP (Molecular Probes) and 12CA5 (Sigma) antibodies were used at 1:2,000 dilutions, whereas anti-Myo2p was used at a 1:400 dilution. Peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit and anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (Sigma) were used at 1:5,000 dilutions, and the enhanced chemiluminescent signal was detected using the ECL1 kit (Amersham) as specified by the manufacturer.
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FIG. 1. Characterization of the swo1-w1 mutant strain. Wild-type (WT) (A) and swo1-w1 (B) strains were grown at permissive temperature to log phase, then shifted to the restrictive temperature of 36°C for 7 h. Cells were fixed, stained with DAPI and aniline blue to visualize nuclei and septa, respectively, and then scored for number of nuclei.
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FIG. 2. Swo1p function is essential for assembly of a normal actomyosin ring. (A) Wild-type (WT) and swo1-w1 cells were grown at 25°C to exponential growth phase and shifted to 37°C for 7 hrs, fixed, and stained with DAPI and Alexa 488-conjugated phalloidin to visualize chromosomes (blue) and F-actin (green). (B) Similarly treated cells of the two genotype were processed for indirect immunofluroscence with anti-Myo2p and anti-tubulin to visualize Myo2p and microtubule structures, respectively. (C) swo1-w1 cells and wild-type cells expressing Rlc1-GFP were grown at 25°C to exponential growth phase and shifted to 37°C for 7 h, fixed, stained with DAPI to visualize chromosomes (blue), with anti-GFP to visualize Rlc1p (green), and with anti-tubulin to visualize microtubule structure (red). The figures shown are enlarged, merged images from a stack of 16 confocal z-sections of 0.4 µm that have been reconstructed and processed using Volocity Visualization (Improvision) software.
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FIG. 3. The swo1-w1 mutant shows a synthetic lethal interaction with both myo2-E1 and rng3-65 mutant strains. (A) The swo1-w1 mutant was crossed with cells of the myo2-E1 genotype, and resulting tetrads were dissected and grown at 24°C. Four spores from each tetrad are aligned vertically; seven tetrads are shown. P, parental ditype (all spores viable and showing a temperature-sensitive phenotype); N, nonparental ditype (two viable spores and two nonviable); T, tetratype (one nonviable, the remaining viable three showing 2:1 segregation of temperature sensitive to wild-type). (B) Colony formation by cells from a tetratype tetrad, germinated at 36°C for 3 days. WT, wild type (C) Characterization of the myo2-E1 swo1-w1 phenotype. Cells belonging to the swo1-w1 myo2-E1 genotype were rescued by tetrad dissection on medium containing sorbitol and then grown at 24°C in medium containing sorbital along with strains of wild-type, swo1-w1, and myo2-E1 genotypes. The cells were subsequently shifted to medium lacking sorbitol and stained for nuclei and septa using DAPI and aniline blue, respectively. (D) The restrictive temperature for growth of the double mutant strain swo1-w1 rng3-65 was lowered, with the double mutant being unable to grow at a temperature at which both individual mutant strains still formed colonies. (E) Cells of the rng3-65 strain and the swo1-w1 rng3-65 double mutant strain were grown at 32°C and stained with DAPI and aniline blue to visualize DNA and septa, simultaneously.
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FIG. 4. The mutant strains myo2-E1, rng3-65, and swo1-w1 show a heightened sensitivity to geldanamycin. (A) Tenfold serial dilutions of exponentially growing cells belonging to a wild-type (WT) strain, three allelic strains of the myo2 gene, and the cdc4-8, rng3-65, and swo1-w1 strains were spotted onto YES agar plates in the presence of 2 µg of geldanamycin (GD) per ml or DMSO as control and incubated at 24°C for 3 days. (B) DAPI and aniline blue staining to reveal nuclear number and septa, respectively, in cells of wild-type, swo1- w1, myo2-E1, and rng3-65 genotypes treated with either DMSO as control or 2 µg of geldanamcyin per ml.
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FIG. 5. Swo1p-GFP is detected at the division site in myo2-E1 cells but not in myo2-S1 or myo2-S2 cells. (A) Cells belonging to the wild-type (WT), myo2-S1, myo2-S2, and myo2-S2 genotype expressing Swo1p-GFP from the genomic locus were grown at 24°C, shifted to 32°C, and checked for Swo1p-GFP fluorescence. (B) Cells of the Swo1-GFP myo2-E1 strain growing at 24°C were shifted to 32°C for 4 h before being mounted for time-lapse analysis. Individual images from a time-lapse series obtained at 32°C using a heated microscope stage are shown.
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FIG. 6. Physical interactions between Myo2p and Rng3p with Swo1p. (A) Cell suspensions of the S. cerevisiae strain Y190 carrying the indicated BD and AD plasmids were selected on synthetic complete medium lacking leucine and tryptophan and rescreened for HIS+ expression to select for strains containing pairs of interacting proteins. Colonies grown on histidine-minus medium with 3-aminotriazole (35 mM) were assayed for ß-galactosidase activity by a colony lift filter assay. (B) Cell extracts were prepared from myo2-E1, myo2-E1swo1-HAH, and myo2-E1 rng3-GFP strains and immunoprecipitated (IP) with anti-Myo2p antibodies, anti-HA antibodies, anti-GFP antibodies, or nonspecific control antibodies. Lanes: 1, myo2-E1 lysate; 2, myo2-E1 swo1-6HA lysate; 3, myo2-E1 swo1-6HA IP with anti-HA antibodies; 4, myo2-E1 swo1-6HA IP with anti-Myo2p antibodies; 5, myo2-E1 swo1 -6HA IP with nonspecific immunoglobulin G; 6, myo2-E1 IP with anti-HA antibodies; 7, myo2-E1 lysate; 8, myo2-E1 rng3-GFP lysate; 9, myo2-E1 rng3-GFP IP with anti-Myo2p antibodies; 10, myo2-E1 rng3-GFP IP with anti-GFP antibodies; 11, myo2-E1 rng3-GFP IP with nonspecific IgG; 12, myo2-E1 IP with anti-GFP antibodies.
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Myo2-E1p levels are reduced in the absence of Swo1p and Rng3p. Given that our data indicate a role for Rng3p and Swo1p in myosin function, we examined the stability of Myo2-E1p in rng3-65 and swo1-w1 mutant cells. It has previously been shown that the levels of myosin in myo2-E1 remain comparable to those in wild-type strains after 5 h of maintaining cultures at the restrictive temperature of 36°C (reference 38 and data not shown). Immunoblotting experiments using lysates from myo2-E1 rng3-65 and myo2-E1 swo1-w1 strains and anti-Myo2p antibodies indicated that the levels of Myo2-E1p in these strains were less than half of that seen in myo2-E1 cells (Fig. 7A and B). We infer, from these data, the involvement of both Rng3p and Swo1p in maintaining the native conformation and stability of Myo2p.
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FIG. 7. Swo1p and Rng3p are required for the stability of myo2-E1p. (A) Lysates of the indicated strains were arrested at the restrictive temperature of 36°C for 5 h, resolved by SDS-PAGE (12% polyacrylamide), immunoblotted, and probed with antibodies against Myo2p and Arp3p. (B) The amount of myosin in the three strains as quantified by densitometry, after background substraction and normalization against Arp3p band intensity, was estimated and plotted.
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80-kDa catalytic domain at the N terminus, followed by an
-helical light-chain binding region and a C-terminal rod-like tail domain (8). Variations within the tail domain and extensions in the N-terminal head region are the basis for sorting individual myosins into various classes. The head domain at the N terminus of myosin contains the sites for nucleotide hydrolysis and actin binding. Binding and hydrolysis of ATP at this domain leads to conformational changes that alter the affinity of myosin for actin, leading to the association-dissociation cycle that is central to force generation by this motor protein (31). While myosin tail fragments and myosin light chains appear to spontaneously adopt their functional conformation in nonnative systems (3, 32), the proper folding of head domains of recombinant myosins has not been as straightforward. Expression of an embryonic striated muscle myosin II motor domain, with GFP fused at its C terminus, in a functionally active form, was possible only in skeletal muscle myocytes and not in kidney epithelial cell lines (10). This indicated a folding dependency of the motor domain on muscle-specific factors. Myo2p, one of two type II myosins in S. pombe, is an essential component of the actomyosin ring that constricts, concomitant with septum deposition, to effect cytokinesis (18, 22). An increasing amount of evidence indicates that Myo2p in S. pombe utilizes accessory proteins to facilitate its function. The first such protein, Rng3p, was isolated in the course of a large-scale screen designed to identify genes important for cytokinesis (4). Germinated spores carrying a null mutation for Rng3p were multinucleate with disorganized F-actin patches and defective septa, consistent with a defect in actomyosin ring assembly. A study of Rng3p localization in S. pombe indicated that Rng3-GFP was detected only in improperly assembled actomyosin rings at the restrictive temperature in myo2-E1 mutants and not in wild-type, myo2-S1, myo2-S2, or 18 other cytokinesis. mutants (39). The myo2-E1 mutation is a G345R point mutation in the head region of Myo2p between the F-actin and ATP-binding domains. Similarly, two rng3 mutant alleles, rng3-65 and rng3-A3, displayed synthetic lethality with myo2-E1 but not with 19 other mutants including the other 2 myosin mutant alleles, mutants defective in actomyosin ring assembly and placement, and mutants defective in regulation of septum synthesis (39). Rng3p was shown to be necessary for localization and maintenance of the type II myosin in S. pombe, Myo2p, in a spot structure that behaves as a progenitor for actomyosin ring formation (38).
Rng3p has a 400-residue conserved region at the C terminus referred to as a UCS domain (39). This has resulted in the classification of Rng3p as a member of the UCS-domain containing family of proteins, which have been characterized in fungi, budding yeast, nematodes, and higher organisms (17). Mutations in UCS-domain-containing proteins result in a diverse set of phenotypes such as disruption of the actin cytoskeleton, endocytosis defects, and defective sarcomere development (40). These have been directly and indirectly linked to interactions of UCS proteins with myosins of various classes such as I, II, and V. The two temperature-sensitive alleles of rng3 that have been isolated, rng3-65 and rng3-A3, both map to the conserved UCS domain and exhibit defects at the restrictive temperature that include cytokinesis failure, loss of the Myo2p progenitor spot at restrictive temperatures on treatment with hydroxyurea, and subsequent failure to form the actomyosin ring on release from the restrictive temperature in the absence of hydroxyurea (38, 39).
We now report the involvement of a second protein in Myo2p structure and function in S. pombe, the Hsp90 homolog Swo1p, and present the first in vivo data indicating that Swo1p and Rng3p cooperate in proper Myo2p function in the fission yeast S. pombe. Our characterization of the phenotype of a mutant allele of the fission yeast Hsp90-encoding gene, swo1-w1, reveals that the swo1-w1 mutant is defective in actomyosin ring assembly. The swo1-w1 mutant shows phenotypic similarities to myo2
and rng3
mutants. This evidence, combined with allele-specific genetic interactions between myo2-E1 and swo1-w1 as well as between rng3-65 and swo1-w1 mutant pairs, suggests that Swo1p probably participates in myosin II assembly and/or function in vivo. Moreover, partial reduction of Swo1p function by pharmacological treatment with the Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin resulted in severe cytokinesis defects in myo2-E1, rng3-65 cells, and swo1-w1 cells but did not affect myo2-S1, myo2-S2, cdc4-8, and wild-type cells at the concentrations used. As was observed with Rng3p, Swo1p-GFP has been detected in the improperly formed actomyosin rings in a myo2-E1 strain but not in wild-type cells. This observed colocalization may be attributed to their persistent association with myosin molecules having potentially misfolded head domains. An interaction between Swo1p and Rng3p with the Myo2p head domain may be too transient and/or diffuse to be detected in wild-type cells by fluorescence microscopy. Our evidence for chaperone-mediated folding of the myosin head domain is consistent with the results of immunofluorescence studies of differentiating C2C12 myocytes, which have revealed that GFP-tagged embryonic myosin heavy chain colocalizes with the molecular chaperones Hsc70 and Hsp90 in intermediates but not in the mature myofibrils (34). Geldanamycin treatment of C2C12 myocytes caused the formation of aggregates which contained myosin, Hsp90, and Hsc70, as detected by immunostaining with specific antibodies.
Our results substantiate in vitro studies performed using unc-45, the rng3 homolog in C. elegans. The UNC-45 protein is found throughout the thick filaments of body wall muscle sarcomeres (2) and has an N-terminal domain composed of three tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) motifs and a C-terminal UCS domain (7, 35). In vitro binding assays revealed that UNC-45 formed stoichiometric complexes with scallop myosin head subfragment 1 (S1) and Hsp90, suggesting the formation of a ternary complex in which myosin binds the C-terminal region and Hsp90 binds the N-terminal region of UNC-45 (7). Evidence, using the S. pombe system, for a physical interaction between Rng3p and the head domain of Myo2p as well as between Rng3p and Swo1p was obtained using the yeast two-hybrid system and coimmunoprecipitation experiments with myo2-E1 mutant strains. Recent studies by Lord and Pollard (21) have also shown that S. pombe Rng3p physically interacts with Myo2p and might stimulate its activity. Our results also suggest that Rng3p and Swo1p is important for the stability of Myo2p. The mode of chaperone-assisted folding of the Myo2p-head in S. pombe is still open to speculation. Hsp90 in mammalian cells interacts with a host of other cochaperones that facilitate its interaction with nucleotides and client proteins (summarized on the webpage http://www.picard.ch/DP/downloads/Hsp90interactors.pdf). The cochaperones are divided into two classes based on the presence or absence of TPR domains that bind at the C-terminal MEEVD motif in Hsp90. Some of these cochaperones additionally interact with the client proteins and with each other. Rng3p in S. pombe lacks a TPR domain. The binding of Swo1p to Rng3p may therefore be either at an alternate region of Rng3p or via a hitherto unidentified protein. Future work will involve the identification and characterization of TPR domain-containing proteins and proteins displaying functional cooperation with Swo1p in S. pombe, with a view to characterizing the entire subset of proteins involved in folding the myosin head domain into its proper conformation.
This work was supported by research funds from the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory.
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