细胞内物质转运调节分子ARFGAP3的克隆表达及生化活性

ADP核糖基化因子-GTP酶活化蛋白(ARF GAP)是重要的细胞内物质转运调节分子.在22周孕龄人胎肝cDNA文库中发现一种新基因,其编码的氨基酸序列与大鼠ARF1 GAP有32%同源性.将这种新基因命名为“ARFGAP3”,对其进行功能研究,利用逆转录-聚合酶链式反应(RT-PCR),从人胎盘总RNA中扩增ARFGAP3全长cDNA序列,并将其亚克隆到pGEM-T载体;采用RNA印迹法和斑点杂交法,检测其组织表达谱,发现在多种腺体和睾丸中有很高水平ARFGAP3基因转录,并且只有一种约2.7 kb的转录本.利用基因重组技术,构建表达质粒pBAD/Thio-ARFGAP3,在大肠杆菌中表达,采用亲和层析法纯化表达产物,利用肠激酶切除重组融合蛋白N端引导序列.检测重组ARFGAP3的生化活性,证实ARFGAP3对ARF1具有GAP活性,促进ARF1结合的GTP水解为GDP,磷脂酰肌醇二磷酸(PIP2)增强其GAP活性,而磷脂酰胆碱(PC)抑制其GAP活性.     

人源细胞内物质转运调节分子ARFGAP1对细胞分泌功能的影响

 ARF GAP是重要的细胞内物质转运调节分子 .最近 ,在人胎肝 c DNA文库中发现一种新基因 ,其编码的氨基酸序列与大鼠的 ARF1 GAP有 32 %同源性 ,故将其命名为“ARFGAP1”.对ARFGAP1进行功能研究 ,利用分子克隆技术构建绿色荧光蛋白 (GFP) - ARFGAP1融合基因表达质粒 (p EGFP- C1 - ARFGAP1 ) ,经脂质体转染将其导入 COS- 7细胞瞬时表达 ,利用绿色荧光确定ARFGAP1的亚细胞定位 .结果显示 ,ARFGAP1位于细胞质部分 ,表达量高时 ,在核周高尔基体区聚集呈团块状或颗粒状 .构建真核表达质粒 pc DNA3.1 /myc- His- ARFGAP1 ,在 COS- 7细胞中表达 ,并用 ARFGAP1和分泌型碱性磷酸酶 (SEAP)真核表达质粒共同转染 COS- 7细胞 ,发现ARFGAP1在细胞中过表达能部分抑制 SEAP的分泌 .结果证明 ,ARFGAP1对细胞的物质转运和分泌功能有调节作用 .     

Functional characterization of novel human ARFGAP3

ADP ribosylation factors (ARFs) are critical in the vesicular trafficking pathway. ARF activity is controlled by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). We have identified recently a novel tentative ARF GAP derived from human fetal liver, ARFGAP3 (originally named as ARFGAP1). In the present study, we demonstrated that ARFGAP3 had GAP activity in vitro and remarked that the GAP activity of ARFGAP3 was regulated by phospholipids, i.e. phosphatidylinositol 4,5-diphosphate as agonist and phosphatidylcholine as antagonist. ARFGAP3 is a predominantly cytosolic protein, and concentrated in the perinuclear region. Its transient ectopic overexpression in cultured mammalian cells reduced the constitutive secretion of secreted alkaline phosphatase, indicating that ectopic overexpression of ARFGAP3 inhibits the early secretory pathway of proteins in vivo. These results demonstrated that ARFGAP3 is a novel GAP for ARF1 and might be involved in intracellular traffic of proteins and vesicular transport as predicted.     

The non-catalytic carboxyl-terminal domain of ARFGAP1 regulates actin cytoskeleton reorganization by antagonizing the activation of Rac1

Background

The regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking is coordinated in mammalian cells. One of the regulators of membrane traffic, the small GTP-binding protein ARF1, also activates phosphatidylinositol kinases that in turn affect actin polymerization. ARFGAP1 is a GTPase activating protein (GAP) for ARF1 that is found on Golgi membranes. We present evidence that ARFGAP1 not only serves as a GAP for ARF1, but also can affect the actin cytoskeleton.

Principal Findings

As cells attach to a culture dish foci of actin appear prior to the cells flattening and spreading. We have observed that overexpression of a truncated ARFGAP1 that lacks catalytic activity for ARF, called GAP273, caused these foci to persist for much longer periods than non-transfected cells. This phenomenon was dependent on the level of GAP273 expression. Furthermore, cell spreading after re-plating or cell migration into a previously scraped area was inhibited in cells transfected with GAP273. Live cell imaging of such cells revealed that actin-rich membrane blebs formed that seldom made protrusions of actin spikes or membrane ruffles, suggesting that GAP273 interfered with the regulation of actin dynamics during cell spreading. The over-expression of constitutively active alleles of ARF6 and Rac1 suppressed the effect of GAP273 on actin. In addition, the activation of Rac1 by serum, but not that of RhoA or ARF6, was inhibited in cells over-expressing GAP273, suggesting that Rac1 is a likely downstream effector of ARFGAP1. The carboxyl terminal 65 residues of ARFGAP1 were sufficient to produce the effects on actin and cell spreading in transfected cells and co-localized with cortical actin foci.

Conclusions

ARFGAP1 functions as an inhibitor upstream of Rac1 in regulating actin cytoskeleton. In addition to its GAP catalytic domain and Golgi binding domain, it also has an actin regulation domain in the carboxyl-terminal portion of the protein.     

Isolation and expression pattern of RGS21 gene, a novel RGS member

Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins are known for the RGS domain that is composed of a conserved stretch of 120 amino acids, which binds directly to activated G-protein alpha subunits and acts as a GTPase-activating protein (GAP), leading to their deactivation and termination of downstream signals. In this study, a novel human RGS cDNA (RGS21), 1795 bp long and encoding a 152-amino acid polypeptide, was isolated by large-scale sequencing analysis of a human fetal brain cDNA library. Unlike other RGS family members, RGS21 gene has no additional domain/motif and may represent the smallest known member of RGS family. It may belong to the B/R4 subfamily, which suggests that it may serve exclusively as a negative regulator of alphai/o family members and/or alphaq/11. PCR analysis showed that RGS21 mRNA was expressed ubiquitously in the 16 tissues examined, implying general physiological roles.     

ARFGAP1 promotes AP-2-dependent endocytosis

COPI (coat protein I) and the clathrin-AP-2 (adaptor protein 2) complex are well-characterized coat proteins, but a component that is common to these two coats has not been identified. The GTPase-activating protein (GAP) for ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1), ARFGAP1, is a known component of the COPI complex. Here, we show that distinct regions of ARFGAP1 interact with AP-2 and coatomer (components of the COPI complex). Selectively disrupting the interaction of ARFGAP1 with either of these two coat proteins leads to selective inhibition in the corresponding transport pathway. The role of ARFGAP1 in AP-2-regulated endocytosis has mechanistic parallels with its roles in COPI transport, as both its GAP activity and coat function contribute to promoting AP-2 transport.     

DEF-1/ASAP1 is a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) for ARF1 that enhances cell motility through a GAP-dependent mechanism.

DEF-1/ASAP1 is an ADP-ribosylation factor GTPase-activating protein (ARF GAP) that localizes to focal adhesions and is involved in cytoskeletal regulation. In this paper, we use a cell-based ARF GAP assay to demonstrate that DEF-1 functions as a GAP for ARF1 and not ARF6 in vivo. This degree of substrate preference was unique to DEF-1, as other ARF GAP proteins, ACAP1, ACAP2, and ARFGAP1, were able to function on both ARF1 and ARF6. Since transient overexpression of DEF-1 has been shown to interfere with focal adhesion formation and platelet-derived growth factor-induced membrane ruffling, we investigated whether NIH 3T3 cells stably expressing DEF-1 have altered cell motility. Here we report that ectopic DEF-1 enhances cell migration toward PDGF as well as IGF-1. This chemotactic effect appears to result from a general increase in cell motility, as DEF-1-expressing cells also exhibit enhanced levels of basal and chemokinetic motility. The increase in cell motility is dependent on DEF-1 GAP activity, since a DEF-1 mutant lacking the GAP domain failed to stimulate motility. This suggests that DEF-1 alters cell motility through the deactivation of ARF1. In contrast, the inhibition of cell spreading by DEF-1 was not dependent on GAP activity, indicating that spreading and motility are altered by DEF-1 through different pathways.     

ARFGAP1 promotes the formation of COPI vesicles,suggesting function as a component of the coat

The role of GTPase-activating protein (GAP) that deactivates ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) during the formation of coat protein I (COPI) vesicles has been unclear. GAP is originally thought to antagonize vesicle formation by triggering uncoating, but later studies suggest that GAP promotes cargo sorting, a process that occurs during vesicle formation. Recent models have attempted to reconcile these seemingly contradictory roles by suggesting that cargo proteins suppress GAP activity during vesicle formation, but whether GAP truly antagonizes coat recruitment in this process has not been assessed directly. We have reconstituted the formation of COPI vesicles by incubating Golgi membrane with purified soluble components, and find that ARFGAP1 in the presence of GTP promotes vesicle formation and cargo sorting. Moreover, the presence of GTPgammaS not only blocks vesicle uncoating but also vesicle formation by preventing the proper recruitment of GAP to nascent vesicles. Elucidating how GAP functions in vesicle formation, we find that the level of GAP on the reconstituted vesicles is at least as abundant as COPI and that GAP binds directly to the dilysine motif of cargo proteins. Collectively, these findings suggest that ARFGAP1 promotes vesicle formation by functioning as a component of the COPI coat.     

Characterization of Recombinant ELMOD (Cell Engulfment and Motility Domain) Proteins as GTPase-activating Proteins (GAPs) for ARF Family GTPases

The ARF family of regulatory GTPases, within the RAS superfamily, is composed of ∼30 members in mammals, including up to six ARF and at least 18 ARF-like (ARL) proteins. They exhibit significant structural and biochemical conservation and regulate a variety of essential cellular processes, including membrane traffic, cell division, and energy metabolism; each with links to human diseases. We previously identified members of the ELMOD family as GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) for ARL2 that displayed crossover activity for ARFs as well. To further characterize the GAP activities of the three human ELMODs as GAPs we developed new preparations of each after overexpression in human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cells. This allowed much higher specific activities and enhanced stability and solubility of the purified proteins. The specificities of ELMOD1–3 as GAPs for six different members of the ARF family were determined and found to display wide variations, which we believe will reveal differences in cellular functions of family members. The non-opioid sigma-1 receptor (S1R) was identified as a novel effector of GAP activity of ELMOD1–3 proteins as its direct binding to either ELMOD1 or ELMOD2 resulted in loss of GAP activity. These findings are critical to understand the roles of ELMOD proteins in cell signaling in general and in the inner ear specifically, and open the door to exploration of the regulation of their GAP activities via agonists or antagonists of the S1R.