Rapid disappearance of translatable actin mRNA during cell differentiation in Naegleria

Actin, the major protein of Naegleria gruberi, is selectively not synthesized during the differentiation of amebae to flagellates. When RNA extracted from cells at intervals during differentiation is translated in the wheat germ cell-free system, a major translation product with the electrophoretic mobility of actin is seen to disappear with time during differentiation. This translation product is shown to be actin by its electrophoretic mobility, copolymerization with rabbit actin, peptide map, and immunoprecipitation by antibodies specific to Naegleria actin. Multiple isoforms of actin are synthesized in the cell-free system. Quantitative immunoprecipitation of translation products was employed to measure the relative amount of actin mRNA. Translatable actin mRNA begins to decrease in abundance within 7 min after the initiation of differentiation and thereafter decreases with a half-life of about 25 min. The selective disappearance of this major translatable mRNA provides a favorable opportunity to dissect the rules governing the half-life of a specific mRNA.     

Rapid tubulin synthesis during ciliated cell differentiation

Using pulse-chase conditions in culture we have investigated the incorporation of 3H-leucine into tubulin of isolated oviducts from 5 day-old mice. Label appears in soluble, particulate and axonemal fractions minutes after incubation. In the latter two fractions, but not in the soluble fraction, this label is rapidly diluted under chase conditions. The data do not fit a simple model of sequential transfer of radioactively labeled, newly synthesized tubulin from a soluble fraction through centriole precursors to assembled ciliary axonemes.     

Increase in translatable mRNA for mitochondrial pyruvate carboxylase during differentiation of 3T3 preadipocytes

During differentiation of 3T3 preadipocytes into adipocytes the activity of pyruvate carboxylase, a key lipogenic enzyme, rises about 20-fold. This increase of enzymatic activity is correlated with a comparable rise in the rate of incorporation of [³⁵S]methionine into immunoadsorbable pyruvate carboxylase. Polyadenylated RNA, isolated from differentiated 3T3 adipocytes, directs the synthesis of pyruvate carboxylase in a messenger-dependent reticulocyte lysate translation system at a 18-fold greater rate than that isolated from undifferentiated cells. Thus, it appears that the differentiation-induced rise in the cellular level of pyruvate carboxylase results from an increased rate of carboxylase synthesis due to a rise in the level of translatable carboxylase messenger RNA.     

mRNA abundance changes during flagellar regeneration in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Flagellar amputation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii induces the accumulation of a specific set of RNAs, many of which encode flagellar proteins. We prepared a cDNA clone bank from RNA isolated from cells undergoing flagellar regeneration. From this bank, we selected clones that contain RNA sequences that display several different patterns of abundance regulation. Based on quantitation of the relative amounts of labeled, cloned cDNAs hybridizing to dots of RNA on nitrocellulose filters, the cloned sequences were divided into five regulatory classes: class I RNAs remain at constant abundance during flagellar regeneration; classes II, III, and IV begin to increase in abundance within a few minutes after deflagellation, reach maximal abundance at successively later times during regeneration, and return to control cell levels within 2 to 3 h; and class V RNA abundance decreases during flagellar regeneration. Alpha- and beta-tubulin mRNAs are included in regulatory class IV. The abundance kinetics of alpha-tubulin mRNAs differ slightly from those of beta-tubulin mRNAs. The availability of these clones makes possible studies on the mechanisms controlling the abundance of a wide variety of different RNA species during flagellar regeneration in Chlamydomonas.     

Programmed mitophagy is essential for the glycolytic switch during cell differentiation

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the sole projecting neurons of the retina and their axons form the optic nerve. Here, we show that embryogenesis‐associated mouse RGC differentiation depends on mitophagy, the programmed autophagic clearance of mitochondria. The elimination of mitochondria during RGC differentiation was coupled to a metabolic shift with increased lactate production and elevated expression of glycolytic enzymes at the mRNA level. Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of either mitophagy or glycolysis consistently inhibited RGC differentiation. Local hypoxia triggered expression of the mitophagy regulator BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19‐kDa‐interacting protein 3‐like (BNIP3L, best known as NIX) at peak RGC differentiation. Retinas from NIX‐deficient mice displayed increased mitochondrial mass, reduced expression of glycolytic enzymes and decreased neuronal differentiation. Similarly, we provide evidence that NIX‐dependent mitophagy contributes to mitochondrial elimination during macrophage polarization towards the proinflammatory and more glycolytic M1 phenotype, but not to M2 macrophage differentiation, which primarily relies on oxidative phosphorylation. In summary, developmentally controlled mitophagy promotes a metabolic switch towards glycolysis, which in turn contributes to cellular differentiation in several distinct developmental contexts.     

Studies of translatable mRNA for rabbit C-reactive protein.

C-reactive protein (CRP) mRNA was assayed by cell-free translation of poly(A)-containing liver RNA isolated both from rabbits stimulated to undergo the acute-phase response and from unstimulated control rabbits. No CRP-related translation products were identified until the denaturant methylmercury hydroxide (CH3HgOH) was added to the RNA before cell-free translation. In the presence of the denaturant, a 24000-Da translation product was synthesized which was immunochemically identifiable as the CRP primary translation product. It is likely that rabbit CRP mRNA can form a stable intramolecular duplex which interferes with its translatability in vitro. The 24000-Da CH3HgOH-facilitated cell-free translation product was not detected in poly(A)-containing liver RNA from unstimulated animals, indicating that the concentration of translatable CRP mRNA was dramatically induced during the acute-phase response. On the basis of absorption experiments, the 24000-Da CRP primary translation product was immunochemically more closely related to denatured CRP than to native CRP.     

Mechanism of ribosome-associated mRNA degradation during tubulin autoregulation

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Naegleria fowleri: enolase is expressed during cyst differentiation

Cysts of Naegleria fowleri present an external single-layered cyst wall. To date, little information exists on the biochemical components of this cyst wall. Knowledge of the cyst wall composition is important to understand its resistance capacity under adverse environmental conditions. We have used of a monoclonal antibody (B4F2 mAb) that specifically recognizes enolase in the cyst wall of Entamoeba invadens. By Western blot assays this antibody recognized in soluble extracts of N. fowleri cysts a 48-kDa protein with similar molecular weight to the enolase reported in E. invadens cysts. Immunofluorescence with the B4F2 mAb revealed positive cytoplasmic vesicles in encysting amebas, as well as a positive reaction at the cell wall of mature cysts. Immunoelectron microscopy using the same monoclonal antibody confirmed the presence of enolase in the cell wall of N. fowleri cysts and in cytoplasmic vesicular structures. In addition, the B4F2 mAb had a clear inhibitory effect on encystation of N. fowleri.     

Two calmodulins in Naegleria flagellates: characterization, intracellular segregation, and programmed regulation of mRNA abundance during differentiation

Flagellates of Naegleria gruberi contain two calmodulins that differ in apparent molecular weight and intracellular location. Calmodulin-1, localized in flagella, has an apparent molecular weight of approximately 16,000, approximately the size of other protozoan calmodulins, whereas calmodulin-2, localized in cell bodies, is 15,300. Both proteins, purified, are calmodulins by several criteria, including Ca2+-dependent stimulation of calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and affinity for antibodies to vertebrate calmodulin. The finding of two calmodulins is unusual. Since the only known difference is apparent molecular weight, one calmodulin could be derived from the other, except that both calmodulins are synthesized in a wheat germ, cell-free system directed by RNA from differentiating Naegleria. Translatable mRNAs encoding calmodulins 1 and 2, not detected in amebas, appear and subsequently disappear concurrently during the 100-min differentiation of Naegleria from amebas to flagellates. Furthermore, these mRNAs increase and then decrease in abundance concurrently with those for flagellar tubulins, which suggests the possibility that the expression of the unrelated genes for calmodulin and tubulin may be under coordinate control during differentiation.     

Reduced tubulin polyglutamylation suppresses flagellar shortness in Chlamydomonas

Ciliary length control is an incompletely understood process essential for normal ciliary function. The flagella of Chlamydomonas mutants lacking multiple axonemal dyneins are shorter than normal; previously it was shown that this shortness can be suppressed by the mutation suppressor of shortness 1 (ssh1) via an unknown mechanism. To elucidate this mechanism, we carried out genetic analysis of ssh1 and found that it is a new allele of TPG2 (hereafter tpg2-3), which encodes FAP234 functioning in tubulin polyglutamylation in the axoneme. Similar to the polyglutamylation-deficient mutants tpg1 and tpg2-1, tpg2-3 axonemal tubulin has a greatly reduced level of long polyglutamate side chains. We found that tpg1 and tpg2-1 mutations also promote flagellar elongation in short-flagella mutants, consistent with a polyglutamylation-dependent mechanism of suppression. Double mutants of tpg1 or tpg2-1 and fla10-1, a temperature-sensitive mutant of intraflagellar transport, underwent slower flagellar shortening than fla10-1 at restrictive temperatures, indicating that the rate of tubulin disassembly is decreased in the polyglutamylation-deficient flagella. Moreover, α-tubulin incorporation into the flagellar tips in temporary dikaryons was retarded in polyglutamylation-deficient flagella. These results show that polyglutamylation deficiency stabilizes axonemal microtubules, decelerating axonemal disassembly at the flagellar tip and shifting the axonemal assembly/disassembly balance toward assembly.     

The in vitro assembly of flagellar outer doublet tubulin

Flagellar outer doublet microtubules were solubilized by use of sonication, and the tubulin was reassembled in vitro into single microtubules containing 14 and 15 protofilaments. The tubulin assembly was dependent on both the KCl and tubulin concentrations, exhibiting a critical concentration of 0.72 mg/ml at optimum solvent conditions. Flagellar tubulin was purified by cycles of temperature-dependent assembly-disassembly and molecular sieve chromatography, and characterized by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Although doublet microtubules were not formed in vitro, outer doublet tubulin assembled onto intact A- and B-subfibers of outer doublet microtubules and basal bodies of Chlamydomonas; the rate of assembly from the distal ends of these structures was greater than that from the proximal ends. Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) from mammalian brain stimulated outer doublet tubulin assembly, decorating the microtubules with fine filamentous projections.