Paxillin and phospholipase D interact to regulate actin-based processes in Dictyostelium discoideum

The actin cytoskeleton forms a membrane-associated network whose proper regulation is essential for numerous processes, including cell differentiation, proliferation, adhesion, chemotaxis, endocytosis, exocytosis, and multicellular development. In this report, we show that in Dictyostelium discoideum, paxillin (PaxB) and phospholipase D (PldB) colocalize and coimmunoprecipitate, suggesting that they interact physically. Additionally, the phenotypes observed during development, cell sorting, and several actin-required processes, including cyclic AMP (cAMP) chemotaxis, cell-substrate adhesion, actin polymerization, phagocytosis, and exocytosis, reveal a genetic interaction between paxB and pldB, suggesting a functional interaction between their gene products. Taken together, our data point to PldB being a required binding partner of PaxB during processes involving actin reorganization.