Kazuhiro Kimura

ROCK and mDia1 antagonize in Rho-dependent Rac activation in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts

The small GTPase Rho acts on two effectors, ROCK and mDia1, and induces stress fibers and focal adhesions. However, how ROCK and mDia1 individually regulate signals and dynamics of these structures remains unknown. We stimulated serum-starved Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts with LPA and compared the effects of C3 exoenzyme, a Rho inhibitor, with those of Y-27632, a ROCK inhibitor. Y-27632 treatment suppressed LPA-induced formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions as did C3 exoenzyme but induced membrane ruffles and focal complexes, which were absent in the C3 exoenzyme-treated cells. This phenotype was suppressed by expression of N17Rac. Consistently, the amount of GTP-Rac increased significantly by Y-27632 in LPA-stimulated cells. Biochemically, Y-27632 suppressed tyrosine phosphorylation of paxillin and focal adhesion kinase and not that of Cas. Inhibition of Cas phosphorylation with PP1 or expression of a dominant negative Cas mutant inhibited Y-27632–induced membrane ruffle formation. Moreover, Crk-II mutants lacking in binding to either phosphorylated Cas or DOCK180 suppressed the Y-27632–induced membrane ruffle formation. Finally, expression of a dominant negative mDia1 mutant also inhibited the membrane ruffle formation by Y-27632. Thus, these results have revealed the Rho-dependent Rac activation signaling that is mediated by mDia1 through Cas phosphorylation and antagonized by the action of ROCK.

Control of axon elongation via an SDF-1α/Rho/mDia pathway in cultured cerebellar granule neurons

Rho–GTPase has been implicated in axon outgrowth. However, not all of the critical steps controlled by Rho have been well characterized. Using cultured cerebellar granule neurons, we show here that stromal cell–derived factor (SDF)-1α, a neural chemokine, is a physiological ligand that can turn on two distinct Rho-dependent pathways with opposite consequences. A low concentration of the ligand stimulated a Rho-dependent pathway that mediated facilitation of axon elongation. In contrast, Rho/ROCK activation achieved by a higher concentration of SDF-1α caused repression of axon formation and induced no more increase in axon length. However, even at this higher concentration a Rho-dependent axon elongating activity could be recovered upon removal of ROCK activity using Y-27632. SDF-1α–induced axon elongating activity under ROCK inhibition was replicated by the dominant-active form of the mammalian homologue of the Drosophila gene Diaphanous (mDia)1 and counteracted by its dominant-negative form. Furthermore, RNAi knockdown of mDia1 abolished SDF-1α–induced axon elongation. Together, our results support a critical role for an SDF-1α/Rho/mDia1 pathway in mediating axon elongation.

Accumulation of GTP-bound RhoA during cytokinesis and a critical role of ECT2 in this accumulation

We developed a new pull-down assay for GTP-Rho and examined its level during cell cycle. HeLa cells were arrested in the S phase by thymidine and were enriched in the prometaphase, metaphase, telophase, and G1 phase by collecting at 0, 45, 90, and 180 min after the release from the nocodazole arrest, respectively. The level of GTP-Rho did not change significantly from the S phase to the prometaphase, but increased thereafter, peaking in the telophase, and returned to the original level in the G1phase. The GDP-GTP exchange activity for Rho measured in cell lysates in parallel increased also during the mitosis with a peak in the metaphase. Using this system, we examined a role of ECT2, an exchanger for Rho GTPases, suggested to be involved in cytokinesis (Tatsumoto, T., Xie, X., Blumenthal, R., Okamoto, I., and Miki., T. (1999)J. Cell. Biol., 147, 921–928). Expression of the dominant negative form of ECT2 completely suppressed both the rise of GTP-Rho in the telophase and the increased GDP-GTP exchange activity in the mitotic cell extracts. These results suggest a critical role of ECT2 in Rho activation during cytokinesis.

Ect2 and MgcRacGAP regulate the activation and function of Cdc42 in mitosis

Although Rho regulates cytokinesis, little was known about the functions in mitosis of Cdc42 and Rac. We recently suggested that Cdc42 works in metaphase by regulating bi-orient attachment of spindle microtubules to kinetochores. We now confirm the role of Cdc42 by RNA interference and identify the mechanisms for activation and down-regulation of Cdc42. Using a pull-down assay, we found that the level of GTP-Cdc42 elevates in metaphase, whereas the level of GTP-Rac does not change significantly in mitosis. Overexpression of dominant-negative mutants of Ect2 and MgcRacGAP, a Rho GTPase guanine nucleotide exchange factor and GTPase activating protein, respectively, or depletion of Ect2 by RNA interference suppresses this change of GTP-Cdc42 in mitosis. Depletion of Ect2 also impairs microtubule attachment to kinetochores and causes prometaphase delay and abnormal chromosomal segregation, as does depletion of Cdc42 or expression of the Ect2 and MgcRacGAP mutants. These results suggest that Ect2 and MgcRacGAP regulate the activation and function of Cdc42 in mitosis.

Effect of tunicamycin on functions of PGE1 receptors from mouse mastocytoma P-815 cells

Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) receptors from mouse mastocytoma P-815 cells were found to bind to a wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-Agarose column, suggesting that the receptors are glycoproteins. To further elucidate the role of carbohydrate moieties in the PGE1 receptors for their binding activity to ligand, the P-815 cells were treated with tunicamycin, swainsonine or monensin. Tunicamycin, an inhibitor of N-glycosylation, dose- and time-dependently inhibited the binding of PGE1 to mastocytoma P-815 cells. Neither swainsonine, an inhibitor of Golgi mannosidase II, nor monensin, an inhibitor of processing beyond the high mannose stage, altered PGE1 binding properties of the cells. The inhibition of PGE1 binding by tunicamycin was observed when incorporation of [3H]glucosamine into macromolecules was inhibited. The inhibitory effect was not on their affinity but on their number of binding sites. Subcellular distributions of [3H]PGE1-binding activity showed that decreases in the binding activity by tunicamycin were highest in plasma membrane fractions. Treatment of membranes with various endo- and exoglycosidases did not affect PGE1 binding. PGE1-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation in the cells was also inhibited by tunicamycin. These results suggest that PGE1 receptors of mastocytoma P-815 cells are glycoproteins and that inhibition of N-glycosylation of PGE1 receptors by tunicamycin results in the arrest of the translocation of newly synthesized receptors to the surface of mastocytoma P-815 cells.

Prostaglandin D2 receptor of mastocytoma P-815 cells — possible regulation by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation

The 3H-labeled prostaglandin D2 [( 3H]PGD2) binding protein in the membrane fraction of mastocytoma P-815 cells was characterized. The specific binding of [3H]PGD2 to the cells or the membranes reached a maximum at pH 5.6, and was saturable, displaceable and of high affinity when incubated at 0 or 37 degrees C. The Bmax values for [3H]PGD2 binding in the two preparations at pH 5.6 were much higher at 0 degrees C than at 37 degrees C, whereas the Kd values were almost equal (85.3 nM for the cells and 80.5 nM for the membranes, respectively). High specific [3H]PGD2 binding activity in the mildly acid-treated cells was still observed when the external pH was raised from 5.6 to 7.2. Furthermore, specific [3H]PGD2 binding to the membranes (at 0 degrees C, pH 5.6) increased on addition of phosphatase inhibitors (NaF and molybdate) in the presence of 10 microM ATP, but practically disappeared on pretreatment of the membranes with phosphatase. On incubation of the membrane with [gamma-32P]ATP and molybdate, the stimulated incorporation of the [32P]phosphate into several peptides, including ones having an Mr of around 100,000-120,000, was observed. These results suggest that [3H]PGD2 binding in the mastocytoma P-815 cell membrane is controlled through phosphorylation-dephosphorylation of the receptor itself.

Topological Properties of Magnetically Ordered Heavy-Fermion Systems in the Presence of Mirror Symmetry

We explore topological states with magnetic order in heavy-fermion systems by taking account of a mirror symmetry.Although without spatial symmetry, there is no topological phase in the two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic phases at half filling, we demonstrate that a topological phase emerges in the presence of mirror symmetry.This is explicitly shown for a two-dimensional periodic Anderson model.Furthermore, our analysis around quarter filling shows that a half-metallic state emerges in the ferromagnetic phase, where a spin-selective gap opens, resulting in nontrivial properties characterized by a Chern number.In contrast to the previously proposed models, our scenario can apply even for spin nonconserving systems in the presence of spin-orbit coupling.