Synaptojanin is a nerve terminal protein of relative molecular mass 145,000 which appears to participate with dynamin in synaptic vesicle recycling. The central region of synaptojanin defines it as a member of the inositol-5-phosphatase family, which includes the product of the gene that is defective in the oculocerebrorenal syndrome of Lowe. Synaptojanin has 5-phosphatase activity and its amino-terminal domain is homologous with the yeast protein Sac1 (Rsd1), which is genetically implicated in phospholipid metabolism and in the function of the actin cytoskeleton. The carboxy terminus, which is of different lengths in adult and developing neurons owing to the alternative use of two termination sites, is proline-rich, consistent with the reported interaction of synaptojanin with the SH3 domains of Grb2 (refs 1, 2). Synaptojanin is the only other major brain protein besides dynamin that binds the SH3 domain of amphiphysin, a presynaptic protein with a putative function in endocytosis. Our results suggest a link between phosphoinositide metabolism and synaptic vesicle recycling.

The proline-rich COOH-terminal region of dynamin binds various Src homology 3 (SH3) domain-containing proteins, but the physiological role of these interactions is unknown. In living nerve terminals, the function of the interaction with SH3 domains was examined. Amphiphysin contains an SH3 domain and is a major dynamin binding partner at the synapse. Microinjection of amphiphysin's SH3 domain or of a dynamin peptide containing the SH3 binding site inhibited synaptic vesicle endocytosis at the stage of invaginated clathrin-coated pits, which resulted in an activity-dependent distortion of the synaptic architecture and a depression of transmitter release. These findings demonstrate that SH3-mediated interactions are required for dynamin function and support an essential role of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in synaptic vesicle recycling.

Amphiphysin, a major autoantigen in paraneoplastic Stiff-Man syndrome, is an SH3 domain-containing neuronal protein, concentrated in nerve terminals. Here, we demonstrate a specific, SH3 domain-mediated, interaction between amphiphysin and dynamin by gel overlay and affinity chromatography. In addition, we show that the two proteins are colocalized in nerve terminals and are coprecipitated from brain extracts consistent with their interactions in situ. We also report that a region of amphiphysin distinct from its SH3 domain mediates its binding to the a, subunit of AP2 adaptin, which is also concentrated in nerve terminals. These findings support a role of amphiphysin in synaptic vesicle endocytosis.Strong evidence implicates the GTPase dynamin (1, 2) in the internalization of synaptic vesicle membranes after exocytosis and, more generally, in internalization of clathrin-coated vesicles. Temperature-sensitive mutations of the dynamin gene (shibire) in Drosophila cause a selective arrest of the synaptic vesicle cycle at the stage of invaginated plasmalemmal pits (3)(4)(5)(6), and transfection of dominant negative dynamin mutants in fibroblastic cells blocks clathrin-mediated endocytosis (7,8). Recent studies have shown that dynamin forms rings at the neck of invaginated clathrin-coated vesicles and suggested that a conformational change of the rings which correlates with GTP hydrolysis leads to vesicle fission (9, 10). The identification of dynamin's physiological binding partner will be an important next step toward a full elucidation of endocytotic mechanisms.Dynamin has a proline-rich C-terminal region that binds to a subset of SH3 domains. It was found to bind most effectively to the SH3 domains of Grb2, phospholipase Cy,, and the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (11-14). However, none of these proteins was shown to be concentrated in nerve terminals and the significance of these interactions for synaptic vesicle recycling remains unclear. In this study we have explored the possibility that amphiphysin, a neuronal SH3 domain-containing protein selectively concentrated in axon endings (15-17), may represent a physiological partner for dynamin. Amphiphysin is a hydrophilic, highly acidic protein, which is found in soluble and particulate fractions of brain homogenates including synaptic vesicle membranes but is not enriched in purified synaptic vesicles (15)(16)(17) MATERIALS AND METHODS Antibodies. Polyclonal antibodies (CD5 and CD6) directed against full-length glutathione S-transferase (GST)-amphiphysin were raised in rabbits and affinity purified on polyhistidinetagged amphiphysin (His-amph) fusion proteins. Polyclonal antibodies directed against dynamin were obtained by injecting rabbits with gel slices containing rat brain dynamin purified on a Grb2 column. A polyclonal anti-synapsin antibody (G246) was previously described (20). The T7 tag antibody which recognizes an 11-amino acid (aa) sequence in the pTrcHis constructs was from Novagen. The following antibodies were generous gifts: ...

Amphiphysin (amphiphysin I), a dominant autoantigen in paraneoplastic Stiff-man syndrome, is a neuronal protein highly concentrated in nerve terminals, where it has a putative role in endocytosis. The yeast homologue of amphiphysin, Rvs167, has pleiotropic functions, including a role in endocytosis and in actin dynamics, suggesting that amphiphysin may also be implicated in the function of the presynaptic actin cytoskeleton. We report here the characterization of a second mammalian amphiphysin gene, amphiphysin II (SH3P9; BIN1), which encodes products primarily expressed in skeletal muscle and brain, as differentially spliced isoforms. In skeletal muscle, amphiphysin II is concentrated around T tubules, while in brain it is concentrated in the cytomatrix beneath the plasmamembrane of axon initial segments and nodes of Ranvier. In both these locations, amphiphysin II is colocalized with splice variants of ankyrin3 (ankyrinG), a component of the actin cytomatrix. In the same regions, the presence of clathrin has been reported. These findings support the hypothesis that, even in mammalian cells, amphiphysin/Rvs family members have a role both in endocytosis and in actin function and suggest that distinct amphiphysin isoforms contribute to define distinct domains of the cortical cytoplasm. Since amphiphysin II (BIN1) was reported to interact with Myc, it may also be implicated in a signaling pathway linking the cortical cytoplasm to nuclear function.

Amphiphysin is an SH3 domain-containing neuronal protein that is highly concentrated in nerve terminals where it interacts via its SH3 domain with dynamin I, a GTPase implicated in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. We show here that the SH3 domain of amphiphysin, but not a mutant SH3 domain, bound with high affinity to a single site in the long proline-rich region of human dynamin I, that this site was distinct from the binding sites for other SH3 domains, and that the mutation of two adjacent amino acids in dynamin I was sufficient to abolish binding. The dynamin I sequence critically required for amphiphysin binding (PSRPNR) fits in the novel SH3 binding consensus identified for the SH3 domain of amphiphysin via a combinatorial peptide library approach: PXRPXR(H)R(H). Our data demonstrate that the long proline-rich stretch present in dynamin I contained multiple SH3 domain binding sites that recognize interacting proteins with high specificity.Dynamin I is a neuronal GTPase concentrated in nerve terminals that plays an essential role in synaptic vesicle endocytosis and recycling (for reviews, see Refs. 1 and 2). A temperature-sensitive mutation in the dynamin I gene of Drosophila leads to rapid and massive block of synaptic vesicle endocytosis resulting in a paralytic phenotype (3-5). Ultrastructural studies have shown that dynamin I forms rings at the neck of clathrin-coated pits, and it has been hypothesized that a conformational change of the ring that correlates with GTP hydrolysis represents a key step leading to vesicle fission from the plasmalemma (6, 7). In addition, dynamin I has also been implicated in rapid endocytosis, a form of Ca 2ϩ -triggered endocytosis detectable by capacitance measurement in neuroendocrine cells (8). Dynamin isoforms (dynamin II and dynamin III) are expressed in non-neuronal cells (9 -11) where they are thought to play a general role in clathrin-mediated endocytosis (12, 13).The COOH-terminal region of dynamin I contains a 100-amino acid-long proline-rich domain (14), which undergoes regulation by protein phosphorylation and binds a variety of SH3 domains (13,(15)(16)(17)(18)). An abundant SH3 domain-containing protein, which is a major binding partner for dynamin I in nerve terminals (19), is amphiphysin, the dominant autoantigen in paraneoplastic stiff-man syndrome (20 -22). Amphiphysin is closely colocalized with dynamin I at synapses where, in addition to dynamin I, it binds the presynaptic inositol-5-phosphatase synaptojanin (23). Amphiphysin binds the plasmalemmal clathrin adaptor AP2 via a region distinct from its SH3 domain (19, 24), further supporting an involvement of amphiphysin in endocytosis. In addition, amphiphysin contains regions of similarity to two yeast proteins, Rvs167 and Rvs161 (20,25,26), which genetic studies have shown to be implicated both in endocytosis and in the function of the actin cytoskeleton (26,27).As a premise to further elucidate the functional interconnections between amphiphysin and dynamin I, we investigated regions that are crucial for re...

Amphiphysin, a neuronal protein first identified in chicken synaptic membranes, is the autoantigen of Stiff‐Man Syndrome (SMS) associated with breast cancer. We have now cloned human amphiphysin and found the N‐ and C‐terminal domains of the protein to be highly conserved between chicken and human. Patient autoantibodies have a distinct pattern of reactivity with amphiphysin, and the dominant autoepitope is located in its C‐terminal region, which contains an SH3 domain. Portions of chicken and human amphiphysin are also homologous to portions of Rvs167 and Rvs161, two yeast proteins which are involved in cell entry into stationary phase upon exposure to unfavourable growth conditions.

Amphiphysin I is an SH3 domain-containing neuronal protein, enriched in axon terminals, which was reported to act as a physiological binding partner for dynamin I in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Rvs167 and Rvs161, the yeast homologs of amphiphysin I, have been implicated in endocytosis, actin function, and cell polarity. Now we have explored the possibility that amphiphysin I also may have a role in actin dynamics and cell polarity by testing the effect of amphiphysin I suppression on neurite outgrowth. Freshly plated hippocampal neurons were exposed to antisense oligonucleotides via a new delivery system based on a polycationic amphipathic polymer, PS980. Western blot analysis revealed that amphiphysin I levels steadily increased with neuronal differentiation, whereas in antisense-treated cultures amphiphysin I levels were reduced to approximately 10% of control levels at 48 hr. Concomitantly, a collapse of growth cones and a severe inhibition of neurite outgrowth and axon formation were observed. A similar effect was observed previously after dynamin I suppression in the same culture system (). We also have found that amphiphysin I and dynamin I colocalize in developing neurons at all developmental stages and that a pool of both proteins is colocalized with actin patches at the leading edge of growth cones. Our findings suggest a conserved role of the amphiphysin protein family in the dynamics of the cortical cell cytoskeleton and provide new evidence for a close functional link between amphiphysin I and dynamin I.

Amphiphysin I is a 128 kD protein highly concentrated in nerve terminals, where it has a putative role in endocytosis. It is a dominant autoantigen in patients with stiff-man syndrome associated with breast cancer, as well as in other paraneoplastic autoimmune neurological disorders. To elucidate the connection between amphiphysin I autoimmunity and cancer, we investigated its expression in breast cancer tissue. We report that amphiphysin I was expressed as two isoforms of 128 and 108 kD in the breast cancer of a patient with anti-amphiphysin I antibodies and paraneoplastic sensory neuronopathy. Amphiphysin I was also detectable at variable levels in several other human breast cancer tissues and cell lines and at low levels in normal mammary tissue and a variety of other non-neuronal tissues. The predominant amphiphysin I isoform expressed outside the brain in humans is the 108 kD isoform which represents an alternatively spliced variant of neuronal amphiphysin I missing a 42 amino acid insert. Our study suggests a link between amphiphysin I expression in cancer and amphiphysin I autoimmunity. The enhanced expression of amphiphysin I in some forms of cancer supports the hypothesis that amphiphysin family members may play a role in the biology of cancer cells.