Rudhira/Breast Carcinoma Amplified Sequence 3 (BCAS3) is a cytoskeletal protein that promotes directional cell migration and angiogenesis in vitro and is implicated in human carcinomas and coronary artery disease. To study the role of Rudhira during development in vivo, we generated the first knockout mouse for rudhira and show that Rudhira is essential for mouse development. Rudhira null embryos die at embryonic day (E) 9.5 accompanied by severe vascular patterning defects in embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues. To identify the molecular processes downstream of rudhira, we analyzed the transcriptome of intact knockout yolk sacs. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis showed that Rudhira functions in angiogenesis and its related processes such as cell adhesion, extracellular matrix organization, peptidase activity and TGFβ signaling. Since Rudhira is also expressed in endothelial cells (ECs), we further generated Tie2Cre-mediated endothelial knockout (CKO) of rudhira. CKO embryos survive to E11.5 and similar to the global knockout, display gross vascular patterning defects, showing that endothelial Rudhira is vital for development. Further, Rudhira knockdown ECs in culture fail to sprout in a spheroid-sprouting assay, strongly supporting its role in vascular patterning. Our study identifies an essential role for Rudhira in blood vessel remodeling and provides a mouse model for cardiovascular development.

Responses of vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells (ECs) to fluid shear stress (FSS) from blood or lymphatic fluid flow govern the development, physiology, and diseases of these structures. Extensive research has characterized the signaling, gene expression and cytoskeletal pathways that mediate effects on EC phenotype and vascular morphogenesis. But the primary mechanisms by which ECs transduce the weak forces from flow into biochemical signals are less well understood. This review covers recent advances in our understanding of the immediate mechanisms of FSS mechanotransduction, integrating results from different disciplines, addressing their roles in development, physiology and disease, and suggesting important questions for future work.

Bioorthogonal strategies are continuing to pave the way for new analytical tools in biology. Although a significant amount of progress has been made in developing covalent reaction based bioorthogonal strategies, balanced reactivity, and stability are often difficult to achieve from these systems. Alternatively, despite being kinetically beneficial, the development of noncovalent approaches that utilize fully synthetic and stable components remains challenging due to the lack of selectivity in conventional noncovalent interactions in the living cellular environment. Herein, we introduce a bioorthogonal assembly strategy based on a synthetic host-guest system featuring Cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) and adamantylamine (ADA). We demonstrate that highly selective and ultrastable host-guest interaction between CB[7] and ADA provides a noncovalent mechanism for assembling labeling agents, such as fluorophores and DNA, in cells and tissues for bioorthogonal imaging of molecular targets. Additionally, by combining with covalent reaction, we show that this CB[7]-ADA based noncovalent interaction enables simultaneous bioorthogonal labeling and multiplexed imaging in cells as well as tissue sections. Finally, we show that interaction between CB[7] and ADA fulfills the demands of specificity and stability that is required for assembling molecules in the complexities of a living cell. We demonstrate this by sensitive detection of metastatic cancer-associated cell surface protein marker as well as by showing the distribution and dynamics of F-actin in living cells.

Blood vessel formation requires endothelial cell (EC) migration that depends on dynamic remodeling of the cytoskeleton. Rudhira/Breast Carcinoma Amplified Sequence 3 (BCAS3) is a cytoskeletal protein essential for EC migration and sprouting angiogenesis during mouse development and is implicated in metastatic disease. Here, we report that Rudhira mediates cytoskeleton organization and dynamics during EC migration. Rudhira binds to both microtubules (MTs) and vimentin intermediate filaments (IFs) and stabilizes MTs. Rudhira depletion impairs cytoskeletal cross-talk, MT stability, and hence focal adhesion disassembly. The BCAS3 domain of Rudhira is necessary and sufficient for MT-IF cross-linking and cell migration. Pharmacologically restoring MT stability rescues gross cytoskeleton organization and angiogenic sprouting in Rudhira-depleted cells. Our study identifies the novel and essential role of Rudhira in cytoskeletal cross-talk and assigns function to the conserved BCAS3 domain. Targeting Rudhira could allow tissue-restricted cytoskeleton modulation to control cell migration and angiogenesis in development and disease.

Dynamic host–guest scaffold utilizes bioorthogonal small molecule to achieve therapeutic control.