Phosphoinositide 3-kinase c (PI3Kc) plays a fundamental role in mediating leukocyte migration to inflammation sites. However, the downstream cytoplasmic events triggered by its signaling activity are still largely obscure. To address this issue, tyrosine and serine/threonine phosphorylated proteins of chemokine-stimulated WT or PI3Kc-null macrophages were investigated. Among the proteins analyzed, the intermediate filament vimentin was found as a downstream effector of the PI3Kc signaling pathway. Specific analysis of the phosphorylation state of vimentin in macrophages showed that this protein becomes rapidly phosphorylated in both tyrosine and serine residues upon chemokine stimulation. In the absence of PI3Kc or the kinase activity of PI3Kc (PI3Kc KD/KD ), phosphorylation of vimentin was reduced. PI3Kc-null macrophages displayed impaired chemokine-driven vimentin fiber disassembly as well as reduced ability to transmigrate across endothelial cells. While WT macrophages infected with a vimentin mutant resistant to N-terminal serine phosphorylation showed a reduction in transendothelial migration, infection of PI3Kc-null macrophages with a vimentin mutant mimicking serine phosphorylation of N-terminal residues rescued the transendothelial migration defect. These results define vimentin N-terminal phosphorylation and fiber reorganization as a target of chemokine-dependent PI3Kc signaling in leukocytes.Key words: Cell migration . Intermediate filaments . Phosphoinositide 3-kinases .Signal transduction IntroductionPhosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) are a family of ubiquitously expressed lipid and protein kinases. They are activated downstream transmembrane receptors [1] and are involved in several cellular responses such as metabolic regulation, survival, proliferation, cell migration and adhesion. PI3K convert PtdIns(4,5)P 2 into PtdIns(3,4,5)P 3 , a second lipid messenger product forming a docking site for various proteins harboring lipid binding modules such as the pleckstrin homology domain [2].Ã These authors contributed equally to this work. 1136Class I PI3K are heterodimeric proteins composed of a p110 catalytic subunit (a, b, g and d) and a regulatory adaptor subunit. According to their mechanism of activation, these enzymes can be further classified into two subclasses: while class IA PI3K (PI3Ka, b and d) include an adaptor protein of the p85 family and are activated by tyrosine kinase receptors, the sole known element of class IB, PI3Kg, is specifically activated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) [3]. This effect is regulated by the interaction of PI3Kg with Gbg subunits of active G proteins through the involvement of either the p101 adaptor or its homologue p84/p87 [4]. Among mammalian tissues, the highest level of PI3Kg expression is found in leukocytes where this enzyme directs the chemotactic response to GPCR agonists [3]. Indeed, PI3Kg-null granulocytes show a significant reduction in chemotaxis toward chemokines and severely impaired bacteria-elicited peritoneal recruitment [5,6]. This migrati...

Prior work using lipid-based affinity matrices has been done to investigate distinct sets of lipid-binding proteins, and one series of experiments has proven successful in mammalian cells for the proteome-wide identification of lipid-binding proteins. However, most lipid-based proteomics screens require scaled up sample preparation, are often composed of multiple cell types, and are not adapted for simultaneous signal transduction studies. Herein we provide a chemical proteomics strategy that uses cleavable lipid "baits" with broad applicability to diverse biological samples. The novel baits were designed to avoid preparative steps to allow functional proteomics studies when the biological source is a limiting factor. Validation of the chemical baits was first confirmed by the selective isolation of several known endogenous phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling proteins using primary bone marrow-derived macrophages. The use of this technique for cellular proteomics and MS/MS analysis was then demonstrated by the identification of known and potential novel lipid-binding proteins that was confirmed in vitro for several proteins by direct lipid-protein interactions. Further to the identification, the method is also compatible with subsequent signal transduction studies, notably for protein kinase profiling of the isolated lipidbound protein complexes. Taken together, this integration of minimal scale proteomics, lipid chemistry, and activity-based readouts provides a significant advancement in the ability to identify and study the lipid proteome of single, relevant cell types.