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The activation of Ras by the guanine nucleotide-exchange factor Son of sevenless (Sos) constitutes the rate-limiting step in the transduction process that links receptor tyrosine kinases to Ras-triggered intracellular signalling pathways. A prerequisite for the function of Sos in this context is its ligand-dependent membrane recruitment, and the prevailing model implicates both the Sos carboxy-terminal proline-rich motifs and amino-terminal pleckstrin homology (PH) domain in this process. Here, we describe a previously unrecognized pathway for the PH domain-dependent membrane recruitment of Sos that is initiated by the growth factor-induced generation of phosphatidic acid via the signalling enzyme phospholipase D2 (PLD2). Phosphatidic acid interacts with a defined site in the Sos PH domain with high affinity and specificity. This interaction is essential for epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced Sos membrane recruitment and Ras activation. Our findings establish a crucial role for PLD2 in the coupling of extracellular signals to Sos-mediated Ras activation, and provide new insights into the spatial coordination of this activation event.

The signaling enzyme phospholipase D (PLD) and the lipid second messenger it generates, phosphatidic acid (PA), are implicated in many cell biological processes, including Ras activation, cell spreading, stress fiber formation, chemotaxis, and membrane vesicle trafficking. PLD production of PA is inhibited by the primary alcohol 1-butanol, which has thus been widely employed to identify PLD/PA-driven processes. However, 1-butanol does not always effectively reduce PA accumulation, and its use may result in PLD-independent deleterious effects. Consequently, identification of potent specific small-molecule PLD inhibitors would be an important advance for the field. We examine one such here, 5-fluoro-2-indolyl des-chlorohalopemide (FIPI), which was identified recently in an in vitro chemical screen for PLD2 inhibitors, and show that it rapidly blocks in vivo PA production with subnanomolar potency. We were surprised to find that several biological processes blocked by 1-butanol are not affected by FIPI, suggesting the need for re-evaluation of proposed roles for PLD. However, FIPI does inhibit PLD regulation of F-actin cytoskeleton reorganization, cell spreading, and chemotaxis, indicating potential utility for it as a therapeutic for autoimmunity and cancer metastasis.

Substantial efforts have recently been made to demonstrate the importance of lipids and lipid-modifying enzymes in various membrane trafficking processes, including calcium-regulated exocytosis of hormones and neurotransmitters. Among bioactive lipids, phosphatidic acid (PA) is an attractive candidate to promote membrane fusion through its ability to change membrane topology. To date, however, the biosynthetic pathway, the dynamic location, and actual function of PA in secretory cells remain unknown. Using a short interference RNA strategy on chromaffin and PC12 cells, we demonstrate here that phospholipase D1 is activated in secretagogue-stimulated cells and that it produces PA at the plasma membrane at the secretory granule docking sites. We show that phospholipase D1 activation and PA production represent key events in the exocytotic progression. Membrane capacitance measurements indicate that reduction of endogenous PA impairs the formation of fusion-competent granules. Finally, we show that the PLD1 short interference RNAmediated inhibition of exocytosis can be rescued by exogenous provision of a lipid that favors the transition of opposed bi-layer membranes to hemifused membranes having the outer leaflets fused. Our findings demonstrate that PA synthesis is required during exocytosis to facilitate a late event in the granule fusion pathway. We propose that the underlying mechanism is related to the ability of PA to alter membrane curvature and promote hemi-fusion. Phosphatidic acid (PA)2 is a pleiotropic bioactive lipid that has been proposed to activate selected enzymes (1), recruit proteins to membrane surfaces (2), and serve as a substrate for the formation of other signaling lipids (3). Most intriguingly, PA has also been shown to promote negative curvature in bi-layer membranes due to its small polar head-group in combination with two fatty-acyl side chains (4). The bulk of cellular PA is synthesized via two different acylation pathways, the glycerol 3-phosphate pathway and the dihydroxy acetone phosphate pathway, which are named according to their respective precursors. However, PA is also produced via hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine by phospholipase D (PLD) (5) on a much faster time scale, and this latter source is thought to underlie the dynamic regulation of PA that allows it to function as a signaling lipid in agonist-stimulated cell biological responses such as secretion and changes in cellular morphology.In mammals, the classic PLD family is composed of a pair of membrane-associated proteins, PLD1 and PLD2. Both PLD isoforms require phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate for their enzymatic activity. However, whereas PLD2 exhibits relatively high basal activity in isolation, full activation of PLD1 requires its stimulation by small GTPases of the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF), Rho and Ral families, and protein kinase C (3, 6). PLD enzymes have been proposed to be involved in a number of cellular processes, including cell growth and survival, cell differentiation, and vesicular trafficking (3)....

Alteration of lipid metabolism has been increasingly recognized as a hallmark of cancer cells. The changes of expression and activity of lipid metabolizing enzymes are directly regulated by the activity of oncogenic signals. The dependence of tumor cells on the dysregulated lipid metabolism suggests that proteins involved in this process are excellent chemotherapeutic targets for cancer treatment. There are currently several drugs under development or in clinical trials that are based on specifically targeting the altered lipid metabolic pathways in cancer cells. Further understanding of dysregulated lipid metabolism and its associated signaling pathways will help us to better design efficient cancer therapeutic strategy.

Phospholipase D (PLD) is a key facilitator of multiple types of membrane vesicle trafficking events. Two PLD isoforms, PLD1 and PLD2, exist in mammals. Initial studies based on overexpression studies suggested that in resting cells, human PLD1 localized primarily to the Golgi and perinuclear vesicles in multiple cell types. In contrast, overexpressed mouse PLD2 was observed to localize primarily to the plasma membrane, although internalization on membrane vesicles was observed subsequent to serum stimulation. A recent report has suggested that the assignment of PLD2 to the plasma membrane is in error, because the endogenous isoform in rat secretory cells was imaged and found to be present primarily in the Golgi apparatus. We have reexamined this issue by using a monoclonal antibody specific for mouse PLD2, and find, as reported initially using overexpression studies, that endogenous mouse PLD2 is detected most readily at the plasma membrane in multiple cell types. In addition, we report that mouse, rat, and human PLD2 when overexpressed all similarly localize to the plasma membrane in cell lines from all three species. Finally, studies conducted using overexpression of wild-type active or dominant-negative isoforms of PLD2 and RNA interference-mediated targeting of PLD2 suggest that PLD2 functions at the plasma membrane to facilitate endocytosis of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor. INTRODUCTIONPhospholipase D (PLD), which hydrolyzes phosphatidylcholine to generate choline and the bioactive lipid phosphatidic acid, has been implicated in signal transduction, membrane trafficking, transformation, and cytoskeletal reorganization (reviewed in Frohman et al., 1999;Jones et al., 1999;Liscovitch et al., 2000). There are two mammalian PLDs, PLD1 (Hammond et al., 1995) and PLD2 (Colley et al., 1997c), which are expressed in a wide but selective variety of tissues and cells (Colley et al., 1997a; reviewed in Gibbs and Meier, 2000). Although frequently expressed in the same cell types, PLD1 and PLD2 have generally been proposed to mediate isoform-specific functions, based on their selective abilities, when overexpressed as wild-type or catalytically inactive alleles, to facilitate or hinder different steps in cytoskeletal reorganization (Colley et al., 1997b;O'Luanaigh et al., 2002) and regulated exocytosis from neuroendocrine cells (Vitale et al., 2001) and mast cells (Choi et al., 2002).In addition, numerous reports based on overexpression have described localization of the isoforms to separate regions of the cell-PLD1 to perinuclear vesicles (Colley et al., 1997b;Toda et al., 1999;Lucocq et al., 2001)-and PLD2 to the plasma membrane (Colley et al., 1997b;Park et al., 2000;O'Luanaigh et al., 2002). Localization of the isoforms is clearly complex though. In some cells, PLD1 preferentially localizes to the plasma membrane (Vitale et al., 2001), and more generally, it has been shown to cycle between perinuclear regions and the plasma membrane (Brown et al., 1998;Emoto et al., 2000;Du et al., 2003). Similarly, internaliza...

Summary Homeostasis of the gut microbiota critically influences host health and aging. Developing genetically engineered probiotics holds great promise as a new therapeutic paradigm to promote healthy aging. Here, through screening 3,983 Escherichia coli mutants, we discovered that 29 bacterial genes, when deleted, increase longevity in the host Caenorhabditis elegans. A dozen of these bacterial mutants also protect the host from age-related progression of tumor growth and amyloid-beta accumulation. Mechanistically, we discovered that five bacterial mutants promote longevity through increased secretion of the polysaccharide colanic acid (CA), which regulates mitochondrial dynamics and unfolded protein response (UPRmt) in the host. Purified CA polymers are sufficient to promote longevity via ATFS-1, the host UPRmt-responsive transcription factor. Furthermore, the mitochondrial changes and longevity effects induced by CA are conserved across different species. Together, our results identified molecular targets for developing pro-longevity microbes, and a bacterial metabolite acting on host mitochondria to promote longevity.

In response to amino acid availability, the class III PI-3-kinase hVps34 activates the phospholipase PLD and mTORC1 signaling to regulate mammalian cell size.