[Abstract unavailable

BackgroundInsulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) signal through a highly conserved pathway and control growth and metabolism in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In mammals, insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) bind IGFs with high affinity and modulate their mitogenic, anti-apoptotic and metabolic actions, but no functional homologs have been identified in invertebrates so far.ResultsHere, we show that the secreted Imaginal morphogenesis protein-Late 2 (Imp-L2) binds Drosophila insulin-like peptide 2 (Dilp2) and inhibits growth non-autonomously. Whereas over-expressing Imp-L2 strongly reduces size, loss of Imp-L2 function results in an increased body size. Imp-L2 is both necessary and sufficient to compensate Dilp2-induced hyperinsulinemia in vivo. Under starvation conditions, Imp-L2 is essential for proper dampening of insulin signaling and larval survival.ConclusionImp-L2, the first functionally characterized insulin-binding protein in invertebrates, serves as a nutritionally controlled suppressor of insulin-mediated growth in Drosophila. Given that Imp-L2 and the human tumor suppressor IGFBP-7 show sequence homology in their carboxy-terminal immunoglobulin-like domains, we suggest that their common precursor was an ancestral insulin-binding protein.

Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved lysosome-mediated degradation, promotes cell survival under starvation and is controlled by insulin/target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling. In Drosophila, nutrient depletion induces autophagy in the fat body. Interestingly, nutrient availability and insulin/TOR signaling also influence the size and structure of Drosophila ovaries, however, the role of nutrient signaling and autophagy during this process remains to be elucidated. Here, we show that starvation induces autophagy in germline cells (GCs) and in follicle cells (FCs) in Drosophila ovaries. This process is mediated by the ATG machinery and involves the upregulation of Atg genes. We further demonstrate that insulin/TOR signaling controls autophagy in FCs and GCs. The analysis of chimeric females reveals that autophagy in FCs, but not in GCs, is required for egg development. Strikingly, when animals lack Atg gene function in both cell types, ovaries develop normally, suggesting that the incompatibility between autophagy-competent GCs and autophagy-deficient FCs leads to defective egg development. As egg morphogenesis depends on a tightly linked signaling between FCs and GCs, we propose a model in which autophagy is required for the communication between these two cell types. Our data establish an important function for autophagy during oogenesis and contributes to the understanding of the role of autophagy in animal development. Cell Death and Differentiation (2011) 18, 915-924; doi:10.1038/cdd.2010.157; published online 10 December 2010Autophagy, a conserved degradation process, serves as an energy reserve in response to starvation, but also has critical roles in cellular remodeling during development, immunity and cancer.1 The central regulator of autophagy is the target of rapamycin (TOR), a downstream kinase of the insulin/insulinlike growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway (IIS). 2In Drosophila, IIS/TOR signaling regulates autophagy in the fat body, 3,4 but it remains unclear whether autophagy is also important in other nutrient-responding organs. The Drosophila ovaries are of special interest, as starvation inhibits ovarian development 5 and mutations in IIS components lead to defects in oogenesis and female sterility.6-9 These findings raise the question whether IIS/TOR signaling controls autophagy during oogenesis.Notably, starvation induces programmed cell death (PCD) during Drosophila oogenesis in the germarium, in nurse cells (NCs) and follicle cells (FCs), 5 and increases caspase activity during mid-oogenesis. 10 At later stages, NCs also undergo developmental PCD necessary to complete oogenesis. So far, primarily the implication of apoptosis has been investigated. Only recent reports show that autophagy occurs in the germarium, during mid-oogenesis and in dying NC. Interestingly, inhibition of Atg genes prevents DNA fragmentation, suggesting that autophagy and apoptotic cell death are connected.11,12 However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying these processes and the contribution of different ovarian cell t...

The transport function of the rat type IIa Na+/Pi cotransporter is inhibited after binding the cysteine modifying reagent 2-aminoethyl methanethiosulfonate hydrobromide (MTSEA) to a cysteine residue substituted for a serine at position 460 (S460C) in the predicted third extracellular loop. This suggests that Ser-460 lies in a functionally important region of the protein. To establish a “structure–function” profile for the regions that flank Ser-460, the substituted cysteine accessibility method was employed. 18 mutants were constructed in which selected amino acids from Arg-437 through Leu-465 were substituted one by one for a cysteine. Mutants were expressed in Xenopus oocytes and transport function (cotransport and slippage) and kinetics were assayed by electrophysiology with or without prior treatment with cysteine modifying (methanethiosulfonate, MTS) reagents. Except for mutant I447C, mutants with cysteines at sites from Arg-437 through Thr-449, as well as Pro-461, were inactive. Cotransport function of mutants with Cys substitutions at sites Arg-462 through Leu-465 showed low sensitivity to MTS reagents. The preceding mutants (Cys substitution at Thr-451 to Ser-460) showed a periodic accessibility pattern that would be expected for an α-helix motif. Apart from loss of transport function, exposure of mutants A453C and A455C to MTSEA or 2-(triethylammonium)ethyl MTS bromide (MTSET) increased the uncoupled slippage current, which implicated the mutated sites in the leak pathway. Mutants from Ala-453 through Ala-459 showed less pH dependency, but generally stronger voltage dependency compared with the wild type, whereas those flanking this group were more sensitive to pH and showed weaker voltage dependence of cotransport mode kinetics. Our data indicate that parts of the third extracellular loop are involved in the translocation of the fully loaded carrier and show a membrane-associated α-helical structure.

Insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of growth at the cellular and the organismal level during animal development. Flies with impaired IIS are developmentally delayed and small due to fewer and smaller cells. In the search for new growth-promoting genes, we identified mutations in the gene encoding Lnk, the single fly member of the SH2B family of adaptor molecules. Flies lacking lnk function are viable but severely reduced in size. Furthermore, lnk mutants display phenotypes reminiscent of reduced IIS, such as developmental delay, female sterility, and accumulation of lipids. Genetic epistasis analysis places lnk downstream of the insulin receptor (InR) and upstream of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in the IIS cascade, at the same level as chico (encoding the single fly insulin receptor substrate [IRS] homolog). Both chico and lnk mutant larvae display a similar reduction in IIS activity as judged by the localization of a PIP3 reporter and the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB). Furthermore, chico; lnk double mutants are synthetically lethal, suggesting that Chico and Lnk fulfill independent but partially redundant functions in the activation of PI3K upon InR stimulation.

First systematic analysis of the evolutionary conserved InR/TOR pathway interaction proteome in Drosophila.Quantitative mass spectrometry revealed that 22% of identified protein interactions are regulated by the growth hormone insulin affecting membrane proximal as well as intracellular signaling complexes.Systematic RNA interference linked a significant fraction of network components to the control of dTOR kinase activity.Combined biochemical and genetic data suggest dTTT, a dTOR-containing complex required for cell growth control by dTORC1 and dTORC2 in vivo.

The GTPase Rab13 regulates the assembly of functional epithelial tight junctions (TJs) through a yet unknown mechanism. Here, we show that expression of the GTP-bound form of Rab13 inhibits PKA-dependent phosphorylation and TJ recruitment of the vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, an actin remodelling protein. We demonstrate that Rab13GTP directly binds to PKA and inhibits its activity. Interestingly, activation of PKA abrogates the inhibitory effect of Rab13 on the recruitment of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, ZO-1, and claudin1 to cell–cell junctions. Rab13 is, therefore, the first GTPase that controls PKA activity and provides an unexpected link between PKA signaling and the dynamics of TJ assembly.

Electrogenic cotransporters are membrane proteins that use the electrochemical gradient across the cell membrane of a cosubstrate ion, for example Na(+) or H(+), to mediate uphill cotransport of a substrate specific to the transport protein. The cotransport process involves recognition of both cosubstrate and substrate and translocation of each species according to a defined stoichiometry. Electrogenicity implies net movement of charges across the membrane in response to the transmembrane voltage and therefore, in addition to isotope flux assays, the cotransport kinetics can be studied in real-time using electrophysiological methods. As well as the cotransport mode, many cotransporters also display a uniport or slippage mode, whereby the cosubstrate ions translocate in the absence of substrate. The current challenge is to define structure-function relationships by identifying functionally important elements in the protein that confer the transport properties and thus contribute to the ultimate goal of having a 3-D model of the protein that conveys both structural and functional information. In this review we focus on a functional approach to meet this challenge, based on a combination of real-time electrophysiological assays, together with molecular biological and biochemical methods. This is illustrated, by way of example, using data obtained by heterologous expression of the renal Na(+)-coupled inorganic phosphate cotransporter (NaP(i)-IIa) for which structure-function relationships are beginning to emerge.