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The serine/threonine kinase, Pim-1, appears to be involved in regulating proliferation, differentiation and cell survival of lymphoid and myeloid cells. In this study, we have found that amino acid residues 140-147 (RKRRQTSM) at the C-terminal end of p21(Cip1/WAF1), a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor, constitute an ideal phosphorylation consensus sequence for Pim-1. We demonstrate that Pim-1 efficiently phosphorylates this peptide sequence as well as the p21 protein in vitro. We also demonstrate by pull-down assay and by immunoprecipitation that Pim-1 associates with p21. During phorbol ester-induced differentiation of U937 cells, both Pim-1 and p21 expression levels increase with Pim-1 levels increasing in both the nucleus and cytoplasm while p21 remains primarily cytoplasmic. Co-transfection of wild type p21 with wild type Pim-1 results in cytoplasmic localization of p21 while co-transfection of wild type p21 with kinase dead Pim-1 results in nuclear localization of p21. Consistent with the results from the phosphoamino acid assay, Pim-1 phosphorylates transfected p21 only on Thr(145) in p21-deficient human fibroblasts and this phosphorylation event results in the cytoplasmic localization of p21. These findings demonstrate that Pim-1 associates with and phosphorylates p21 in vivo, which influences the subcellular localization of p21.

The barbed ends of actin filaments in striated muscle are anchored within the Z-disc and capped by CapZ; this protein blocks actin polymerization and depolymerization in vitro. The mature lengths of the thin filaments are likely specified by the giant "molecular ruler" nebulin, which spans the length of the thin filament. Here, we report that CapZ specifically interacts with the C terminus of nebulin (modules 160 -164) in blot overlay, solid-phase binding, tryptophan fluorescence, and SPOTs membrane assays. Binding of nebulin modules 160 -164 to CapZ does not affect the ability of CapZ to cap actin filaments in vitro, consistent with our observation that neither of the two C-terminal actin binding regions of CapZ is necessary for its interaction with nebulin. Knockdown of nebulin in chick skeletal myotubes using small interfering RNA results in a reduction of assembled CapZ, and, strikingly, a loss of the uniform alignment of the barbed ends of the actin filaments. These data suggest that nebulin restricts the position of thin filament barbed ends to the Z-disc via a direct interaction with CapZ. We propose a novel molecular model of Z-disc architecture in which nebulin interacts with CapZ from a thin filament of an adjacent sarcomere, thus providing a structural link between sarcomeres. INTRODUCTIONIn striated muscle, actin-containing thin filaments from adjacent sarcomeres overlap within the Z-disc in which their barbed ends are organized and anchored. Electron micrographs of longitudinal sections of mammalian skeletal muscle reveal that Z-discs contain an intricate network of "zigzag" bands (Rowe, 1973). Three-dimensional reconstruction and modeling of the Z-disc based on electron micrographs demonstrate that the zigzag bands are composed of sets of overlapping thin filament connectors called "Z-links," which are predicted to be composed of ␣-actinin (Luther et al., 2002). These connectors allow the Z-disc to transmit force from one sarcomere to the next along the myofibril.Drosophila melanogaster mutants that do not express ␣-actinin initially display relatively intact Z-discs in their striated muscle (Fyrberg et al., 1998). Later, severe muscle defects occur, and the larvae die. Thus, it seems that ␣-actinin is not absolutely required for Z-disc formation and function, but it is needed to maintain Z-disc stability in this organism. The giant sarcomeric protein titin has also been implicated in the assembly and maintenance of the Z-disc structure, whereas the specific contributions of other Z-disc components are currently unknown (Zou et al., 2006;Seeley et al., 2007).Z-discs contain the barbed-end capping protein CapZ. CapZ binds with high affinity (K d Ϸ 1 nM) to the barbed ends of actin filaments, in which it effectively inhibits actin polymerization and depolymerization (Caldwell et al., 1989). Capping protein is an obligate ␣/␤ heterodimer, and efficient actin capping requires the C terminus of both subunits (Casella and Torres, 1994;Wear et al., 2003). Vertebrates express three conserved isoforms of ea...

The heterodimeric actin-capping protein (CP) can be inhibited by polyphosphoinositides, which may be important for actin polymerization at membranes in cells. Here, we have identified a conserved set of basic residues on the surface of CP that are important for the interaction with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP 2 ). Computational docking studies predicted the identity of residues involved in this interaction, and functional and physical assays with site-directed mutants of CP confirmed the prediction. The PIP 2 binding site overlaps with the more important of the two known actin-binding sites of CP. Correspondingly, we observed that loss of PIP 2 binding correlated with loss of actin binding among the mutants. Using TIRF (total internal reflection fluorescence) microscopy, we observed that PIP 2 rapidly converted capped actin filaments to a growing state, consistent with uncapping. Together, these results extend our understanding of how CP binds to the barbed end of the actin filament, and they support the idea that CP can "wobble" when bound to the barbed end solely by the C-terminal "tentacle" of its ␤-subunit.

The proto-oncogene pim-1 is a serine/threonine kinase the over-expression of which promotes lymphoma formation. Neither the normal function of Pim-1 nor the biochemical mechanism for cancer development mediated by the gene has been delineated, although recent studies have provided compelling evidence that Pim-1 is involved in differentiation and cell survival. We now provide the first evidence that Pim-1 may be involved in the proliferative process. By confocal microscopy, we observed a dynamic redistribution of Pim-1 during the cell cycle, the protein moving from the nucleus and cytoplasm in interphase to the spindle poles during mitosis. From a computer search for putative substrates of Pim-1 that are located in the spindle poles, we discovered that the nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA) protein has two peptide sequences that contain preferred phosphorylation sites for Pim-1 kinase. Recombinant glutathione-S-transferase-Pim-1 also readily phosphorylates immunoprecipitated NuMA. By confocal microscopy and co-immunoprecipitation we showed the interaction of the Pim-1 and NuMA proteins in HeLa cells that had been arrested during mitosis with nocodazole. Pim-1 also appeared to interact with heterochromatin-associated protein 1beta (HP1beta) and the cytoplasmic proteins dynein and dynactin via complex formation with NuMA. In our studies, overexpressed wild-type-Pim-1-GFP (green fluorescent protein) fusion protein was found to co-localize in the spindle pole with NuMA during mitosis. In contrast, the 'kinase-dead' mut-Pim-1-GFP fusion protein did not co-localize with NuMA, and appeared to promote apoptosis. Further evidence for apoptotic cell death was the observed blebbing and fragmentation of the chromosomes and a decrease in the level of NuMA protein detected by confocal microscopy. These results strongly suggest that Pim-1 kinase plays a role, most likely by phosphorylation, in promoting complex formation between NuMA, HP1beta, dynein and dynactin, a complex that is necessary for mitosis.

The heterodimeric actin-capping protein (CP) regulates actin assembly and cell motility by binding tightly to the barbed end of the actin filament. Here we demonstrate that myotrophin/V-1 binds directly to CP in a 1:1 molar ratio with a K d of 10 -50 nM. V-1 binding inhibited the ability of CP to cap the barbed ends of actin filaments. The actin-binding COOH-terminal region, the "tentacle," of the CP ␤ subunit was important for binding V-1, with lesser contributions from the ␣ subunit COOH-terminal region and the body of the protein. V-1 appears to be unable to bind to CP that is on the barbed end, based on the observations that V-1 had no activity in an uncapping assay and that the V-1⅐CP complex had no capping activity. Two loops of V-1, which extend out from the ␣-helical backbone of this ankyrin repeat protein, were necessary for V-1 to bind CP. Parallel computational studies determined a bound conformation of the ␤ tentacle with V-1 that is consistent with these findings, and they offered insight into experimentally observed differences between the ␣1 and ␣2 isoforms as well as the mutant lacking the ␣ tentacle. These results support and extend our "wobble" model for CP binding to the actin filament, in which the two COOH-terminal regions of CP bind independently to the actin filament, and bound CP is able to wobble when attached only via its mobile ␤-subunit tentacle. This model is also supported by molecular dynamics simulations of CP reported here. The existence of the wobble state may be important for actin dynamics in cells.Myotrophin is a 12-kDa protein identified in hypertrophied rat hearts (1) and dilated cardiomyopathic human hearts (2). Myotrophin was named for its ability to stimulate hypertrophy in cardiac myocytes when added to cells in culture (1). Transgenic mice overexpressing myotrophin in cardiac myocytes develop cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure (3). Myotrophin was found to be identical to the protein V-1 (4), which had been identified based on increased expression in granule cell neurons during development of the rat cerebellum (5). V-1 expression correlates with morphogenetic changes of cerebellar differentiation. V-1 is expressed in many vertebrate cells and tissues (6).V-1 homologues are present and highly conserved across vertebrates, and similar protein sequences are predicted by the genomes of other animal species, but not by those of fungi or plants. V-1 is important for expression of catecholamine-synthesizing enzymes (7), differentiation and regeneration of skeletal muscle (8), folliculogenesis and corpus luteum formation in the ovary (9), and regulation of insulin secretion (10). We will refer to the myotrophin/V-1 protein as V-1 for simplicity.Structurally, V-1 is a small ankyrin repeat protein. A solution structure of V-1 shows two full ankyrin repeat motifs in tandem, with additional incomplete repeats at the amino and carboxyl termini (11,12). An ankyrin repeat consists of a ␤ hairpin loop followed by a pair of anti-parallel ␣ helices connected by a short turn sequence ...

Phthalates have been shown to elicit contrasting effects on the testis and the liver, causing testicular degeneration and promoting abnormal hepatocyte proliferation and carcinogenesis. In the present study, we compared the effects of phthalates on testicular and liver cells to better understand the mechanisms by which phthalates cause testicular degeneration. In vivo treatment of rats with di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) caused a threefold increase of germ cell apoptosis in the testis, whereas apoptosis was not changed significantly in livers from the same animals. Western blot analyses revealed that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) alpha is equally abundant in the liver and the testis, whereas PPAR gamma and retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha are expressed more in the testis. To determine whether the principal metabolite of DEHP, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), or a strong peroxisome proliferator, 4-chloro-6(2,3-xylindino)-2-pyrimidinylthioacetic acid (Wy-14,643), have a differential effect in Sertoli and liver cells by altering the function of RAR alpha and PPARs, their nuclear trafficking patterns were compared in Sertoli and liver cells after treatment. Both MEHP and Wy-14,643 increased the nuclear localization of PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma in Sertoli cells, but they decreased the nuclear localization of RAR alpha, as previously shown. Both PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma were in the nucleus and cytoplasm of liver cells, but RAR alpha was predominant in the cytoplasm, regardless of the treatment. At the molecular level, MEHP and Wy-14,643 reduced the amount of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (activated MAPK) in Sertoli cells. In comparison, both MEHP and Wy-14,643 increased phosphorylated MAPK in liver cells. These results suggest that phthalates may cause contrasting effects on the testis and the liver by differential activation of the MAPK pathway, RAR alpha, PPAR alpha, and PPAR gamma in these organs.

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