Alternative splicing is a key factor contributing to genetic diversity and evolution. Intron retention, one form of alternative splicing, is common in plants but rare in higher eukaryotes, because messenger RNAs with retained introns are subject to cellular restriction at the level of cytoplasmic export and expression. Often, retention of internal introns restricts the export of these mRNAs and makes them the targets for degradation by the cellular nonsense-mediated decay machinery if they contain premature stop codons. In fact, many of the database entries for complementary DNAs with retained introns represent them as artefacts that would not affect the proteome. Retroviruses are important model systems in studies of regulation of RNAs with retained introns, because their genomic and mRNAs contain one or more unspliced introns. For example, Mason-Pfizer monkey virus overcomes cellular restrictions by using a cis-acting RNA element known as the constitutive transport element (CTE). The CTE interacts directly with the Tap protein (also known as nuclear RNA export factor 1, encoded by NXF1), which is thought to be a principal export receptor for cellular mRNA, leading to the hypothesis that cellular mRNAs with retained introns use cellular CTE equivalents to overcome restrictions to their expression. Here we show that the Tap gene contains a functional CTE in its alternatively spliced intron 10. Tap mRNA containing this intron is exported to the cytoplasm and is present in polyribosomes. A small Tap protein is encoded by this mRNA and can be detected in human and monkey cells. Our results indicate that Tap regulates expression of its own intron-containing RNA through a CTE-mediated mechanism. Thus, CTEs are likely to be important elements that facilitate efficient expression of mammalian mRNAs with retained introns.

The BRAF V600E mutation is found in approximately 6% of human cancers and mimics the phosphorylation of the kinase domain activation segment. In wild-type B-Raf (B-Raf wt ), activation segment phosphorylation is thought to cooperate with negative charges within the N-region for full activation. In contrast to Raf-1, the N-region of B-Raf is constitutively negatively charged owing to the presence of residues D447/D448 and the phosphorylation of S446. Therefore, it has been suggested that this hallmark predisposes B-Raf for oncogenic activation. In this study, we demonstrate that neutralizing mutations of these residues (in particular S446 and S447), or uncoupling of B-Raf from Ras-guanine 5 0 -triphosphate (GTP), strongly reduce the biological activity of B-Raf in a PC12 cell differentiation assay. We also confirm that S365 is a 14-3-3 binding site, and determine that mutation of this residue rescues the impaired biological activity of B-Raf proteins with a neutralized N-region, suggesting that the N-region opposes a 14-3-3-mediated transition into an inactive conformation. However, in the case of B-Raf V600E , although complete N-region neutralization resulted in a 2.5-fold reduction in kinase activity in vitro, this oncoprotein strongly induced PC12 differentiation or transformation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of MCF-10A cells regardless of its N-region charge. Furthermore, the biological activity of B-Raf V600E was independent of its ability to bind Ras-GTP. Our analysis identifies important regulatory differences between B-Raf wt and B-Raf V600E and suggests that B-Raf V600E cannot be inhibited by strategies aimed at blocking S446 phosphorylation or Ras activation. Keywords: Ras; 14-3-3 proteins; b-Catenin; E-cadherin; mammary epithelial cells IntroductionThe Ras/Raf/mitogen-activated/extracellular-regulated kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) pathway plays a pivotal role in control of proliferation and differentiation and, owing to its role as a gatekeeper of this pathway, Raf appears an attractive therapeutic target (O'Neill and Kolch, 2004;Wilhelm et al., 2004). The Raf-kinase family comprises the A-Raf, B-Raf and Raf-1 isoforms in vertebrates as well as D-Raf and LIN-45 in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis, respectively. B-Raf, the major ERK activator in vertebrates, is required for the maintenance of basal ERK activity and displays the most potent transforming activity (Papin et al., 1998;Brummer et al., 2002;Mercer and Pritchard, 2003). All isoforms share three highly conserved regions (CRs; Figure 1a): the N-terminal CR1 contains the Ras-guanine 5 0 -triphosphate (GTP)-binding domain (RBD), which initiates the interaction with Ras-GTP through a conserved arginine residue (R188 in B-Raf) that is required for the recruitment and activation of Raf at the plasma membrane. Consequently, mutation of this residue prevents Ras/Raf interaction and renders D-Raf, B-Raf and Raf-1 unresponsive to most extracellular signals (Hou et al., 1995;Marais et al., 1997;Brummer et al., 2002). The ...

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway plays an important role during the development and activation of B lymphocytes. We have recently shown that B-Raf is a dominant ERK activator in B-cell antigen receptor signalling. We now show that B-Raf is hyperphosphorylated upon BCR engagement and undergoes a prominent electrophoretic mobility shift. This shift correlates with ERK activation and is prevented by the MEK inhibitor U0126. Syk-deficient DT40 B cells display neither dual ERK phosphorylation nor a mobility shift of B-Raf upon BCR engagement. The inducible expression of a constitutively active B-Raf in this mutant line restores dual ERK phosphorylation and the mobility shift of endogenous B-Raf, indicating that these two events are connected to each other. By site-directed mutagenesis studies, we demonstrate that the shift is due to an ERK2-mediated feedback phosphorylation of serine/threonine residues within an evolutionary conserved SPKTP motif at the C-terminus of B-Raf. Replacement of these residues by negatively charged amino acids causes a constitutive mobility shift and a reduction of PC12 cell differentiation. We discuss a model in which ERK-mediated phosphorylation of the SPKTP motif is involved in negative feedback regulation of B-Raf.

The splicing regulatory SR protein, 9G8, has recently been proposed to function in mRNA export in conjunction with the export protein, Tap/NXF1. Tap interacts directly with the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus constitutive transport element (CTE), an element that enables export of unspliced, intron-containing mRNA. Based on our previous finding that Tap can promote polysome association and translation of CTE-RNA, we investigated the effect of 9G8 on cytoplasmic RNA fate. 9G8 was shown to enhance expression of unspliced RNA containing either the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus-CTE or the recently discovered Tap-CTE. 9G8 also enhanced polyribosome association of unspliced RNA containing a CTE. Hyperphosphorylated 9G8 was present in monosomes and small polyribosomes, whereas soluble fractions contained only hypophosphorylated protein.Our results are consistent with a model in which hypophosphorylated SR proteins remain stably associated with messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) complexes during export and are released during translation initiation concomitant with increased phosphorylation. These results provide further evidence for crucial links between RNA splicing, export and translation.The serine/arginine (SR) 3 proteins are a family of RNA binding proteins with well recognized roles in splicing regulation (1-3). These proteins all have C-terminal arginine-and serinerich (RS) domains that can be phosphorylated and dephosphorylated on multiple serines by cellular kinases and phosphatases (2). The phosphorylation state is believed to play an important role in functional regulation (2, 4 -6).The effects of SR proteins on splicing have been extensively studied. Based to a large extent on in vitro studies, it has been well established that SR proteins, in general, bind to cis-acting regulatory sequences in many RNAs and promote splicing (7,8). Although individual proteins can have specific effects, SR proteins often appear to display overlapping and redundant functions (2,8).The SR proteins were initially thought to have solely nuclear functions, but it was subsequently shown that several of these proteins shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm (9). The functional importance of this remained unclear until studies by Steitz and colleagues demonstrated a potential role for two of the shuttling SR proteins (SRp20 and 9G8) in mRNA export (10 -12). Another study reported the presence of SR proteins in polyribosomes, suggesting a potential role in translational regulation (13). Specifically, it was reported that the SF2/ASF protein was able to promote translation of mRNAs from reporter constructs containing SR protein binding sites. Several recent studies have now provided additional support of a role for SR proteins in translation (14,15).In the case of most mammalian genes, the primary RNA transcript contains multiple introns that must be removed by splicing before the mRNA can exit the nucleus (16 -18). Although it is not clear what restricts mRNA from export before splicing has been completed, the shuttling protein, Tap/NX...

Engagement of the B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) leads to activation of the Raf-MEK-ERK pathway and Raf kinases play an important role in the modulation of ERK activity. B lymphocytes express two Raf isoforms, Raf-1 and B-Raf. Using an inducible deletion system in DT40 cells, the contribution of Raf-1 and B-Raf to BCR signalling was dissected. Loss of Raf-1 has no effect on BCR-mediated ERK activation, whereas B-Raf-deficient DT40 cells display a reduced basal ERK activity as well as a shortened BCR-mediated ERK activation. The Raf-1/B-Raf double deficient DT40 cells show an almost complete block both in ERK activation and in the induction of the immediate early gene products c-Fos and Egr-1. In contrast, BCR-mediated activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) relies predominantly on B-Raf. Furthermore, complementation of Raf-1/B-Raf double deficient cells with various Raf mutants demonstrates a requirement for Ras-GTP binding in BCR-mediated activation of both Raf isoforms and also reveals the important role of the S259 residue for the regulation of Raf-1. Our study shows that BCR-mediated ERK activation involves a cooperation of both B-Raf and Raf-1, which are activated specifically in a temporally distinct manner.

CD43 is a major surface sialoprotein on hemopoietic cells, whose extracellular domain is heavily O-glycosylated. The functional role of CD43 in the hemopoietic system is not fully understood; however, it has been suggested that CD43 may have a role in cell-cell repulsion and in modifying T cell proliferation and activation. CD43 is expressed in immature B cells in the bone marrow, but not by peripheral B cells, except for B-1 B cells and plasma cells. To analyze the biological effect of CD43 in B-lineage cells, we transfected mouse CD43 cDNA into a CD43- B cell lymphoma, WEHI 231, and the growth and survival in culture were compared to those of a parental cell line, human CD8 transfectants, and CD43- revertants established from CD43+ clones. We observed that CD43 expression supported cell growth in culture upon serum reduction, whereas growth of CD43- cell lines was barely detected under this condition. CD43- cell lines accumulated in G1 phase of the cell cycle, and the numbers of viable cells were greatly reduced during culture upon serum depletion, whereas expression of CD43 reduced the susceptibility to G1 arrest and temporarily retarded the apoptotic process, which, in turn, resulted in an increase and maintenance of the number of viable cells in culture. The results suggest that CD43 may have some role in the survival and expansion of B-lineage cells. The biological effect of CD43 was initiated without stimulation by cross-linking and was significantly impaired by replacement of the extracellular domain by the human CD8 extracellular domain. The basis of these regulatory processes is discussed.

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