TY - JOUR AB - Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) molecules were recently identified as novel regulators of synaptic plasticity. These molecules are expressed in various brain areas, especially in regions undergoing activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, but their role in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of genetic disruption of MHCI function, through deletion of β2-microblobulin, which causes lack of cell surface expression of MHCI. First, we confirmed that MHCI molecules are expressed in the NAc core in wild-type mice. Second, we performed electrophysiological recordings with NAc core slices from wild-type and β2-microglobulin knock-out mice lacking cell surface expression of MHCI. We found that low frequency stimulation induced long-term depression in wild-type but not knock-out mice, whereas high frequency stimulation induced long-term potentiation in both genotypes, with a larger magnitude in knock-out mice. Furthermore, we demonstrated that knock-out mice showed more persistent behavioral sensitization to cocaine, which is a NAc-related behavior. Using this model, we analyzed the density of total AMPA receptors and their subunits GluR1 and GluR2 in the NAc core, by SDS-digested freeze-fracture replica labeling. After repeated cocaine exposure, the density of GluR1 was increased, but there was no change in total AMPA receptors and GluR2 levels in wildtype mice. In contrast, following repeated cocaine exposure, increased densities of total AMPA receptors, GluR1 and GluR2 were observed in knock-out mice. These results indicate that functional deficiency of MHCI enhances synaptic potentiation, induced by electrical and pharmacological stimulation. AU - Edamura, Mitsuhiro AU - Murakami, Gen AU - Meng, Hongrui AU - Itakura, Makoto AU - Shigemoto, Ryuichi AU - Fukuda, Atsuo AU - Nakahara, Daiichiro ID - 1895 IS - 9 JF - PLoS One TI - Functional deficiency of MHC class i enhances LTP and abolishes LTD in the nucleus accumbens of mice VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) is a structural phospholipid that can be phosphorylated into various lipid signaling molecules, designated polyphosphoinositides (PPIs). The reversible phosphorylation of PPIs on the 3, 4, or 5 position of inositol is performed by a set of organelle-specific kinases and phosphatases, and the characteristic head groups make these molecules ideal for regulating biological processes in time and space. In yeast and mammals, PtdIns3P and PtdIns(3,5)P2 play crucial roles in trafficking toward the lytic compartments, whereas the role in plants is not yet fully understood. Here we identified the role of a land plant-specific subgroup of PPI phosphatases, the suppressor of actin 2 (SAC2) to SAC5, during vacuolar trafficking and morphogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. SAC2-SAC5 localize to the tonoplast along with PtdIns3P, the presumable product of their activity. In SAC gain- and loss-of-function mutants, the levels of PtdIns monophosphates and bisphosphates were changed, with opposite effects on the morphology of storage and lytic vacuoles, and the trafficking toward the vacuoles was defective. Moreover, multiple sac knockout mutants had an increased number of smaller storage and lytic vacuoles, whereas extralarge vacuoles were observed in the overexpression lines, correlating with various growth and developmental defects. The fragmented vacuolar phenotype of sac mutants could be mimicked by treating wild-type seedlings with PtdIns(3,5)P2, corroborating that this PPI is important for vacuole morphology. Taken together, these results provide evidence that PPIs, together with their metabolic enzymes SAC2-SAC5, are crucial for vacuolar trafficking and for vacuolar morphology and function in plants. AU - Nováková, Petra AU - Hirsch, Sibylle AU - Feraru, Elena AU - Tejos, Ricardo AU - Van Wijk, Ringo AU - Viaene, Tom AU - Heilmann, Mareike AU - Lerche, Jennifer AU - De Rycke, Riet AU - Feraru, Mugurel AU - Grones, Peter AU - Van Montagu, Marc AU - Heilmann, Ingo AU - Munnik, Teun AU - Friml, Jirí ID - 1893 IS - 7 JF - PNAS TI - SAC phosphoinositide phosphatases at the tonoplast mediate vacuolar function in Arabidopsis VL - 111 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Biopolymer length regulation is a complex process that involves a large number of biological, chemical, and physical subprocesses acting simultaneously across multiple spatial and temporal scales. An illustrative example important for genomic stability is the length regulation of telomeres - nucleoprotein structures at the ends of linear chromosomes consisting of tandemly repeated DNA sequences and a specialized set of proteins. Maintenance of telomeres is often facilitated by the enzyme telomerase but, particularly in telomerase-free systems, the maintenance of chromosomal termini depends on alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) mechanisms mediated by recombination. Various linear and circular DNA structures were identified to participate in ALT, however, dynamics of the whole process is still poorly understood. We propose a chemical kinetics model of ALT with kinetic rates systematically derived from the biophysics of DNA diffusion and looping. The reaction system is reduced to a coagulation-fragmentation system by quasi-steady-state approximation. The detailed treatment of kinetic rates yields explicit formulas for expected size distributions of telomeres that demonstrate the key role played by the J factor, a quantitative measure of bending of polymers. The results are in agreement with experimental data and point out interesting phenomena: an appearance of very long telomeric circles if the total telomere density exceeds a critical value (excess mass) and a nonlinear response of the telomere size distributions to the amount of telomeric DNA in the system. The results can be of general importance for understanding dynamics of telomeres in telomerase-independent systems as this mode of telomere maintenance is similar to the situation in tumor cells lacking telomerase activity. Furthermore, due to its universality, the model may also serve as a prototype of an interaction between linear and circular DNA structures in various settings. AU - Kollár, Richard AU - Bod'ová, Katarína AU - Nosek, Jozef AU - Tomáška, Ľubomír ID - 1896 IS - 3 JF - Physical Review E Statistical Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics TI - Mathematical model of alternative mechanism of telomere length maintenance VL - 89 ER - TY - JOUR AB - GNOM is one of the most characterized membrane trafficking regulators in plants, with crucial roles in development. GNOM encodes an ARF-guanine nucleotide exchange factor (ARF-GEF) that activates small GTPases of the ARF (ADP ribosylation factor) class to mediate vesicle budding at endomembranes. The crucial role of GNOM in recycling of PIN auxin transporters and other proteins to the plasma membrane was identified in studies using the ARF-GEF inhibitor brefeldin A (BFA). GNOM, the most prominent regulator of recycling in plants, has been proposed to act and localize at so far elusive recycling endosomes. Here, we report the GNOM localization in context of its cellular function in Arabidopsis thaliana. State-of-the-art imaging, pharmacological interference, and ultrastructure analysis show that GNOM predominantly localizes to Golgi apparatus. Super-resolution confocal live imaging microscopy identified GNOM and its closest homolog GNOM-like 1 at distinct subdomains on Golgi cisternae. Short-term BFA treatment stabilizes GNOM at the Golgi apparatus, whereas prolonged exposures results in GNOM translocation to trans-Golgi network (TGN)/early endosomes (EEs). Malformed TGN/EE in gnom mutants suggests a role for GNOM in maintaining TGN/EE function. Our results redefine the subcellular action of GNOM and reevaluate the identity and function of recycling endosomes in plants. AU - Naramoto, Satoshi AU - Otegui, Marisa AU - Kutsuna, Natsumaro AU - De Rycke, Riet AU - Dainobu, Tomoko AU - Karampelias, Michael AU - Fujimoto, Masaru AU - Feraru, Elena AU - Miki, Daisuke AU - Fukuda, Hiroo AU - Nakano, Akihiko AU - Friml, Jirí ID - 1897 IS - 7 JF - Plant Cell TI - Insights into the localization and function of the membrane trafficking regulator GNOM ARF-GEF at the Golgi apparatus in Arabidopsis VL - 26 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Asymmetric cell divisions allow stem cells to balance proliferation and differentiation. During embryogenesis, murine epidermis expands rapidly from a single layer of unspecified basal layer progenitors to a stratified, differentiated epithelium. Morphogenesis involves perpendicular (asymmetric) divisions and the spindle orientation protein LGN, but little is known about how the apical localization of LGN is regulated. Here, we combine conventional genetics and lentiviral-mediated in vivo RNAi to explore the functions of the LGN-interacting proteins Par3, mInsc and Gα i3. Whereas loss of each gene alone leads to randomized division angles, combined loss of Gnai3 and mInsc causes a phenotype of mostly planar divisions, akin to loss of LGN. These findings lend experimental support for the hitherto untested model that Par3-mInsc and Gα i3 act cooperatively to polarize LGN and promote perpendicular divisions. Finally, we uncover a developmental switch between delamination-driven early stratification and spindle-orientation-dependent differentiation that occurs around E15, revealing a two-step mechanism underlying epidermal maturation. AU - Williams, Scott AU - Ratliff, Lyndsay AU - Postiglione, Maria P AU - Knoblich, Juergen AU - Fuchs, Elaine ID - 1899 IS - 8 JF - Nature Cell Biology TI - Par3-mInsc and Gα i3 cooperate to promote oriented epidermal cell divisions through LGN VL - 16 ER -