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Vol. 18, Issue 1, 1-13, January 2007
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The Hospital for Sick Children, Program in Developmental Biology and Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8
Submitted August 25, 2006;
Revised October 11, 2006;
Accepted October 18, 2006
Monitoring Editor: William Tansey
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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neur encodes a peripheral membrane protein that exhibits E3 ubiquitin ligase activity (Yeh et al., 2000
, 2001
; Lai and Rubin, 2001a
; Pavlopoulos et al., 2001
). The Neur protein consists of three conserved domains; two neuralized homology repeat (NHR) domains and a carboxyl terminal RING domain. We have previously demonstrated that the Neur RING domain is necessary and sufficient for E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro and that mutation of a conserved cysteine residue within the RING domain abolishes this function (Yeh et al., 2001
). Protein ubiquitination plays an important role in regulating protein trafficking and degradation. In the case of integral membrane proteins, monoubiquitination serves as a signal for endocytosis (reviewed in Hicke and Dunn, 2003
). Neur subcellular localization and its E3 ligase activity suggest that it plays a role in ubiquitination at the plasma membrane, likely targeting N signaling components for internalization.
In larval mitotic clones with reduced neur function, endocytosis of Dl is defective, resulting in reduced N signaling (Deblandre et al., 2001
; Lai et al., 2001
; Pavlopoulos et al., 2001
). Moreover, several studies have shown that Neur binds to and ubiquitinates membrane-bound Dl, targeting it for endocytosis (Deblandre et al., 2001
; Lai et al., 2001
; Pavlopoulos et al., 2001
; reviewed in Lai, 2002
). Dl endocytosis in signal sending cells has been shown to promote N activation; however, the mechanism involved is unclear (Parks et al., 2000
; Itoh et al., 2003
; Wang and Struhl, 2004
; Le Borgne et al., 2005a
). One model suggests that Dl internalization with the N extracellular domain may unmask a N cleavage site required for signaling (Parks et al., 2000
). Other models suggest that Dl endocytosis and recycling serve to activate the ligand either by clustering Dl, allowing post-translational modifications to its extracellular domain, or allowing Dl to interact with factors that increase its binding affinity for N (Hicks et al., 2002
; Le Borgne and Schweisguth, 2003
; Emery et al., 2005
; reviewed in Chitnis, 2006a
). In addition to Neur, Mind bomb, another Dl-targeting ubiquitin ligase, has been shown to play an integral role in N ligand endocytosis during development (Itoh et al., 2003
; Lai et al., 2005
; Le Borgne et al., 2005b
; Pitsouli and Delidakis, 2005
; Wang and Struhl, 2005
). Liquid facets, an endocytic epsin, promotes and enhances the efficiency of Dl endocytosis and is thought to mediate Dl signaling by targeting N ligands into a select endocytic pathway (Overstreet et al., 2003
, 2004
; Wang and Struhl, 2004
, 2005
).
The conserved Neur RING domain is required for Dl internalization, but not Dl binding (Pavlopoulos et al., 2001
; Pitsouli and Delidakis, 2005
), suggesting that another region of Neur is mediating a proteinprotein interaction with Dl. Neur exhibits two conserved NHR domains with unknown function. Proteins with NHR domains (also known as NEUZ domains) can be found in vertebrates and invertebrates, but not viruses, bacteria, fungi, or plants and include the
-catenin regulator OzzE3, Drosophila Bluestreak and Lung Inducible Neuralized-related C3HC4 RING protein (LINCR). Although the cellular role of the NHR domain is unknown, they tend to be clustered, each protein containing from two to six NHR domains (Ponting et al., 2001
; Doerks et al., 2002
). Partial deletion of the Neur NHR1 domain abrogates binding to Dl (Lai et al., 2001
), but it is unclear whether or not the NHR domain is sufficient for the interaction to take place.
Here, we show that a point mutation in a highly conserved residue of the NHR domain results in altered Neur subcellular localization, defective Dl binding, and reduced N signaling. We also demonstrate that a novel cytoplasmic isoform of Neur is recruited to the plasma membrane by Dl and that the NHR1 domain of Neur is both necessary and sufficient to interact with Dl, indicating the NHR domain is a proteinprotein interaction module. Taken together, our work demonstrates that the NHR domain is sufficient for proteinprotein interactions, that mutation of this domain in Neur disrupts Dl binding, and that the function of Neur in Dl trafficking and N signaling is mediated by its NHR1 domain.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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To obtain pV5-NeurG167E, the Quikchange II Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA) was used, with pV5-NeurPA as a template, to introduce the G-to-A transition at the codon encoding Gly167, resulting in a Glu residue at this position.
Plasmids expressing V5-tagged Neur truncations were constructed via PCR using pV5-NeurPC as a template and were cloned into pAc5.1/V5-His. pV5-NeurNHR1 includes the portion of cDNA encoding amino acid residues 9195, pV5-NeurNHR1-
F175 encodes amino acid residues 9174, and pV5-Neur
NHR1 encodes amino acids 173672. Amino acid residues are arbitrarily in reference to NeurPC (GenPept NP_731310) because these regions are common to both isoforms.
To create transgenic lines UAS-NeurPC, UAS-NeurPA, and UAS-NeurG167E, both wild-type and mutant versions of V5-Neur were amplified via PCR and cloned into the KpnI site of pUAST. UAS constructs were then injected into w1118 embryos and transgenic lines obtained. Expression of all transgenes was performed at 25°C.
Drosophila Genetics
scabrousGAL4 (sca537.4) is described by FlyBase (Klaes et al., 1994
). P{da-GAL4.w[-]}3 (8641), P{UAS-GFP.S65T}T2 (1521), and w1118 (3605) lines were obtained from the Bloomington Stock Center. UAS-NeurPC, UAS-NeurPA, and UAS-NeurG167E were generated in this study. All Bloomington stock numbers are indicated in parentheses. The neur1/TM3, Sb line (4222) is maintained by our laboratory and is available from the Bloomington Stock Center. Sequencing of this mutant allele was performed as previously described (Yeh et al., 2001
).
Cell Culture
S2 cells were transfected using Cellfectin (Invitrogen). For every transfection, 23 µg of plasmid DNA was used. pMT-DeltaWT-NdeMYC expression was induced with 0.5 mM CuSO4 for 1216 h. All assays were conducted at room temperature.
Immunostaining
S2 cells were stained using standard procedures. Briefly, cells were fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde and washed in PBS, and nonspecific interactions were blocked with 5% goat serum (diluted in 0.1% Triton and PBS [PBS-T]). Incubation with primary and secondary antibodies followed, with washes performed using PBS-T. Salivary glands, larval imaginal discs, and embryos were stained using standard procedures (Yeh et al., 2000
).
All antibodies were diluted in 5% goat serum in PBS-T. Neur proteins were detected using mouse anti-V5 (Invitrogen, 1:1000). myc-Dl was detected using rabbit anti-myc (Upstate Biotechnology, Lake Placid, NY, 1:500). Endogenous Dl was detected with guinea pig anti-DlICD (Klueg et al., 1998
) and was a gift of M. Muskavitch and K. Klueg (DGRC). Antibodies detecting endosomal markers were used as follows: guinea pig anti-Hrs (a gift of H. Bellen, 1:500), rabbit anti-Rab5 (a gift of M. González-Gaitán, 1:50), and rat anti-Rab11 (a gift of R. Cohen, 1:2000). Mouse anti-phosphotyrosine (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA) was used at 1:1000. FITC-conjugated rabbit anti-HRP (Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA) was used at 1:1000. DAPI was used at 1:5000. Cy3 and Alexa488 secondary antibodies were used at 1:1000. Samples were mounted in Dako Mounting Medium (DakoCytomation, Fort Collins, CO), and images were obtained using a Zeiss LSM510 META laser scanning confocal microscope (Zeiss, Thornwood, NY) or a Leica DMRA2 fluorescent microscope (Leica, Deerfield, IL).
Western Analysis and Coimmunoprecipitation
For Western analysis using fly tissues, adults were homogenized in RIPA buffer (1% NP-40, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS, 0.15 M NaCl, 0.01 M sodium phosphate, pH 7.2) supplemented with protease inhibitors (Roche, Indianapolis, IN). Lysates were centrifuged at 10,000 x g for 20 min and supernatants were analyzed. Neur proteins were detected using mouse anti- V5 (Invitrogen, 1:5000).
-tubulin was used as a loading control (Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank [DSHB], 1:1000).
For coimmunoprecipitations, S2 cells were transfected with either no DNA, pMT-DeltaWT-NdeMYC alone, or pMT-DeltaWT-NdeMYC with the indicated V5-tagged Neur protein. Dl expression was induced with CuSO4 as described above. Cell lysates were made using RIPA as a lysis buffer supplemented with protease inhibitors. Lysates were precleared for 2 h and incubated for 1216 h with protein G-Sepharose beads (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) and 1.6 µg of mouse anti-V5. Beads were then washed with lysis buffer and resuspended in standard protein sample buffer. All procedures were carried out at 4°C. For Western analysis, V5-Neur proteins were detected with mouse anti-V5 (1:5000) and coimmunoprecipitated myc-Dl was detected using rabbit anti-myc (1:1000). For analyzing experimental input, myc-Dl was detected using mouse anti-myc (DSHB, 1:30), and
-tubulin was used as a loading control (DSHB, 1:1000).
| RESULTS |
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Gly167 is located in the most N-terminal NHR domain (NHR1) of Neur and is conserved in all Neur protein sequences determined to date, including homologues from at least 15 different species ranging from nematodes to humans (Figure 1E, arrowhead). This conservation suggests that Gly167 is important in Neur function. In addition to being conserved in Neur homologues, Gly167 is also conserved in NHR domains from functionally unrelated proteins. The primary protein sequences of various NHR domains were compared, and a sample multiple sequence alignment (Figure 1E) reveals several highly conserved residues (shown in red), including Gly167. Sequence analysis of over 200 NHR domains, all found in eukaryotic organisms, reveals absolute conservation of Gly167, implicating this residue as important to NHR domain structure or function. Taken together, this suggests that a mutation in NHR1 abolishes Neur activity in vivo, resulting in defective N signaling and a neurogenic phenotype.
Since Neur plays a primary role during development in facilitating Dl endocytosis, it is likely that Dl trafficking is affected in neur1 mutants. Consistent with this model, others have shown that the neur1 allele exhibits defects in Dl trafficking. For example, Dl is uniformly localized at the cell membrane in neur1/neur1 mutant embryos (Morel et al., 2003
), and Dl internalization is defective in neur1 mutant clones in larval eye discs and late pupal wings (Pavlopoulos et al., 2001
). Therefore, we conclude that the defects in Dl trafficking and the neurogenic phenotype of the neur1 allele are a result of reduced Neur function due to a defective NHR1 domain.
The G167E Mutation in NHR1 Increases Protein Localization to HRS-positive Endosomes, at the Expense of Plasma Membrane Localization
Since neurogenic embryos display vast neural and epidermal defects, we wanted to analyze the effects of the G167E mutation on Neur subcellular localization in wild-type tissue. We and others have previously reported that NeurPA exhibits predominantly plasma membrane localization when ectopically expressed in Drosophila tissues (Yeh et al., 2000
; Lai and Rubin, 2001a
). Because NeurPA localization has been well characterized, we focused mainly on the effects of G167E on the NeurPA isoform. To do this, we created transgenes capable of expressing either wild-type NeurPA or the mutant NeurG167E using the GAL4/UAS system (Brand and Perrimon, 1993
). Proteins were C-terminally tagged with the V5 epitope, and subcellular localization was analyzed in the larval salivary gland using the scabrousGAL4 (scaGAL4) enhancer trap. We have previously shown that C-terminal epitope tags do not interfere with Neur function and can be used to rescue neurogenic phenotypes (Yeh et al., 2000
). As expected, we find that V5-NeurPA localizes predominantly to the plasma membrane, with some cytoplasmic staining (Figure 2B, arrow indicates plasma membrane staining) comparable to a plasma membrane marker, anti-phosphotyrosine (Figure 2A). In contrast, V5-NeurG167E is present in many more cytoplasmic puncta than wild type (Figure 2C). In larval eye-antenna and leg discs (data not shown), embryonic neural tissue (Supplementary Figure 1, C and D) and larval wing discs (see Figure 4, C and D) NeurG167E is also predominantly localized to cytoplasmic puncta, and plasma membrane localization is reduced compared with NeurPA. To confirm that the differences seen in subcellular localization are not due to differentially expressed transgenes, we analyzed protein expression from the NeurPA and NeurG167E transgenes using the ubiquitous daughterlessGAL4 (daGAL4) driver (Figure 2D). The wild-type and mutant proteins are expressed at similar levels; moreover, because soluble fractions were analyzed, the mutant protein is not simply misfolding and forming aggregates in vivo. To quantify subcellular localization on a cell-to-cell basis we used Drosophila cell culture (Figure 2E). V5-tagged versions of NeurPA and NeurG167E were expressed in S2 cells under control of the actin promoter. Similar to in vivo, V5-NeurG167E is predominately localized to cytoplasmic puncta in S2 cells (Supplementary Figure 1, B to B'') compared with the plasma membrane localization of V5-NeurPA (Supplementary Figure 1, A to A''; plasma membrane localization is indicated by the arrow in A). However,
8.8% of cells expressing V5-NeurG167E exhibited some plasma membrane localization (quantified in Figure 2E). We conclude from this data that although the G167E mutation does not abolish plasma membrane localization, it is reduced, and NeurG167E favors a cytoplasmic punctate subcellular localization.
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68.4% of the time, in contrast to wild-type NeurPA (p < 0.001). Colocalization analysis in S2 cells yielded similar results (Supplementary Figure 2, AA'' and BB''), with NeurG167E colocalizing with Hrs in significantly more cells than wild type (Supplementary Figure 2C). These data show that the G167E mutation in NHR1 causes an increase in Hrs-positive subcellular localization, at the expense of plasma membrane localization. Moreover, this is not a novel phenotype because wild-type protein does colocalize with Hrs, albeit at lower levels. Taken together, this suggests that NeurG167E may have reduced function at the plasma membrane, resulting in defective Dl endocytosis.
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Although the wing serves as a highly sensitive tissue to analyze N signaling, a caveat to our analysis is that neur mitotic clones in the wing give rise only to mild wing vein and margin defects (Yeh et al., 2000
; Lai and Rubin, 2001a
). In contrast, neur clones in the notal portion of the wing disc result in severe bristle phenotypes (Yeh et al., 2000
). Additionally, neur expression is highest in the developing sense organ precursors during larval development (Boulianne et al., 1991
; Yeh et al., 2000
). For these reasons, we also analyzed the effects of NeurG167E on the development of the bristle sense organs on the thorax of the fly. The dorsal thorax of the adult fly exhibits 26 large mechanosensory bristles, or macrocheates, which are found in a stereotypical pattern (Figure 4H). To analyze the effects of NeurG167E in bristle formation, we quantified the number of macrocheates present on the dorsal thorax of adults. Similar to the results obtained in the wing, NeurPA overexpression increases N signaling, resulting in the reduction in the number of macrocheates due to increased inhibition of the sense organ precursor cell fate (Figure 4I). This decrease in macrochaete number was significantly different from the controls (p < 0.001), which included flies expressing GFP as a control. Ectopic expression of NeurG167E did not reduce the number of macrocheates present (Figure 4I), again suggesting that the mutant protein cannot affect Dl signaling even after internalization.
We conclude that although NeurG167E can still colocalize in intracellular vesicles with endogenous Dl, it does not affect downstream Dl signaling activity. This suggests that the two proteins are simply present in the same compartment of unknown identity and that the NHR1 mutation present in NeurG167E may be affecting the ability of Neur to bind to Dl.
The G167E Mutation in the Neur NHR1 Domain Disrupts Dl Binding
Our data thus far suggest that the G167E mutation in NHR1 may perturb Neur function in Dl trafficking by preventing proteinprotein interactions. NeurPA has been shown to form a complex with Dl both in vivo and in cell culture (Lai et al., 2001
; Pitsouli and Delidakis, 2005
). We wanted to analyze the ability of NeurG167E to bind to Dl. To address this, we used immunoprecipitation of V5-tagged Neur proteins from S2 cells cotransfected with myc-tagged Dl and assayed the ability of Dl to coimmunoprecipitate with the various Neur proteins. In S2 cells expressing Dl, both the full-length version of the protein (DlFL) and its intracellular domain (DlICD) are detected (Figure 5A, top blot, lane 2). When Dl is coexpressed with either NeurPA or NeurG167E, both forms are present, albeit at slightly lower levels (Figure 5A, top blot, lanes 3 and 4). When Neur proteins are expressed in S2 cells, similar levels of both NeurPA and NeurG167E are observed in the input lysates (Figure 5A, middle blot, lanes 3 and 4). Additionally, the Neur proteins are also immunoprecipitated at comparable levels (Figure 5B, bottom blot, lanes 3 and 4). As expected, DlFL and DlICD are only coimmunoprecipitated in the presence of wild-type NeurPA (Figure 5B, top blot, lane 3). Note the inability of any Dl proteins to bind to NeurG167E (Figure 5B, top blot, lane 4). This data shows that the G167E mutation in NHR1 disrupts Neur binding to Dl, either directly or indirectly, and suggests that NHR1 may be crucial to the formation of this complex.
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Because Neur plays a key role in Dl endocytosis and Dl is not expressed in S2 cells, we hypothesized that Dl could be this missing factor. To address this, we performed cotransfection assays in S2 cells using V5-tagged NeurPC and myc-tagged Dl. Dl is normally localized to the plasma membrane when expressed in S2 cells (Fehon et al., 1990
). On cotransfection with Dl, NeurPC, which is predominantly localized to cytoplasmic puncta in S2 cells, is recruited to the plasma membrane and colocalizes with Dl (Figure 7, BB'', and compare Figure 7B' to 6B). This demonstrates that the expression of Dl in S2 cells is sufficient for NeurPC plasma membrane localization. Additionally, since NeurPC lacks the N-terminus responsible for NeurPA plasma membrane localization, another region of Neur must be involved in Dl-mediated plasma membrane recruitment.
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NHR1), results in a protein with cytoplasmic localization (Figure 7, FF''). Neur
NHR1 maintains its cytoplasmic distribution even in the presence of plasma membrane Dl (Figure 7, DD'', and compare Figure 7, F'' to D'), showing that NHR1 is necessary for membrane recruitment by Dl. This suggests that either NHR1 is sufficient for membrane recruitment or that NHR1 must act together with one of the other conserved domains, such as NHR2, to mediate Dl-dependent membrane localization. To address this, we constructed a V5-tagged version of the Neur NHR1 domain (NeurNHR1). NeurNHR1 exhibits both cytoplasmic and nuclear envelope localization in S2 cells (Figure 7, EE''). Interestingly, cotransfection with Dl results in NeurNHR1 membrane recruitment (Figure 7, CC'', arrow), demonstrating that NHR1 is sufficient for Dl-mediated plasma membrane localization in S2 cells. The NeurNHR1 construct includes both N-terminal (residues 927) and C-terminal (residues 176195) flanking residues (residue positions are in reference to NeurPC). These flanking residues are unlikely to play a role in plasma membrane recruitment for the following reasons. C-terminal flanking residues 176195 are present in Neur
NHR1, which exhibits cytoplasmic localization; therefore, they are not sufficient for membrane recruitment. In the case of the N-terminal flanking residues, a construct lacking the last conserved residue of the NHR1 domain, F175 (NeurNHR1
F175), but including residues 927 (Figure 7A), is not recruited to the plasma membrane by Dl (data not shown). Taken together, our data demonstrate that the NHR1 domain plays a crucial role in NeurPC plasma membrane recruitment by Dl and suggests that NHR1 may be mediating a proteinprotein interaction between Neur and Dl.
The NHR1 Domain of Neur Is Necessary and Sufficient for Dl Binding
If Dl binding is mediated by the Neur NHR1 domain, then NHR1 would be expected to be both necessary and sufficient for the interaction to take place. Other groups have shown that partial deletion of NHR1 results in reduced Delta binding (Lai et al., 2001
). However, it is unclear from these experiments whether NHR1 is sufficient for complex formation or whether it acts in tandem with NHR2 to mediate proteinprotein interactions with Dl. To address this, we used similar coimmunoprecipitation approaches as described earlier using V5-NeurNHR1, V5-Neur
NHR1, or V5-NeurNHR1-G167E, a V5-tagged version of the NHR1 domain exhibiting the point mutation present in the neur1 allele. S2 cells were cotransfected with one of the V5-tagged Neur proteins and myc-tagged Dl. As before, Dl is present as both DlFL and DlICD in all cases (Figure 8A, top blot, lanes 14). The immunoprecipitated Neur truncated proteins have molecular weights similar to the heavy and light chains of the antibody used (Figure 8B, bottom blot, lanes 24), but the input blot demonstrates that they are expressed at comparable levels (Figure 8A, middle blot, lanes 24). DlFL and DlICD are coimmunoprecipitated in the presence of V5-NeurNHR1 (Figure 8B, top blot, lane 2) showing that the NHR1 domain is sufficient for binding to Dl. Dl is not coimmunoprecipitated in the presence of the NHR1 mutant V5-NeurNHR1-G167E (Figure 8B, top blot, lane 3) or when NHR1 is deleted (Figure 8B, top blot, lane 4). Taken together, this data shows that the G167E mutation disrupts the interaction between NHR1 and Dl and that the Neur NHR1 domain is both necessary and sufficient for Dl binding.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Our analysis includes the identification of a novel Neur isoform in Drosophila. The two Neur isoforms, termed NeurPC and NeurPA, are a result of two transcripts that differ only in their first exons, suggesting they may be a result of developmentally regulated promoters. Northern analysis indicates that both transcripts are expressed at embryonic, larval and adult stages of development and both transcripts are expressed in S2 cells. At the protein level, NeurPC is essentially an N-terminal truncation of NeurPA, which exhibits a unique 90 amino acid N-terminus. The unique N-terminus of NeurPA includes a glutamine/histidine-rich region and a lysine/arginine-rich region, which may play a role in plasma membrane localization of NeurPA in S2 cells. These putative plasma membraneconferring regions are absent in NeurPC and as a result, NeurPC is a cytoplasmic protein in S2 cells. Interestingly, NeurPC is recruited to the plasma membrane in S2 cells by Dl and exhibits plasma membrane localization in vivo; however, the functional relevance of this is unclear. Consistent with our analysis, membrane recruitment of NeurPC, both in vivo and in S2 cells, is defective when the G167E mutation is present (data not shown). The role of the NeurPA N-terminus in vivo and the different functions, if any, of the isoforms is an area of further analysis.
We have shown that the well-characterized neur1 allele exhibits a mutation in NHR1, altering Gly167 to a Glu. The glycine residue affected is conserved in Neur homologues and NHR domains from unrelated proteins. This conservation suggests that this residue is important to NHR function and/or structure. The G167E mutation could be altering NHR domain folding and resulting in a nonfunctional domain. Alternatively, the mutation could be altering the ability of the NHR domain to form proteinprotein interactions with certain targets. We have demonstrated that the G167E mutation abolishes binding to Dl. Consistent with this, an NHR1 domain with the G167E mutation is no longer recruited to the membrane in S2 cells (data not shown). Interestingly, although interactions with Dl are disrupted, the NeurG167E protein is still able to localize to Hrs-positive endosomes. Because NeurG167E still contains a wild-type NHR2 domain, it remains possible that endosomal recruitment occurs via NHR2. However, our data show that Neur
NHR1, a protein that includes NHR2, exhibits diffuse cytoplasmic localization, unlike the punctate endosomal localization of NeurG167E. This suggests that the G167E mutation in NHR1 may cause Neur to maintain some proteinprotein interactions at the expense of other interactions, such as Dl. As a result, Dl is not internalized normally and N signaling is affected.
Recently, other Neur-binding proteins have been identified. In addition to Dl, Neur has also been shown to bind to and regulate endocytosis of Ser, another N ligand (Pitsouli and Delidakis, 2005
). Although the Neur RING domain is not required for Ser binding, it is unclear whether or not either of the NHR domains is involved. In the embryo, neur activity is thought to be regulated by Bearded-related proteins such as twin of m4 (Tom; Bardin and Schweisguth, 2006
; De Renzis et al., 2006
; reviewed in Chitnis, 2006b
). Tom was originally identified as a Neur-binding protein in a global yeast two-hybrid interaction analysis (Giot et al., 2003
) and acts to antagonize Neur function in the embryo (De Renzis et al., 2006
). Both Dl and Tom have been found to coimmunoprecipitate with Neur, and Tom inhibits binding between Dl and Neur (Lai et al., 2001
; Bardin and Schweisguth, 2006
). Interestingly, the NHR1 domain of Neur was found to be required for binding to Tom (Bardin and Schweisguth, 2006
). Taken together with our analysis, this suggests that the NHR1 domain may have a role in regulating Neur activity by serving as a competitive binding site for both Dl and Tom. What remains to be elucidated is whether or not these interactions are direct. In the case of Tom, yeast two-hybrid analysis suggests that its interaction with Neur is direct (Bardin and Schweisguth, 2006
). However, similar experiments with Dl, either full-length or its intracellular domain, fail to show a positive yeast two-hybrid result with Neur (C. Commisso, unpublished results). This suggests that the interaction between Neur and Dl may be indirect or that it requires a post-translational modification that does not take place in yeast.
Mind bomb (Mib) is a second RING domain-containing ubiquitin ligase that targets N ligands for internalization (Itoh et al., 2003
; Lai et al., 2005
; Le Borgne et al., 2005b
; Pitsouli and Delidakis, 2005
; Wang and Struhl, 2005
). Neur and Mib can functionally replace each other, suggesting they have similar roles in N signaling (Lai et al., 2005
; Le Borgne et al., 2005b
; Wang and Struhl, 2005
). Like Neur, Mib exhibits a unique repeated sequence in its N-terminus termed the Mib repeat that is required for Dl binding (Itoh et al., 2003
; Lai et al., 2005
). The Mib repeats and Neur NHR domains both seem to be important in binding to Delta and thereby serve a similar function. However, Mib repeats have very low homology to NHR domains. This is intriguing considering the functional homology between the two proteins.
Previous studies have established that nonautonomous N ligand endocytosis is required to activate N in signal-receiving cells. In addition to Neur, recent studies have also implicated the endocytic protein Epsin in N ligand endocytosis and signaling (Overstreet et al., 2004
; Wang and Struhl, 2004
, 2005
) as well as Rab11-positive recycling endosomes (Emery et al., 2005
; Jafar-Nejad et al., 2005
). We did not observe colocalization between Neur and Rab11; however, some Neur-containing vesicles are Hrs-positive, a marker of the sorting endosome. Whether Neur plays a role in Dl trafficking after endocytosis is unclear; however, because Dl and NeurG167E are present in the same vesicular compartment and Dl binding is abolished, any postendocytic regulation of Dl trafficking involving Neur would likely be NHR1-dependent.
In addition to Neur, several other proteins have been shown to have NHR domains. For example, OzzE3 (the mammalian homologue of Drosophila CG3894-PA) exhibits at least two partial NHR domains and is a SOCS-boxcontaining E3 ubiquitin ligase that regulates
-catenin degradation during muscle development (Nastasi et al., 2004
). Drosophila bluestreak (also known as CG6451) is conserved in vertebrates and encodes a protein with at least six NHR domains that is involved in oskar mRNA localization during egg development (Ruden et al., 2000
). Another NHR-domaincontaining protein known as LINCR is involved in the lung response to inflammation (Smith et al., 2002
; Smith and Herschman, 2004
; Hu et al., 2005
). Although other NHR domains have not been studied in detail, our analysis suggests that they too may be important in mediating proteinprotein interactions for ubiquitination targets.
By analyzing and understanding the function of NHR domains in Neur we gain insight into the relationship between Dl trafficking and N signaling. Moreover, because NHR domains are present in other proteins that play integral and diverse roles in development, we can also further understand mechanisms behind general signal transduction.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| Footnotes |
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This article was published online ahead of print in MBC in Press (http://www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1091/mbc.E06-08-0753 on October 25, 2006.
Address correspondence to: Gabrielle L. Boulianne (gboul{at}sickkids.ca)
Abbreviations used: da, daughterless; Dl, Delta; Hrs, hepatocyte responsive serum phosphoprotein; N, Notch; Neur, Neuralized; NHR, Neuralized homology repeat; RING, really interesting new gene; S2, Schneider; sca, scabrous; Ser, Serrate.
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