A Database of Drosophila Genes & Genomes

FB2013_03, released May 7th, 2013
 

Reference Report

Reference
Citation Hung, R.J., Yazdani, U., Yoon, J., Wu, H., Yang, T., Gupta, N., Huang, Z., van Berkel, W.J., Terman, J.R. (2010). Mical links semaphorins to F-actin disassembly.  Nature 463(7282): 823--827. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID FBrf0214846
Publication Type Research paper
PubMed ID 20148037
PubMed Abstract How instructive cues present on the cell surface have their precise effects on the actin cytoskeleton is poorly understood. Semaphorins are one of the largest families of these instructive cues and are widely studied for their effects on cell movement, navigation, angiogenesis, immunology and cancer. Semaphorins/collapsins were characterized in part on the basis of their ability to drastically alter actin cytoskeletal dynamics in neuronal processes, but despite considerable progress in the identification of semaphorin receptors and their signalling pathways, the molecules linking them to the precise control of cytoskeletal elements remain unknown. Recently, highly unusual proteins of the Mical family of enzymes have been found to associate with the cytoplasmic portion of plexins, which are large cell-surface semaphorin receptors, and to mediate axon guidance, synaptogenesis, dendritic pruning and other cell morphological changes. Mical enzymes perform reduction-oxidation (redox) enzymatic reactions and also contain domains found in proteins that regulate cell morphology. However, nothing is known of the role of Mical or its redox activity in mediating morphological changes. Here we report that Mical directly links semaphorins and their plexin receptors to the precise control of actin filament (F-actin) dynamics. We found that Mical is both necessary and sufficient for semaphorin-plexin-mediated F-actin reorganization in vivo. Likewise, we purified Mical protein and found that it directly binds F-actin and disassembles both individual and bundled actin filaments. We also found that Mical utilizes its redox activity to alter F-actin dynamics in vivo and in vitro, indicating a previously unknown role for specific redox signalling events in actin cytoskeletal regulation. Mical therefore is a novel F-actin-disassembly factor that provides a molecular conduit through which actin reorganization-a hallmark of cell morphological changes including axon navigation-can be precisely achieved spatiotemporally in response to semaphorins.
DOI 10.1038/nature08724
Related Publication(s)
Supplementary material Full Experimental Procedures. [FBrf0216820]

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Language of Publication English
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Publication Type Journal
Abbreviation Nature
Title Nature
Publication Year 1869-
ISBN/ISSN 0028-0836
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