4.1N-Mediated Interactions and Functions in Nerve System and Cancer

Scaffolding protein 4.1N is a neuron-enriched 4.1 homologue. 4.1N contains three conserved domains, including the N-terminal 4.1-ezrin-radixin-moesin (FERM) domain, internal spectrin–actin–binding (SAB) domain, and C-terminal domain (CTD). Interspersed between the three domains are nonconserved domains, including U1, U2, and U3. The role of 4.1N was first reported in the nerve system. Then, extensive studies reported the role of 4.1N in cancers and other diseases. 4.1N performs numerous vital functions in signaling transduction by interacting, locating, supporting, and coordinating different partners and is involved in the molecular pathogenesis of various diseases. In this review, recent studies on the interactions between 4.1N and its contactors (including the α7AChr, IP3R1, GluR1/4, GluK1/2/3, mGluR8, KCC2, D2/3Rs, CASK, NuMA, PIKE, IP6K2, CAM 1/3, βII spectrin, flotillin-1, pp1, and 14-3-3) and the 4.1N-related biological functions in the nerve system and cancers are specifically and comprehensively discussed. This review provides critical detailed mechanistic insights into the role of 4.1N in disease relationships.

Activity of Adenylyl Cyclase Type 6 Is Suppressed by Direct Binding of the Cytoskeletal Protein 4.1G

The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathways mediated by trimeric G proteins have been extensively elucidated, but their associated regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. Parathyroid hormone (PTH)/PTH-related protein receptor (PTHR) is a GPCR coupled with Gs and Gq Gs activates adenylyl cyclases (ACs), which produces cAMP to regulate various cell fates. We previously showed that cell surface expression of PTHR was increased by its direct interaction with a subcortical cytoskeletal protein, 4.1G, whereas PTHR-mediated Gs/AC/cAMP signaling was suppressed by 4.1G through an unknown mechanism in human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells. In the present study, we found that AC type 6 (AC6), one of the major ACs activated downstream of PTHR, interacts with 4.1G in HEK293 cells, and the N-terminus of AC6 (AC6-N) directly and selectively binds to the 4.1/ezrin/radixin/moesin (FERM) domain of 4.1G (4.1G-FERM) in vitro. AC6-N was distributed at the plasma membrane, which was disturbed by knockdown of 4.1G. An AC6-N mutant, AC6-N-3A, in which three consecutive arginine residues are mutated to alanine residues, altered both binding to 4.1G-FERM and its plasma membrane distribution in vivo. Further, we overexpressed AC6-N to competitively inhibit the interaction of endogenous AC6 and 4.1G in cells. cAMP production induced by forskolin, an adenylyl cyclase activator, and PTH-(1-34) was enhanced by AC6-N expression and 4.1G-knockdown. In contrast, AC6-N-3A had no impact on forskolin- and PTH-(1-34)-induced cAMP productions. These data provide a novel regulatory mechanism that AC6 activity is suppressed by the direct binding of 4.1G to AC6-N, resulting in attenuation of PTHR-mediated Gs/AC6/cAMP signaling.

Fatty Acid Regulation of Voltage- and Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Function

Free fatty acids (FFA) are essential components of the cell, where they play a key role in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, and most particularly in cell membranes, where they are central actors in shaping the physicochemical properties of the lipid bilayer and the cellular adaptation to the environment. FFA are continuously being produced and degraded, and a feedback regulatory function has been attributed to their turnover. The massive increase observed under some pathological conditions, especially in brain, has been interpreted as a protective mechanism possibly operative on ion channels, which in some cases is of stimulatory nature and in other cases inhibitory. Here we discuss the correlation between the structure of FFA and their ability to modulate protein function, evaluating the influence of saturation/unsaturation, number of double bonds, and cis vs. trans isomerism. We further focus on the mechanisms of FFA modulation operating on voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channel function, contrasting the still conflicting evidence on direct vs. indirect mechanisms of action.

Linoleic acid derivative DCP-LA ameliorates stress-induced depression-related behavior by promoting cell surface 5-HT1A receptor translocation, stimulating serotonin release, and inactivating GSK-3β

Impairment of serotonergic neurotransmission is the major factor responsible for depression and glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) participates in serotonergic transmission-mediated signaling networks relevant to mental illnesses. In the forced-swim test to assess depression-like behavior, the immobility time for mice with restraint stress was significantly longer than that for nonstressed control mice. Postsynaptic cell surface localization of 5-HT1A receptor, but not 5-HT2A receptor, in the hypothalamus for mice with restraint stress was significantly reduced as compared with that for control mice, which highly correlated to prolonged immobility time, i.e., depression-like behavior. The linoleic acid derivative 8-[2-(2-pentyl-cyclopropylmethyl)-cyclopropyl]-octanoic acid (DCP-LA) restored restraint stress-induced reduction of cell surface 5-HT1A receptor and improved depression-like behavior in mice with restraint stress. Moreover, DCP-LA stimulated serotonin release from hypothalamic slices and cancelled restraint stress-induced reduction of GSK-3β phosphorylation at Ser9. Taken together, the results of the present study indicate that DCP-LA could ameliorate depression-like behavior by promoting translocation of 5-HT1A receptor to the plasma membrane on postsynaptic cells, stimulating serotonin release, and inactivating GSK-3β.

The Protein 4.1 family: hub proteins in animals for organizing membrane proteins

Proteins of the 4.1 family are characteristic of eumetazoan organisms. Invertebrates contain single 4.1 genes and the Drosophila model suggests that 4.1 is essential for animal life. Vertebrates have four paralogues, known as 4.1R, 4.1N, 4.1G and 4.1B, which are additionally duplicated in the ray-finned fish. Protein 4.1R was the first to be discovered: it is a major mammalian erythrocyte cytoskeletal protein, essential to the mechanochemical properties of red cell membranes because it promotes the interaction between spectrin and actin in the membrane cytoskeleton. 4.1R also binds certain phospholipids and is required for the stable cell surface accumulation of a number of erythrocyte transmembrane proteins that span multiple functional classes; these include cell adhesion molecules, transporters and a chemokine receptor. The vertebrate 4.1 proteins are expressed in most tissues, and they are required for the correct cell surface accumulation of a very wide variety of membrane proteins including G-Protein coupled receptors, voltage-gated and ligand-gated channels, as well as the classes identified in erythrocytes. Indeed, such large numbers of protein interactions have been mapped for mammalian 4.1 proteins, most especially 4.1R, that it appears that they can act as hubs for membrane protein organization. The range of critical interactions of 4.1 proteins is reflected in disease relationships that include hereditary anaemias, tumour suppression, control of heartbeat and nervous system function. The 4.1 proteins are defined by their domain structure: apart from the spectrin/actin-binding domain they have FERM and FERM-adjacent domains and a unique C-terminal domain. Both the FERM and C-terminal domains can bind transmembrane proteins, thus they have the potential to be cross-linkers for membrane proteins. The activity of the FERM domain is subject to multiple modes of regulation via binding of regulatory ligands, phosphorylation of the FERM associated domain and differential mRNA splicing. Finally, the spectrum of interactions of the 4.1 proteins overlaps with that of another membrane-cytoskeleton linker, ankyrin. Both ankyrin and 4.1 link to the actin cytoskeleton via spectrin, and we hypothesize that differential regulation of 4.1 proteins and ankyrins allows highly selective control of cell surface protein accumulation and, hence, function. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Reciprocal influences between cell cytoskeleton and membrane channels, receptors and transporters. Guest Editor: Jean Claude Hervé