Divergent polarization mechanisms during vertebrate epithelial development mediated by the Crumbs complex protein Nagie oko

Development of the brain ventricular system from a comparative perspective

The brain ventricular system (BVS) consists of brain ventricles and channels filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Disturbance of CSF flow has been linked to scoliosis and neurodegenerative diseases, including hydrocephalus. This could be due to defects of CSF production by the choroid plexus or impaired CSF movement over the ependyma dependent on motile cilia. Most vertebrates have horizontal body posture. They retain additional evolutionary innovations assisting CSF flow, such as the Reissner fiber. The causes of hydrocephalus have been studied using animal models including rodents (mice, rats, hamsters) and zebrafish. However, the horizontal body posture reduces the effect of gravity on CSF flow, which limits the use of mammalian models for scoliosis. In contrast, fish swim against the current and experience a forward-to-backward mechanical force akin to that caused by gravity in humans. This explains the increased popularity of the zebrafish model for studies of scoliosis. "Slit-ventricle" syndrome is another side of the spectrum of BVS anomalies. It develops because of insufficient inflation of the BVS. Recent advances in zebrafish functional genetics have revealed genes that could regulate the development of the BVS and CSF circulation. This review will describe the BVS of zebrafish, a typical teleost, and vertebrates in general, in comparative perspective. It will illustrate the usefulness of the zebrafish model for developmental studies of the choroid plexus (CP), CSF flow and the BVS.

Identification and characterization of Crumbs polarity complex proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans

Crumbs proteins are evolutionarily conserved transmembrane proteins with essential roles in promoting the formation of the apical domain in epithelial cells. The short intracellular tail of Crumbs proteins are known to interact with several proteins, including the scaffolding protein PALS1 (protein associated with LIN7, Stardust in Drosophila). PALS1 in turn binds to a second scaffolding protein PATJ (PALS1-associated tight junction protein) to form the core Crumbs/PALS1/PATJ complex. While essential roles in epithelial organization have been shown for Crumbs proteins in Drosophila and mammalian systems, the three Caenorhabditis elegans crumbs genes are dispensable for epithelial polarization and development. Here, we investigated the presence and function of PALS1 and PATJ orthologs in C. elegans. We identified MAGU-2 as the C. elegans ortholog of PALS1 and show that MAGU-2 interacts with all three Crumbs proteins and localizes to the apical membrane domain of intestinal epithelial cells in a Crumbs-dependent fashion. Similar to crumbs mutants, magu-2 deletion showed no epithelial polarity defects. We also identified MPZ-1 as a candidate ortholog of PATJ based on the physical interaction with MAGU-2 and sequence similarity with PATJ proteins. However, MPZ-1 is not broadly expressed in epithelial tissues and, therefore, not likely a core component of the C. elegans Crumbs complex. Finally, we show overexpression of the Crumbs proteins EAT-20 or CRB-3 can lead to apical membrane expansion in the intestine. Our results shed light on the composition of the C. elegans Crumbs complex and indicate that the role of Crumbs proteins in promoting apical domain formation is conserved.

Development of brain ventricular system

The brain ventricular system (BVS) consists of brain ventricles and channels connecting ventricles filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The disturbance of CSF flow has been linked to neurodegenerative disease including hydrocephalus, which manifests itself as an abnormal expansion of BVS. This relatively common developmental disorder has been observed in human and domesticated animals and linked to functional deficiency of various cells lineages facing BVS, including the choroid plexus or ependymal cells that generate CSF or the ciliated cells that cilia beating generates CSF flow. To understand the underlying causes of hydrocephalus, several animal models were developed, including rodents (mice, rat, and hamster) and zebrafish. At another side of a spectrum of BVS anomalies there is the "slit-ventricle" syndrome, which develops due to insufficient inflation of BVS. Recent advances in functional genetics of zebrafish brought to light novel genetic elements involved in development of BVS and circulation of CSF. This review aims to reveal common elements of morphologically different BVS of zebrafish as a typical representative of teleosts and other vertebrates and illustrate useful features of the zebrafish model for studies of BVS. Along this line, recent analyses of the two novel zebrafish mutants affecting different subunits of the potassium voltage-gated channels allowed to emphasize an important functional convergence of the evolutionarily conserved elements of protein transport essential for BVS development, which were revealed by the zebrafish and mouse studies.

Domain-specific functions of Stardust in Drosophila embryonic development

In Drosophila, the adaptor protein Stardust is essential for the stabilization of the polarity determinant Crumbs in various epithelial tissues, including the embryonic epidermis, the follicular epithelium and photoreceptor cells of the compound eye. In turn, Stardust recruits another adaptor protein, PATJ, to the subapical region to support adherens junction formation and morphogenetic events. Moreover, Stardust binds to Lin-7, which is dispensable in epithelial cells but functions in postsynaptic vesicle fusion. Finally, Stardust has been reported to bind directly to PAR-6, thereby linking the Crumbs-Stardust-PATJ complex to the PAR-6/aPKC complex. PAR-6 and aPKC are also capable of directly binding Bazooka (the Drosophila homologue of PAR-3) to form the PAR/aPKC complex, which is essential for apical-basal polarity and cell-cell contact formation in most epithelia. However, little is known about the physiological relevance of these interactions in the embryonic epidermis of Drosophila in vivo. Thus, we performed a structure-function analysis of the annotated domains with GFP-tagged Stardust and evaluated the localization and function of the mutant proteins in epithelial cells of the embryonic epidermis. The data presented here confirm a crucial role of the PDZ domain in binding Crumbs and recruiting the protein to the subapical region. However, the isolated PDZ domain is not capable of being recruited to the cortex, and the SH3 domain is essential to support the binding to Crumbs. Notably, the conserved N-terminal regions (ECR1 and ECR2) are not crucial for epithelial polarity. Finally, the GUK domain plays an important role for the protein's function, which is not directly linked to Crumbs stabilization, and the L27N domain is essential for epithelial polarization independently of recruiting PATJ.

Coordinating cell and tissue behavior during zebrafish neural tube morphogenesis

The development of a vertebrate neural epithelium with well-organized apico-basal polarity and a central lumen is essential for its proper function. However, how this polarity is established during embryonic development and the potential influence of surrounding signals and tissues on such organization has remained less understood. In recent years the combined superior transparency and genetics of the zebrafish embryo has allowed for in vivo visualization and quantification of the cellular and molecular dynamics that govern neural tube structure. Here, we discuss recent studies revealing how co-ordinated cell-cell interactions coupled with adjacent tissue dynamics are critical to regulate final neural tissue architecture. Furthermore, new findings show how the spatial regulation and timing of orientated cell division is key in defining precise lumen formation at the tissue midline. In addition, we compare zebrafish neurulation with that of amniotes and amphibians in an attempt to understand the conserved cellular mechanisms driving neurulation and resolve the apparent differences among animals. Zebrafish neurulation not only offers fundamental insights into early vertebrate brain development but also the opportunity to explore in vivo cell and tissue dynamics during complex three-dimensional animal morphogenesis.

Common and distinctive localization patterns of Crumbs polarity complex proteins in the mammalian eye

Crumbs polarity complex proteins are essential for cellular and tissue polarity, and for adhesion of epithelial cells. In epithelial tissues deletion of any of three core proteins disrupts localization of the other proteins, indicating structural and functional interdependence among core components. Despite previous studies of function and co-localization that illustrated the properties that these proteins share, it is not known whether an individual component of the complex plays a distinct role in a unique cellular and developmental context. In order to investigate this question, we primarily used confocal imaging to determine the expression and subcellular localization of the core Crumbs polarity complex proteins during ocular development. Here we show that in developing ocular tissues core Crumbs polarity complex proteins, Crb, Pals1 and Patj, generally appear in an overlapping pattern with some exceptions. All three core complex proteins localize to the apical junction of the retinal and lens epithelia. Pals1 is also localized in the Golgi of the retinal cells and Patj localizes to the nuclei of the apically located subset of progenitor cells. These findings suggest that core Crumbs polarity complex proteins exert common and independent functions depending on cellular context.

Tissue-specific function of Patj in regulating the Crumbs complex and epithelial polarity

Patj is described as a core component of the Crumbs complex. Along with the other components, Crumbs and Stardust, Patj has been proposed as essential for epithelial polarity. However, no proper in vivo genetic analysis of Patj function has been performed in any organism. We have generated the first null mutants for Drosophila Patj. These mutants are lethal. However, Patj is not required in all epithelia where the Crumbs complex is essential. Patj is dispensable for ectoderm polarity and embryonic development, whereas more severe defects are observed in the adult follicular epithelium, including mislocalisation of the Crumbs complex from the apical domain, as well as morphogenetic defects. These defects are similar to those observed with crumbs and stardust mutants, although weaker and less frequent. Also, gain-of-function of Crumbs and Patj mutation genetically suppress each other in follicular cells. We also show that the first PDZ domain of Patj associated with the Stardust-binding domain are sufficient to fully rescue both Drosophila viability and Crumbs localisation. We propose that the only crucial function of Patj hinges on the ability of its first two domains to positively regulate the Crumbs complex, defining a new developmental level of regulation of its dynamics.

Structural disorganization of pronephric glomerulus in zebrafish mpp5a/nagie oko mutant

BACKGROUND

The podocyte slit diaphragm (SD) is an essential component of the selective filtration barrier in the glomerulus. Several structural proteins required for formation and maintenance of SD have been identified; however, molecular mechanisms regulating these proteins are still limited.

RESULTS

Here, we demonstrate that MAGUK p55 subfamily member 5a (Mpp5a)/Nagie oko, a component of the Crb multi-protein complex, was colocalized with an SD-associated protein ZO-1 in the zebrafish pronephric glomerulus. To characterize the function of Mpp5a, zebrafish mpp5a(m520) mutant embryos, which are known to have defects in cardiac and neuronal morphogenesis, were analyzed. These mutants failed to merge the bilateral glomerular primordia and to form the glomerular capillary and mesangium, but the foot processes and SD showed normal appearance. The structural disorganization in the mpp5a(m520) mutant glomerulus was quite similar to that of a cardiac troponin T2a/tnnt2a/silent heart knockdown zebrafish, which exhibited circulatory failure due to lack of heart beating.

CONCLUSIONS

Mpp5a is not prerequisite to form podocyte slit diaphragm in the pronephric glomerular development in zebrafish. The structural disorganization of the pronephric glomerulus in the mpp5a(m520) mutant is likely to result from circulatory failure, rather than the anomaly of Mpp5a protein in the glomerulus.

Origin of animal epithelia: insights from the sponge genome

Epithelial tissues are a key metazoan cell type, providing a basic structural unit for the construction of diverse animal body plans. Historically, an epithelial grade of organization was considered to be restricted to the Eumetazoa, with the majority of cell layers described for Porifera lacking any of the conserved ultrastructural characteristics of epithelia. Now with the use of genomic information from the demosponge, Amphimedon queenslandica, we identify orthologs of bilaterian genes that determine epithelial cell polarity or encode components of specialized epithelial junctions and extracellular matrix structures. Amphimedon possesses orthologs of most bilaterian epithelial polarity and adherens junction genes but few or no tight junction, septate junction, or basal lamina genes. To place this information in an evolutionary context, we extended these analyses to the completed genomes of various fungi, the choanoflagellate, Monosiga brevicollis, the placozoan, Trichoplax adhaerens, and the cnidarian, Nematostella vectensis. The results indicate that the majority of "epithelial" genes originated in metazoan or eumetazoan lineages, with only two genes, Par-1 and Discs large, antedating the choanoflagellate-metazoan split. We further explored the mechanism of evolution for each of these genes by tracking the origin of constituent domains and domain combinations. In general, domain configurations found in contemporary bilaterians are inferred to have evolved early in metazoan evolution and are identical or similar to those present in representatives of modern cnidarians, placozoans, and demosponges.

Protein complexes that control renal epithelial polarity

Establishment of epithelial apicobasal polarity is crucial for proper kidney development and function. In recent years, there have been important advances in our understanding of the factors that mediate the initiation of apicobasal polarization. Key among these are the polarity complexes that are evolutionarily conserved from simple organisms to humans. Three of these complexes are discussed in this review: the Crumbs complex, the Par complex, and the Scribble complex. The apical Crumbs complex consists of three proteins, Crumbs, PALS1, and PATJ, whereas the apical Par complex consists of Par-3, Par-6, and atypical protein kinase C. The lateral Scribble complex consists of Scribble, discs large, and lethal giant larvae. These complexes modulate kinase and small G protein activity such that the apical and basolateral complexes signal antagonistically, leading to the segregation of the apical and basolateral membranes. The polarity complexes also serve as scaffolds to direct and retain proteins at the apical membrane, the basolateral membrane, or the intervening tight junction. There is plasticity in apicobasal polarity, and this is best seen in the processes of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and the converse mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition. These transitions are important in kidney disease as well as kidney development, and modulation of the polarity complexes are critical for these transitions.

Antagonistic functions of two stardust isoforms in Drosophila photoreceptor cells

Two Stardust isoforms are expressed in adult Drosophila photoreceptors, which associate with Crumbs and PATJ, but form distinct complexes. Sdt-H and Sdt-D have antagonistic functions on stalk membrane length and light-dependent retinal degeneration, suggesting a fine-tuned balance of different Crumbs complexes regulating photoreceptor homeostasis.

Membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs) are scaffolding proteins that organize supramolecular protein complexes, thereby partitioning the plasma membrane into spatially and functionally distinct subdomains. Their modular organization is ideally suited to organize protein complexes with cell type- or stage-specific composition, or both. Often more than one MAGUK isoform is expressed by one gene in the same cell, yet very little is known about their individual in vivo functions. Here, we show that two isoforms of Drosophila stardust, Sdt-H (formerly called Sdt-B2) and Sdt-D, which differ in their N terminus, are expressed in adult photoreceptors. Both isoforms associate with Crumbs and PATJ, constituents of the conserved Crumbs–Stardust complex. However, they form distinct complexes, localized at the stalk, a restricted region of the apical plasma membrane. Strikingly, Sdt-H and Sdt-D have antagonistic functions. While Sdt-H overexpression increases stalk membrane length and prevents light-dependent retinal degeneration, Sdt-D overexpression reduces stalk length and enhances light-dependent retinal degeneration. These results suggest that a fine-tuned balance of different Crumbs complexes regulates photoreceptor homeostasis.

Establishment of a neuroepithelial barrier by Claudin5a is essential for zebrafish brain ventricular lumen expansion

Lumen expansion driven by hydrostatic pressure occurs during many morphogenetic processes. Although it is well established that members of the Claudin family of transmembrane tight junction proteins determine paracellular tightness within epithelial/endothelial barrier systems, functional evidence for their role in the morphogenesis of lumenized organs has been scarce. Here, we identify Claudin5a as a core component of an early cerebral-ventricular barrier system that is required for ventricular lumen expansion in the zebrafish embryonic brain before the establishment of the embryonic blood-brain barrier. Loss of Claudin5a or expression of a tight junction-opening Claudin5a mutant reduces brain ventricular volume expansion without disrupting the polarized organization of the neuroepithelium. Perfusion experiments with the electron-dense small molecule lanthanum nitrate reveal that paracellular tightness of the cerebral-ventricular barrier decreases upon loss of Claudin5a. Genetic analyses show that the apical neuroepithelial localization of Claudin5a depends on epithelial cell polarity and provide evidence for concerted activities between Claudin5a and Na(+),K(+)-ATPase during luminal expansion of brain ventricles. These data establish an essential role of a barrier-forming Claudin in ventricular lumen expansion, thereby contributing to brain morphogenesis.

Neurogenesis

For more than a decade, the zebrafish has proven to be an excellent model organism to investigate the mechanisms of neurogenesis during development. The often cited advantages, namely external development, genetic, and optical accessibility, have permitted direct examination and experimental manipulations of neurogenesis during development. Recent studies have begun to investigate adult neurogenesis, taking advantage of its widespread occurrence in the mature zebrafish brain to investigate the mechanisms underlying neural stem cell maintenance and recruitment. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of the tools and techniques available to study neurogenesis in zebrafish both during development and in adulthood. As useful resources, we provide tables of available molecular markers, transgenic, and mutant lines. We further provide optimized protocols for studying neurogenesis in the adult zebrafish brain, including in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, in vivo lipofection and electroporation methods to deliver expression constructs, administration of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), and finally slice cultures. These currently available tools have put zebrafish on par with other model organisms used to investigate neurogenesis.

Restricted localization of ponli, a novel zebrafish MAGUK-family protein, to the inner segment interface areas between green, red, and blue cones

PURPOSE

The inner segments (IS) of the photoreceptors in vertebrates are enriched with polarity scaffold proteins, which maintain the integrity of many tissues by mediating cell-cell adhesion either directly or indirectly. The formation of photoreceptor mosaics may require differential adhesion among different types of photoreceptors. It is unknown whether any polarity proteins are selectively expressed in certain photoreceptors to mediate differential intercellular adhesion, which may be important for photoreceptor patterning. This study was undertaken to identify such polarity proteins.

METHODS

To identify novel MAGUK-family (membrane-associated guanylate kinase) proteins that are similar to Nagie oko (Nok), the authors performed BLAST searches of the zebrafish genome with the Nok amino acid sequence as the query. The coding sequence of one of the identified genes was obtained and verified through RT-PCR and RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends). Its protein expression patterns were examined by immunomicroscopy and Western blot analysis. Morpholino knockdown technology was used for loss-of-function analyses.

RESULTS

The authors cloned a novel nok homolog and designated it photoreceptor-layer-nok-like (ponli). Unlike Nok, which is expressed broadly, Ponli is only expressed at the interface areas between the IS of the green, red, and blue cones in differentiated zebrafish retina.

CONCLUSIONS

Ponli is the first identified polarity protein that is not expressed in all types of photoreceptors. Ponli's selective distribution stimulates future investigations on its functions for photoreceptor mosaic formation.

A novel genetic mechanism regulates dorsolateral hinge-point formation during zebrafish cranial neurulation

During neurulation, vertebrate embryos form a neural tube (NT), the rudiment of the central nervous system. In mammals and birds, a key step in cranial NT morphogenesis is dorsolateral hinge-point (DLHP) bending, which requires an apical actomyosin network. The mechanism of DLHP formation is poorly understood, although several essential genes have been identified, among them Zic2, which encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor. We found that DLHP formation in the zebrafish midbrain also requires actomyosin and Zic function. Given this conservation, we used the zebrafish to study how genes encoding Zic proteins regulate DLHP formation. We demonstrate that the ventral zic2a expression border predicts DLHP position. Using morpholino (MO) knockdown, we show zic2a and zic5 are required for apical F-actin and active myosin II localization and junction integrity. Furthermore, myosin II activity can function upstream of junction integrity during DLHP formation, and canonical Wnt signaling, an activator of zic gene transcription, is necessary for apical active myosin II localization, junction integrity and DLHP formation. We conclude that zic genes act downstream of Wnt signaling to control cytoskeletal organization, and possibly adhesion, during neurulation. This study identifies zic2a and zic5 as crucial players in the genetic network linking patterned gene expression to morphogenetic changes during neurulation, and strengthens the utility of the zebrafish midbrain as a NT morphogenesis model.

Regulation of neurocoel morphogenesis by Pard6 gamma b

The Par3/Par6/aPKC protein complex plays a key role in the establishment and maintenance of apicobasal polarity, a cellular characteristic essential for tissue and organ morphogenesis, differentiation and homeostasis. During a forward genetic screen for liver and pancreas mutants, we identified a pard6gammab mutant, representing the first known pard6 mutant in a vertebrate organism. pard6gammab mutants exhibit defects in epithelial tissue development as well as multiple lumens in the neural tube. Analyses of the cells lining the neural tube cavity, or neurocoel, in wildtype and pard6gammab mutant embryos show that lack of Pard6gammab function leads to defects in mitotic spindle orientation during neurulation. We also found that the PB1 (aPKC-binding) and CRIB (Cdc-42-binding) domains and the KPLG amino acid sequence within the PDZ domain (Pals1-and Crumbs binding) are not required for Pard6gammab localization but are essential for its function in neurocoel morphogenesis. Apical membranes are reduced, but not completely absent, in mutants lacking the zygotic, or both the maternal and zygotic, function of pard6gammab, leading us to examine the localization and function of the three additional zebrafish Pard6 proteins. We found that Pard6alpha, but not Pard6beta or Pard6gammaa, could partially rescue the pard6gammab(s441) mutant phenotypes. Altogether, these data indicate a previously unappreciated functional diversity and complexity within the vertebrate pard6 gene family.

Multiple domains of Stardust differentially mediate localisation of the Crumbs-Stardust complex during photoreceptor development in Drosophila

Drosophila Stardust (Sdt), a member of the MAGUK family of scaffolding proteins, is a constituent of the evolutionarily conserved Crumbs-Stardust (Crb-Sdt) complex that controls epithelial cell polarity in the embryo and morphogenesis of photoreceptor cells. Although apical localisation is a hallmark of the complex in all cell types and in all organisms analysed, only little is known about how individual components are targeted to the apical membrane. We have performed a structure-function analysis of Sdt by constructing transgenic flies that express altered forms of Sdt to determine the roles of individual domains for localisation and function in photoreceptor cells. The results corroborate the observation that the organisation of the Crb-Sdt complex is differentially regulated in pupal and adult photoreceptors. In pupal photoreceptors, only the PDZ domain of Sdt – the binding site of Crb – is required for apical targeting. In adult photoreceptors, by contrast, targeting of Sdt to the stalk membrane, a distinct compartment of the apical membrane between the rhabdomere and the zonula adherens, depends on several domains, and seems to be a two-step process. The N-terminus, including the two ECR domains and a divergent N-terminal L27 domain that binds the multi-PDZ domain protein PATJ in vitro, is necessary for targeting the protein to the apical pole of the cell. The PDZ-, the SH3- and the GUK-domains are required to restrict the protein to the stalk membrane. Drosophila PATJ or Drosophila Lin-7 are stabilised whenever a Sdt variant that contains the respective binding site is present, independently of where the variant is localised. By contrast, only full-length Sdt, confined to the stalk membrane, stabilises and localises Crb, although only in reduced amounts. The amount of Crumbs recruited to the stalk membrane correlates with its length. Our results highlight the importance of the different Sdt domains and point to a more intricate regulation of the Crb-Sdt complex in adult photoreceptor cells.