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A Colman

Publications and source records attributed to A Colman.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Trimer formation determines the rate of influenza virus haemagglutinin transport in the early stages of secretion in Xenopus oocytes.

We have previously shown that influenza haemagglutinin (HA) acquires Endo H resistance en route to the cell surface after microinjection of its mRNA into Xenopus oocytes (Ceriotti, A. and A. Colman. 1989. J. Cell Biol. 109:1439-1444.) In this paper we use the injection of varying amounts of mRNA (0.05-5 ng/oocyte) to effect a 30-fold change in HA protein synthesis within the oocyte. Using the Endo H assay as an indicator of protein movement from the ER to the medial Golgi we find that this movement is reduced, sometimes dramatically, when intracellular HA levels fall. This reduction in movement is closely correlated with a decreased rate of trimer formation as assessed both by trypsin resistance and sedimentation analysis, leading us to conclude that trimer formation is not only, as has been shown before essential for ER-Golgi complex movement, but is the major rate limiting step in this movement. Interestingly at least 50% of unassembled HA monomers that accumulate after low HA synthesis can be rescued into trimers over 24 h later, after a second injection of concentrated HA mRNA. In contrast when we repeated this experiment with another membrane protein, the human low density lipoprotein, or with murine secretory immunoglobulin we found that the rate of movement was insensitive to the protein concentration. This latter result seemed surprising since earlier work had shown that unassembled IgG heavy chains (like monomeric HA) remain in the oocyte ER; however in these present experiments we have been unable to detect any unassembled heavy chains even at the lowest expression levels, indicating that tetramerization of Ig is much faster than trimerization of HA.

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Recombinant proricin binds galactose but does not depurinate 28 S ribosomal RNA.

Preproricin transcripts microinjected into Xenopus oocytes were expressed and the product was segregated by the oocyte endoplasmic reticulum and core glycosylated. Recombinant proricin was soluble, stabilised by intramolecular disulfide bonds and biologically active in that it could bind to immobilized lactose (selectin 2) or immobilized asialofetuin. Affinity-purified proricin did not catalyse the depurination of 28 S ribosomal RNA unless it was reduced, when slight but significant activity was observed. Gel filtration of the reduced proricin fraction showed that this depurination activity was not associated with proricin. The activity was apparently due to ricin A chain released by reduction from mature ricin which was, in turn, generated from proricin, presumably via endogenous oocyte endoprotease activity.

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Developmental expression of the protein product of Vg1, a localized maternal mRNA in the frog Xenopus laevis.

Vg1 is a maternal mRNA localized in the vegetal cortex of Xenopus laevis oocytes, that encodes a protein homologous to the mammalian growth factor TGF-beta. Using a polyclonal antibody to a T7-Vg1 fusion protein, we have identified the native protein. We find that a single protein of Mr 40 kd is immunoprecipitated following in vitro translation of oocyte poly(A)+ RNA, whilst two proteins of Mr 45 and 43.5 kd are immunoprecipitated from oocyte and embryo extracts. Synthesis of at least the 40 kd, in vitro, and 45 kd, in vivo, proteins is specifically inhibited following treatment of the respective systems with antisense Vg1 (but not histone H4) oligodeoxynucleotides. Tunicamycin treatment reveals the in vivo proteins to be glycosylated versions of a 40 kd protein, modified by the addition of either two or three N-linked oligosaccharide side chains. Both proteins are sensitive to digestion by the enzyme endoglycosidase-H, and are segregated within a membrane fraction from which they can be released by high pH treatment. Their synthesis is first detectable in stage IV oocytes and continues throughout early embryogenesis until the late gastrula. During embryogenesis the relative proportions of the two proteins change, the 45 kd protein being predominant in early embryogenesis and the 43.5 kd protein in late embryogenesis. Synthesis only occurs in the vegetal hemisphere at all stages; however, in the large oocyte diffusion of both proteins into the animal hemisphere occurs.

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Protein transport from endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex can occur during meiotic metaphase in Xenopus oocytes.

We have previously shown that Xenopus oocytes arrested at second meiotic metaphase lost their characteristic multicisternal Golgi apparati and cannot secrete proteins into the surrounding medium. In this paper, we extend these studies to ask whether intracellular transport events affecting the movement of secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus are also similarly inhibited in such oocytes. Using the acquisition of resistance to endoglycosidase H (endo H) as an assay for movement to the Golgi, we find that within 6 h, up to 66% of the influenza virus membrane protein, hemagglutinin (HA), synthesized from injected synthetic RNA, can move to the Golgi apparati in nonmatured oocytes; indeed after longer periods some correctly folded HA can be detected at the cell surface where it distributes in a nonpolarized fashion. In matured oocytes, up to 49% of the HA becomes endo H resistant in the same 6-h period. We conclude that movement from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi can occur in matured oocytes despite the dramatic fragmentation of the Golgi apparati that we observe to occur on maturation. This observation of residual protein movement during meiotic metaphase contrasts with the situation at mitotic metabphase in cultured mammalian cells where all movement ceases, but resembles that in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae where transport is unaffected.

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The role of cyclin synthesis, modification and destruction in the control of cell division.

This paper reviews our current knowledge of the cyclins based on observations of the oocytes and eggs of sea urchins, clams and frogs. Cyclins are proteins found in all eukaryotes whose special property is rapid destruction at specific stages in the cell cycle. The cyclins fall into three families. A-type cyclins have been found in clams, flies and frogs. B-type cyclins have been found in clams, flies, frogs, sea urchins and fission yeast. A more distantly related family of three genes is found in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. B-type cyclins appear to be required for cells to enter mitosis, and their destruction is thought to be necessary for exit from mitosis. We describe evidence in support of these ideas, and describe various conditions under which cyclin destruction is delayed or deranged. We conclude with a discussion of the relationship between the cyclins and maturation- (or M phase-) promoting factor and some ideas on how the cyclins may work.

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Antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide-directed cleavage of maternal mRNA in Xenopus oocytes and embryos.

We have investigated the effect of specific antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (oligos) on endogenous histone H4 mRNA in Xenopus oocytes, eggs and embryos. In unfertilised eggs and non-matured oocytes, one 20-mer oligo (H4-1) mediated the RNAse H-like cleavage of up to 95% of H4 mRNA (which included polysomal mRNA), and cleavage was still obtained when the size of the oligo was reduced to a 10-mer; no cleavage was observed with 6- and 8-mers. The residual uncleaved mRNA appeared to be completely inaccessible to H4-1 since a second injection caused no further cleavage. A second 20-mer (H4-2) directed against a different region of H4 mRNA was much less effective (less than 5% cleavage). In fertilised embryos, injections of H4-1 and an oligo directed against the localised Vg1 mRNA caused less cleavage than in oocytes and also showed signs of inducing localised, non-specific mRNA cleavage. However we have been able to prepare fertilised embryos devoid of Vg1 mRNA by maturing and fertilising oligo-injected oocytes in vitro.

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Antisense oligonucleotide-directed cleavage of mRNA in Xenopus oocytes and eggs.

We have investigated the effect of specific antisense oligonucleotides on both exogenous and endogenous mRNAs in Xenopus oocytes and eggs. Injection of 19- or 20-mers complementary to 70-kd heat shock protein, histone H4 and vegetally localized Veg 1 coding sequences causes rapid cleavage and degradation of up to 96% of the target transcripts present in stage VI oocytes. Nuclear and cytoplasmic transcripts appear to be equally accessible to cytoplasmically injected oligonucleotide and efficient cleavage also occurs in mature oocytes and unfertilized eggs. The residual intact mRNA appears to be completely inaccessible, resisting cleavage by further addition of oligonucleotide. We confirm that antisense oligonucleotides appear to act specifically in vivo, as previously reported in vitro, by directing RNase H cleavage and destabilization of their complementary mRNA.

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Binding to membrane proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum cannot explain the retention of the glucose-regulated protein GRP78 in Xenopus oocytes.

We have studied the compartmentation and movement of the rat 78-kd glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) and other secretory and membrane proteins in Xenopus oocytes. Full length GRP78, normally found in the lumen of rat endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is localized to a membraneous compartment in oocytes and is not secreted. A truncated GRP78 lacking the C-terminal (KDEL) ER retention signal is secreted, although at a slow rate. When the synthesis of radioactive GRP78 is confined to a polar (animal or vegetal) region of the oocyte and the subsequent movement across the oocyte monitored, we find that both full-length and truncated GRP78 move at similar rates and only slightly slower than a secretory protein, chick ovalbumin. In contrast, a plasma membrane protein (influenza haemagglutinin) and two ER membrane proteins (rotavirus VP10 and a mutant haemagglutinin) remained confined to their site of synthesis. We conclude that the retention of GRP78 in the ER is not due to its tight binding to a membrane-bound receptor.

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Effect of anti-ER antibodies within the ER lumen of living cells.

We describe the production and partial characterization of 12 monoclonal antibodies raised against a preparation of endoplasmic reticulum membranes obtained from Xenopus laevis liver. Four of the antibodies cross-react with liver melanocytes; two of the antibodies recognize extracellular antigens, whilst the remaining six recognize antigens present in hepatocytes. The concentrations of these latter antigens increase markedly in livers stimulated by estrogen. Western blotting analysis revealed that the six anti-hepatocyte monoclonal antibodies recognize at least five different antigens whose molecular weights are 14K, 18K, 19K, 43K, and 125K. The possible functional involvement of the various antigens in the secretory pathway was investigated using Xenopus oocytes as a surrogate secretory system. The mRNAs coding for the monoclonal antibodies were injected into oocytes and the resulting immunoglobulin chains were translated and assembled into active anti-ER antibodies inside the lumen of the ER. The effect on secretion was then observed. Our data indicate that the binding of antibodies to most antigens of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane may result in a blockage of secretion.

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Mott cells: a model to study immunoglobulin secretion.

Mott cells are plasma cells defective in immunoglobulin (Ig) secretion. They display this defect by accumulating Ig in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, detectable by Ig+ intracellular inclusion. We have previously produced hybridoma cell lines (Alanen, A. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 1985. 15: 235) in which this phenotype is preserved, and shown the inability of these cells to secrete the Ig. In order to study this defect further, we fused these hybridoma cells with a kappa-secreting hybridoma cell line, Sp1, and, using double selection with hypoxanthine, aminopterin, thymidine and ouabain, obtained hybrid cell lines expressing various combinations of the three Ig chains involved (Mott gamma 1, Mott kappa and Sp1 kappa chains). We studied the presence of Ig+ inclusions in these cells as well as Ig secretion by metabolic labeling and immunoprecipitation. All inclusion-positive clones expressed both Mott heavy and Mott light chains with or without the Sp1 light chain, whereas none of the inclusion-negative clones produced both Mott-derived Ig chains. In all of the clones, even those with inclusions, the Ig secretion was at least partially rescued by the fusion. This occurred also in an inclusion-positive clone which maintained the original Ig status of the Mott without Sp1 kappa chain, indicating a complementation by the cell fusion of some cellular factor involved in Ig secretion. Furthermore, we injected Xenopus oocytes with mRNA isolated from three different original Mott cell hybridomas and could show secretion of the Ig, which is not secreted from the original Mott cells, from the oocytes.

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Expression of coronavirus E1 and rotavirus VP10 membrane proteins from synthetic RNA.

Some viruses acquire their envelopes by budding through internal membranes of their host cell. We have expressed the cloned cDNA for glycoproteins from two such viruses, the E1 protein of coronavirus, which buds in the Golgi region, and VP10 protein of rotavirus, which assembles in the endoplasmic reticulum. Messenger RNA was prepared from both cDNAs by using SP6 polymerase and either translated in vitro or injected into cultured CV1 cells or Xenopus oocytes. In CV1 cells, the E1 protein was localised to the Golgi region and VP10 protein to the endoplasmic reticulum. In Xenopus oocytes, the E1 protein acquired post-translational modifications indistinguishable from the sialylated, O-linked sugars found on viral protein, while the VP10 protein acquired endoglycosidase-H-sensitive N-linked sugars, consistent with their localisation to the Golgi complex and endoplasmic reticulum, respectively. Thus the two proteins provide models with which to study targeting to each of these intracellular compartments. When the RNAs were expressed in matured, meiotic oocytes, the VP10 protein was modified as before, but the E1 protein was processed to a much lesser extent than in interphase oocytes, consistent with a cessation of vesicular transport during cell division.

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Transcript levels and translational control of hsp70 synthesis in Xenopus oocytes.

Until recently it was believed that Xenopus oocytes respond to heat shock by synthesizing the 70-kD heat shock protein hsp70 and that, uniquely amongst animal cell types, this response is mediated entirely at the translational level. This view has now been challenged and we present data that reevaluate the involvement of translational control in the heat shock response of Xenopus oocytes. RNase mapping shows that up to 13 pg of hsp70A and hsp70B mRNA are accumulated by fully grown oocytes in the absence of heat shock. These transcripts are retained stably during maturation, fertilization, early cleavage, and following heat shock. However, no hsp70 protein synthesis can be detected by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel analysis of [35S]methionine-labeled proteins from completely defolliculated oocytes, either before or during heat shock. Oocytes injected with hsp70A DNA rapidly accumulate high levels of hsp70 mRNA in their cytoplasm at normal temperature. During heat shock these oocytes accumulate more transcripts, but they remain in the nucleus and cytoplasmic levels remain constant. Translation of hsp70 from these transcripts is readily detectable at non-heat shock and heat shock temperatures. We conclude that (1) "exogenous" hsp70 transcripts are efficiently translated and not masked at normal temperatures in oocytes, and (2) oocytes are able to selectively translate hsp70 mRNA during heat shock.

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Secretion of endogenous and exogenous proteins from polarized MDCK cell monolayers.

Confluent monolayers of MDCK (Madin-Darby canine kidney) cells provide a widely used system to study the biogenesis of epithelial cell polarity. We now report that these cells are also capable of the vectorial constitutive secretion of a major endogenous product, a glycoprotein of 81 kDa, which is released into the medium from the apical surface within 30 min of its synthesis. This release represents a bona fide exocytotic secretory process and is not the result of proteolytic cleavage of a plasma membrane-associated precursor since, in cells treated with chloroquine, a protein indistinguishable from the mature secretory product accumulated intracellularly. In contrast to the vectorial secretion of the endogenous product, a variety of exogenous exocrine and endocrine proteins synthesized in MDCK cells transfected with the corresponding genes were secreted from both the apical and basolateral surfaces. These included proteins such as rat growth hormone, chicken oviduct lysozyme, bovine gastric prochymosin, and rat salivary gland alpha 2u-globulin, which in their cells of origin are secreted via a regulated pathway, as well as the liver form of the alpha 2u-globulin and the immunoglobulin kappa chain, which are normally released constitutively. These results demonstrate the existence of secretory pathways that lead to both surfaces of MDCK cells and are accessible to the foreign secretory products. They are consistent with the operation of a sorting mechanism in which the polarized secretion of the endogenous product is effected through the recognition of signals that prevent its random distribution within the fluid phase in the cellular endomembrane system.

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The effect of capping and polyadenylation on the stability, movement and translation of synthetic messenger RNAs in Xenopus oocytes.

Synthetic RNAs coding for chicken lysozyme, calf preprochymosin and Xenopus globin were transcribed in vitro using Sp6 RNA polymerase. The effects of capping and adding a poly(A) tail on the stability, movement and translation of these RNAs in Xenopus oocytes was examined. Capping and polyadenylation increased stability of the transcripts, with at least 40% remaining intact 48 h after injection into oocytes. Capped poly(A)- transcripts moved more rapidly in oocytes than either capped poly(A)+ transcripts or naturally occurring mRNAs. The translational efficiency of most of the synthetic RNAs in oocytes increased with both capping and polyadenylation. The exception was one Xenopus globin transcript which had an unusual 3' end of 20As and 30Cs, where further polyadenylation decreased translational efficiency. Polyadenylation was essential for detectable expression of the synthetic RNAs in cultured cells, but decreased translation of the synthetic RNAs in vitro.

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Identification of the sequence responsible for the nuclear accumulation of the influenza virus nucleoprotein in Xenopus oocytes.

Influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP), synthesized in Xenopus oocytes after injection of cloned NP cDNA, enters and accumulates in the nucleus. We have used in vitro mutagenesis of this cDNA to study the cellular distribution of mutated NP polypeptides. Mutants lacking amino acids 327-345 of wild-type NP enter the nucleus but do not accumulate there to the same extent as the wild-type protein, suggesting that this region has a role in nuclear accumulation. This possibility is further strengthened by similar studies involving the production of fusion proteins in which various amino-terminal sequences of the NP gene are fused to the complete chimpanzee alpha 1-globin sequence: when globin cDNA was injected into and expressed in oocytes the protein remains exclusively in the cytosol; however, when the globin cDNA is fused to a portion of NP cDNA that includes the region encoding amino acids 327-345, the resulting fusion protein enters and accumulates in the nucleus. Fusion proteins lacking this region of the NP enter but do not accumulate in the nucleus.

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