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F Solomon

Publications and source records attributed to F Solomon.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

A role for microtubule bundles in the morphogenesis of chicken erythrocytes.

The acquisition of cellular asymmetry is one of the post-mitotic events in development. The cells of the avian erythropoietic lineage acquire a simple invariant asymmetry as they mature. Erythrocytes develop in suspension from spherical through discoid to lentil-shaped (lentiform) cells, with a single rigorously specified microtubule bundle, the marginal band. We show here that developing erythrocytes can express highly asymmetric morphologies, including elongated cell bodies and long processes in response to two stimuli: mechanical manipulation (repeated washing) and exposure to cytochalasin D. These experiments suggest that erythrocytes pass through a developmental stage during which microtubules are able to exert elongating forces on the cell. That stage is one in which these cells normally change shape, from spherical to discoid. The results suggest that microtubules may both guide and drive the formation of the marginal band and the characteristic morphology of these cells.

Actins↗
PubMed1991

Inhibition of MAP2 expression affects both morphological and cell division phenotypes of neuronal differentiation.

Expression of the differentiated neuronal phenotype is typically manifest in several properties: distinct morphologies and organizations of the underlying cytoskeleton; appearance of specific macromolecules; and cessation of cell division. All of these properties are induced in undifferentiated embryonal carcinoma cells exposed to retinoic acid. We show here that the mRNA and protein for the microtubule component MAP2 is also induced by retinoic acid. Stable transfectants of undifferentiated cells, constitutively expressing MAP2 antisense RNA, show significantly reduced levels of MAP2 antisense RNA, show significantly reduced levels of MAP2 protein upon induction compared with controls. These cells do express other neuronal markers, but they do not undergo normal morphological differentiation nor do they withdraw from the cell cycle. The results suggest that MAP2 expression may be necessary for both neurite extension and cessation of cell division.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Association of ezrin isoforms with the neuronal cytoskeleton.

We are studying the changes in the organization of the cytoskeleton which accompany expression of differentiated neuronal morphology. Of particular interest is the elaboration of growth cones, the motile domains of the neuronal plasma membrane, and the cytoskeletal structures that underlie them. A candidate for a component of the growth cone cytoskeleton of cultured hippocampal neurons is the antigen recognized by the monoclonal antibody, 13H9 (Birgbauer and Solomon, J Cell Biol 109:1609-1620, 1989; Goslin et al., J Cell Biol 109:1621-1631, 1989). That antibody binds strongly to growth cones, but barely stains neurites. The characterization of the antigen, both biochemical and microscopic, suggests that it may interact with microfilaments and microtubules. We have established that 13H9 recognizes a subset of the isoforms of ezrin (unpublished results). Here, we describe the properties and localization of ezrin isoforms in differentiating neuronal cells, using two in vitro systems and developing spinal cord. In embryonal carcinoma cells, both the abundance of ezrin and the proportion of ezrin associated with the cytoskeletal fraction increase upon induction of neuronal differentiation with retinoic acid. In the neuronal cells within such cultures, the 13H9-positive forms of ezrin are enriched in the growth cone, while the bulk of ezrin identified by a polyclonal antibody shows no specific localization. In mouse DRG neurons, 13H9 staining is asymmetrically distributed along the edges of the complex growth cones of these cells. Staining of developing spinal cord in rat embryos also demonstrates that the 13H9-positive forms of ezrin do not colocalize with the majority of ezrin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1991

A codon change in beta-tubulin which drastically affects microtubule structure in Drosophila melanogaster fails to produce a significant phenotype in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The relative uniformity of microtubule ultrastructure in almost all eukaryotic cells is thought to be a consequence of the conserved elements of tubulin sequence. In support of this idea, a mutation in a beta-tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster, occurring at a highly conserved position, produces U-shaped microtubules, suggesting a defect in either nucleation or packing during assembly (M. T. Fuller, J. H. Caulton, J. A. Hutchens, T. C. Kaufman, and E. C. Raff, J. Cell Biol. 104:385-394, 1987, and J. E. Rudolph, M. Kimble, H. D. Hoyle, M. A. Subler, and E. C. Raff, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:2231-2242, 1987). Surprisingly, we find that introducing the same mutation into the sole beta-tubulin gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has virtually no consequences for microtubule structure or function in that organism.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Regulation of tubulin levels and microtubule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: consequences of altered tubulin gene copy number.

Microtubule organization in the cytoplasm is in part a function of the number and length of the assembled polymers. The intracellular concentration of tubulin could specify those parameters. Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains constructed with moderately decreased or increased copy numbers of tubulin genes provide an opportunity to study the cellular response to a steady-state change in tubulin concentration. We found no evidence of a mechanism for adjusting tubulin concentrations upward from a deficit, nor did we find a need for such a mechanism: cells with no more than 50% of the wild-type tubulin level were normal with respect to a series of microtubule-dependent properties. Strains with increased copies of both alpha- and beta-tubulin genes, or of alpha-tubulin genes alone, apparently did down regulate their tubulin levels. As a result, they contained greater than normal concentrations of tubulin but much less than predicted from the increase in gene number. Some of this down regulation occurred at the level of protein. These strains were also phenotypically normal. Cells could contain excess alpha-tubulin protein without detectable consequences, but perturbations resulting in excess beta-tubulin genes may have affected microtubule-dependent functions. All of the observed regulation of levels of tubulin can be explained as a response to toxicity associated with excess tubulin proteins, especially if beta-tubulin is much more toxic than alpha-tubulin.

DNA, Fungal↗
PubMed1990

Phenotypic consequences of tubulin overproduction in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: differences between alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin.

Overexpression of alpha- and beta-tubulin genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, separately or together, leads to accumulation of large excesses of each of the polypeptides and arrest of cell division. However, other consequences of overexpression of these genes differ in several ways. As shown previously (D. Burke, P. Gasdaska, and L. Hartwell, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:1049-1059, 1989), overexpression of beta-tubulin leads, at early times, to loss of microtubule structures and loss of viability. Eventually, the excess beta-tubulin forms abnormal structures. We show here that, in contrast, overexpression of alpha-tubulin led to none of these phenotypes and in fact could suppress each of the phenotypes associated with beta-tubulin accumulation. Truncated forms of beta-tubulin that were not competent to carry out microtubule functions also failed to elicit the beta-tubulin-specific phenotypes when overexpressed. The data support the hypothesis that beta-tubulin in excess over alpha-tubulin is uniquely toxic, perhaps because it interferes with normal microtubule assembly.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1989

A marginal band-associated protein has properties of both microtubule- and microfilament-associated proteins.

The marginal band of nucleated erythrocytes is a microtubule organelle under rigorous quantitative and spatial control, with properties quite different from those of the microtubule organelles of cultured cells. Previous results suggest that proteins other than tubulin may participate in organizing the marginal band, and may interact with elements of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton in addition to microtubules. To identify such species, we raised mAbs against the proteins that assemble from chicken brain homogenates with tubulin. One such antibody binds to a single protein in chicken erythrocytes, and produces an immunofluorescence pattern colocalizing with marginal band microtubules. Several properties of this protein are identical to those of ezrin, a protein isolated from brush border and localized to motile elements of cultured cells. A significant proportion of the antigen is not soluble in erythrocytes, as determined by extraction with nonionic detergent. This cytoskeleton-associated fraction is unaffected by treatments that solubilize the marginal band microtubules. The protein has properties of both microtubule- and microfilament-associated proteins. In the accompanying manuscript (Goslin, K., E. Birgbauer, G. Banker, and F. Solomon. 1989. J. Cell Biol. 109:1621-1631), we show that the same antibody recognizes a component of growth cones with a similar dual nature. In early embryonic red blood cells, the antigen is dispersed throughout the cell and does not colocalize with assembled tubulin. Its confinement to the marginal band during development follows rather than precedes that of microtubules. These results, along with previous work, suggest models for the formation of the marginal band.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The role of cytoskeleton in organizing growth cones: a microfilament-associated growth cone component depends upon microtubules for its localization.

We are interested in the relationship between the cytoskeleton and the organization of polarized cell morphology. We show here that the growth cones of hippocampal neurons in culture are specifically stained by a monoclonal antibody called 13H9. In other systems, the antigen recognized by 13H9 is associated with marginal bands of chicken erythrocytes and shows properties of both microtubule-and microfilament-associated proteins (Birgbauer, E., and F. Solomon. 1989 J. Cell Biol. 109:1609-1620). This dual nature is manifest in hippocampal neurons as well. At early stages after plating, the antibody stains the circumferential lamellipodia that mediate initial cell spreading. As processes emerge, 13H9 staining is heavily concentrated in the distal regions of growth cones, particularly in lamellipodial fans. In these cells, the 13H9 staining is complementary to the localization of assembled microtubules. It colocalizes partially, but not entirely, with phalloidin staining of assembled actin. Incubation with nocodazole rapidly induces microtubule depolymerization, which proceeds in the distal-to-proximal direction in the processes. At the same time, a rapid and dramatic redistribution of the 13H9 staining occurs; it delocalizes along the axon shaft, becoming clearly distinct from the phalloidin staining and always remaining distal to the receding front of assembled microtubules. After longer times without assembled microtubules, no staining of 13H9 can be detected. Removal of the nocodazole allows the microtubules to reform, in an ordered proximal-to-distal fashion. The 13H9 immunoreactivity also reappears, but only in the growth cones, not in any intermediate positions along the axon, and only after the reformation of microtubules is complete. The results indicate that the antigen recognized by 13H9 is highly concentrated in growth cones, closely associated with polymerized actin, and that its proper localization depends upon intact microtubules.

Actin Cytoskeleton↗
PubMed1989

Genetic approaches to microtubule function.

To date, the experiments in yeast have been successful primarily in distinguishing what is not important. Divergent tubulin sequences are functionally interchangeable, interesting domains of tubulins can undergo dramatic alteration without affecting substantially the function of the protein, and the cells can assemble sufficient microtubule organelles from half the normal amount of tubulin. These results are with a few genes, in one organism, and the extent to which they can be extrapolated to other organisms with more complex complements of tubulin genes--in particular, metazoa--is not known. It is extremely unlikely that all of the suggestions that tubulin sequences and tubulin quantities participate in regulating microtubule function are erroneous. But the yeast system does offer us the opportunity to look past these obvious regulators, and to detect more subtle interactive elements that may be crucial for normal function. That is the immediate goal of our next experiments.

Cytoplasm↗
PubMed1988

Isolation and characterization of conditional-lethal mutations in the TUB1 alpha-tubulin gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Microtubules in yeast are functional components of the mitotic and meiotic spindles and are essential for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. We have isolated 70 conditional-lethal mutations in the TUB1 alpha-tubulin gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a plasmid replacement technique. Of the 70 mutations isolated, 67 resulted in cold-sensitivity, one resulted in temperature-sensitivity, and two resulted in both. Fine-structure mapping revealed that the mutations were located throughout the TUB1 gene. We characterized the phenotypes caused by 38 of the mutations after shifts of mutants to the nonpermissive temperature. Populations of temperature-shifted mutant cells contained an excess of large-budded cells with undivided nuclei, consistent with the previously determined role of microtubules in yeast mitosis. Several of the mutants arrested growth with a sufficiently uniform morphology to indicate that TUB1 has at least one specific role in the progression of the yeast cell cycle. A number of the mutants had gross defects in microtubule assembly at the restrictive temperature, some with no microtubules and some with excess microtubules. Other mutants contained disorganized microtubules and nuclei. There were no obvious correlations between these phenotypes and the map positions of the mutations. Greater than 90% of the mutants examined were hypersensitive to the antimicrotubule drug benomyl. Mutations that suppressed the cold-sensitive phenotypes of two of the TUB1 alleles occurred in TUB2, the single structural gene specifying beta-tubulin.

Benomyl↗
PubMed1988

Diversity among beta-tubulins: a carboxy-terminal domain of yeast beta-tubulin is not essential in vivo.

Sequences of genes for beta-tubulins from many different organisms demonstrate that they encode highly conserved proteins but that these proteins diverge considerably at their carboxyl termini. The patterns of interspecies conservation of this diversity suggest that it may have functional significance. We have taken advantage of the properties of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to test this hypothesis in vivo. The sole beta-tubulin gene of this species is one of the most divergent of all beta-tubulins and encodes 12 amino acids which extend past the end of most other beta-tubulin molecules. We have constructed strains in which the only beta-tubulin gene is an allele lacking these 12 codons. We show here that this carboxy-terminal extension is not essential. The absence of these 12 amino acids had no effect on a number of microtubule-dependent functions, such as mitotic and meiotic division and mating. It did confer dominant supersensitivity to a microtubule-depolymerizing drug.

Benomyl↗
PubMed1988

High activities of NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme in rabbit lens epithelial cells.

Measurements were made of the activities of the NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in cytosolic supernatants of whole lens and capsule-epithelium. The activities of all three NADP+-dependent enzymes were concentrated in the capsule-epithelium relative to the activities measured in the whole lens. These results show for the first time that the rabbit lens epithelial cells contain substantial activities of the NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme. It is proposed that these enzymes together with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase are involved in the regulation of the intracellular level of glutathione during oxidative stress by providing the NADPH necessary for the activity of glutathione reductase.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Development of a differentiated microtubule structure: formation of the chicken erythrocyte marginal band in vivo.

The microtubules of mature nucleated erythrocytes are organized into a marginal band that is confined to a single plane at the periphery and that contains essentially the same number of microtubule profiles in each individual cell. Developing erythrocytes can be isolated in homogeneous and synchronously developing populations from chicken embryos. For these reasons, these cells offer a particularly accessible system for study of the pathway leading to a specific microtubule structure in a normal, terminally differentiated animal cell. Along this developmental course, striking changes occur in the properties of the microtubules. Between the postmitotic cell and the formation of the band, a novel arrangement is found: bundles of laterally associated microtubules in each cell, coursing through the cytoplasm but not confined to the periphery. The microtubule organizing centers evident at early stages disappear by the time the band forms. The microtubules in early cells are readily depolymerized by drugs, but that drug sensitivity is lost in the mature cells. The microtubule arrangement of mature cells is faithfully recapitulated after reversible depolymerization, while that of the immature cells is not. Finally, as the band forms, the microtubules and microfilaments increasingly become coaligned. In sum, the microtubules of immature cells have many properties in common with those of cultured cells, but during maturation those properties change. The results suggest that lateral interactions become increasingly important in stabilizing and organizing the microtubules. The properties of marginal band microtubules, and comparable properties of axonal microtubules, may reflect differences between the requirements for cytoskeletal structures of cycling cells and terminally differentiated cells.

Actin Cytoskeleton↗
PubMed1987

Domains of beta-tubulin essential for conserved functions in vivo.

The relationship between the primary sequence of tubulins and their properties in cells was studied by gene transfection experiments. Previously, we studied a chimeric beta-tubulin formed from chicken beta-tubulin-2 sequences in the amino-terminal portion and the highly divergent Saccharomyces cerevisiae TUB2 sequences in the carboxy-terminal 25% of the molecule. In the cytoplasm of cultured animal cells, this protein incorporates into all microtubule structures and assembles with the same efficiency as endogenous tubulin. We show that the protein products of chimeric genes with an increasing proportion of yeast sequence, extending 5' of the carboxy-terminal 25%, are abnormal in two ways. First, they assemble with a significantly lower efficiency than the original chimeric protein or the endogenous tubulins. Second, they are less stable in the cytoplasm. The results suggest that the position of the yeast sequences is crucial in determining the properties of the molecule. Results of analyses of 1 deletion mutation and 10 linker insertions in the original chimeric tubulin suggest that those changes made outside the carboxyl terminus completely disrupt assembly activity, while those made in the carboxyl terminus do not.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1987

Insertions of up to 17 amino acids into a region of alpha-tubulin do not disrupt function in vivo.

Microtubules in yeasts are essential components of the mitotic and meiotic spindle and are necessary for nuclear movement during cell division and mating. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has two alpha-tubulin genes, TUB1 and TUB3, either of which alone is sufficient for these processes when present in a high enough copy number. Comparisons of sequences from several species reveals the presence of a variable region near the amino terminus of alpha-tubulin proteins. We perturbed the structure of this region in TUB3 by inserting into it 3, 9, or 17 amino acids and tested the ability of these altered proteins to function as the only alpha-tubulin protein in yeast cells. We found that each of these altered proteins was sufficient on its own for mitotic growth, mating, and methods of yeast. We conclude that this region can tolerate considerable variation without losing any of the highly conserved functions of alpha-tubulin. Our results suggest that variability in this region occurs because it can be tolerated, not because it specifies an important function for the protein.

Amino Acid Sequence↗