Search

Adipocytes are key to metabolic regulation, exhibiting insulinstimulated glucose transport that is underpinned by the insulinstimulated delivery of glucose transporter type 4 (SLC2A4, also known and hereafter referred to as GLUT4)-containing vesicles to the plasmamembranewhere they dock and fuse, and increase cell surface GLUT4 levels. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin, are secreted via a similarmechanism.We used genome editing to knock out syntaxin-4, a protein reported to mediate fusion between GLUT4-containing vesicles and the plasma membrane in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Syntaxin-4 knockout reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport and adiponectin secretion by ~50% and reduced GLUT4 levels. Ectopic expression of haemagglutinin (HA)-tagged GLUT4 conjugated to GFP showed that syntaxin-4-knockout cells retain significant GLUT4 translocation capacity, demonstrating that syntaxin-4 is dispensable for insulinstimulated GLUT4 translocation. Analysis of recycling kinetics revealed only a modest reduction in the exocytic rate of GLUT4 in knockout cells, and little effect on endocytosis. These analyses demonstrate that syntaxin-4 is not always rate limiting for GLUT4 delivery to the cell surface. In sum, we show that syntaxin-4 knockout results in reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport, depletion of cellular GLUT4 levels and inhibition of adiponectin secretion but has only modest effects on the translocation capacity of the cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adipocytes are key to metabolic regulation, exhibiting insulinstimulated glucose transport that is underpinned by the insulinstimulated delivery of glucose transporter type 4 (SLC2A4, also known and hereafter referred to as GLUT4)-containing vesicles to the plasmamembranewhere they dock and fuse, and increase cell surface GLUT4 levels. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin, are secreted via a similarmechanism. We used genome editing to knock out syntaxin-4, a protein reported to mediate fusion between GLUT4-containing vesicles and the plasma membrane in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Syntaxin-4 knockout reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport and adiponectin secretion by ~50% and reduced GLUT4 levels. Ectopic expression of haemagglutinin (HA)-tagged GLUT4 conjugated to GFP showed that syntaxin-4-knockout cells retain significant GLUT4 translocation capacity, demonstrating that syntaxin-4 is dispensable for insulinstimulated GLUT4 translocation. Analysis of recycling kinetics revealed only a modest reduction in the exocytic rate of GLUT4 in knockout cells, and little effect on endocytosis. These analyses demonstrate that syntaxin-4 is not always rate limiting for GLUT4 delivery to the cell surface. In sum, we show that syntaxin-4 knockout results in reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport, depletion of cellular GLUT4 levels and inhibition of adiponectin secretion but has only modest effects on the translocation capacity of the cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adipocytes are key to metabolic regulation, exhibiting insulin-stimulated glucose transport that is underpinned by the insulin-stimulated delivery of glucose transporter type 4 (SLC2A4, also known and hereafter referred to as GLUT4)-containing vesicles to the plasma membrane where they dock and fuse, and increase cell surface GLUT4 levels. Adipocytokines, such as adiponectin, are secreted via a similar mechanism. We used genome editing to knock out syntaxin-4, a protein reported to mediate fusion between GLUT4-containing vesicles and the plasma membrane in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Syntaxin-4 knockout reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport and adiponectin secretion by ~50% and reduced GLUT4 levels. Ectopic expression of haemagglutinin (HA)-tagged GLUT4 conjugated to GFP showed that syntaxin-4-knockout cells retain significant GLUT4 translocation capacity, demonstrating that syntaxin-4 is dispensable for insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation. Analysis of recycling kinetics revealed only a modest reduction in the exocytic rate of GLUT4 in knockout cells, and little effect on endocytosis. These analyses demonstrate that syntaxin-4 is not always rate limiting for GLUT4 delivery to the cell surface. In sum, we show that syntaxin-4 knockout results in reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport, depletion of cellular GLUT4 levels and inhibition of adiponectin secretion but has only modest effects on the translocation capacity of the cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insulin-stimulated delivery of glucose transporters (GLUT4, also known as SLC2A4) from specialized intracellular GLUT4 storage vesicles (GSVs) to the surface of fat and muscle cells is central to whole-body glucose regulation. This translocation and subsequent internalization of GLUT4 back into intracellular stores transits through numerous small membrane-bound compartments (internal GLUT4-containing vesicles; IGVs) including GSVs, but the function of these different compartments is not clear. Cellugyrin (also known as synaptogyrin-2) and sortilin define distinct populations of IGV; sortilin-positive IGVs represent GSVs, but the function of cellugyrin-containing IGVs is unknown. Here, we demonstrate a role for cellugyrin in intracellular sequestration of GLUT4 in HeLa cells and have used a proximity ligation assay to follow changes in pairwise associations between cellugyrin, sortilin, GLUT4 and membrane trafficking machinery following insulin-stimulation of 3T3-L1 adipoctyes. Our data suggest that insulin stimulates traffic from cellugyrin-containing to sortilin-containing membranes, and that cellugyrin-containing IGVs provide an insulin-sensitive reservoir to replenish GSVs following insulin-stimulated exocytosis of GLUT4. Furthermore, our data support the existence of a pathway from cellugyrin-containing membranes to the surface of3T3-L1 adipocytes that bypasses GSVs under basal conditions, and that insulin diverts traffic away from this into GSVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insulin-regulated trafficking of the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT4 in human fat and muscle cells and the nitrogen-regulated trafficking of the general amino acid permease Gap1 in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae share several common features: Both Gap1 and GLUT4 are nutrient transporters that are mobilised to the cell surface from an intracellular store in response to an environmental cue; both are polytopic membrane proteins harbouring amino acid targeting motifs in their C-terminal tails that are required for their regulated trafficking; ubiquitylation of both Gap1 and GLUT4 plays an important role in their regulated trafficking, as do the ubiquitinbinding GGA (Golgi-localised, c-ear-containing, ARF-binding) adaptor proteins. Here, we find that when expressed heterologously in yeast, human GLUT4 is subject to nitrogen-regulated trafficking in an ubiquitin-dependent manner similar to Gap1. In addition, by expressing a GLUT4/Gap1 chimeric protein in adipocytes we show that the carboxy-tail of Gap1 directs intracellular sequestration and insulin-regulated trafficking in adipocytes. These findings demonstrate that the trafficking signals and their cognate molecular regulatory machinery that mediate regulated exocytosis of membrane proteins are conserved across evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIM-extra long (BIMEL), a pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein and part of the BCL-2 family, is degraded by the proteasome following activation of the ERK1/2 signalling pathway. Although studies have demonstrated poly-ubiquitylation of BIMEL in cells, the nature of the ubiquitin chain linkage has not been defined. Using ubiquitin-binding domains (UBDs) specific for defined ubiquitin chain linkages, we show that BIMEL undergoes K48-linked poly-ubiquitylation at either of two lysine residues. Surprisingly, BIMELΔKK, which lacks both lysine residues, was not poly-ubiquitylated but still underwent ERK1/2-driven, proteasome-dependent turnover. BIM has been proposed to be an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) and some IDPs can be degraded by uncapped 20S proteasomes in the absence of poly-ubiquitylation. We show that BIMEL is degraded by isolated 20S proteasomes but that this is prevented when BIMEL is bound to its pro-survival target protein MCL-1. Furthermore, knockdown of the proteasome cap component Rpn2 does not prevent BIMEL turnover in cells, and inhibition of the E3 ubiquitin ligase β-TrCP, which catalyses poly-Ub of BIMEL, causes Cdc25A accumulation but does not inhibit BIMEL turnover. These results provide new insights into the regulation of BIMEL by defining a novel ubiquitin-independent pathway for the proteasome-dependent destruction of this highly toxic protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane fusion in all eukaryotic cells is regulated by the formation of specific SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complexes. The molecular mechanisms that control this process are conserved through evolution and require several protein families, including Sec1p/Munc18 (SM) proteins. Here, we demonstrate that the mammalian SNARE protein syntaxin 16 (Sx16, also known as Syn16) is a functional homologue of the yeast SNARE Tlg2p, in that its expression fully complements the mutant phenotypes of tlg2Δ mutant yeast. We have used this functional homology to demonstrate that, as observed for Tlg2p, the function of Sx16 is regulated by the SM protein Vps45p. Furthermore, in vitro SNARE-complex assembly studies demonstrate that the N-terminal domain of Tlg2p is inhibitory to the formation of SNARE complexes, and that this inhibition can be lifted by the addition of purified Vps45p. By combining these cell-biological and biochemical analyses, we propose an evolutionarily conserved regulatory mechanism for Vps45p function. Our data support a model in which the SM protein is required to facilitate a switch of Tlg2p and Sx16 from a closed to an open conformation, thus allowing SNARE-complex assembly and membrane fusion to proceed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]