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WASP and SCAR are evolutionarily conserved in actin-filled pseudopod-based motility
- Source :
- The Journal of Cell Biology
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Eukaryotic cells use diverse cellular mechanisms to crawl through complex environments. Fritz-Laylin et al. define α-motility as a mode of migration associated with dynamic, actin-filled pseudopods and show that WASP and SCAR constitute an evolutionarily conserved genetic signature of α-motility.<br />Diverse eukaryotic cells crawl through complex environments using distinct modes of migration. To understand the underlying mechanisms and their evolutionary relationships, we must define each mode and identify its phenotypic and molecular markers. In this study, we focus on a widely dispersed migration mode characterized by dynamic actin-filled pseudopods that we call “α-motility.” Mining genomic data reveals a clear trend: only organisms with both WASP and SCAR/WAVE—activators of branched actin assembly—make actin-filled pseudopods. Although SCAR has been shown to drive pseudopod formation, WASP’s role in this process is controversial. We hypothesize that these genes collectively represent a genetic signature of α-motility because both are used for pseudopod formation. WASP depletion from human neutrophils confirms that both proteins are involved in explosive actin polymerization, pseudopod formation, and cell migration. WASP and WAVE also colocalize to dynamic signaling structures. Moreover, retention of WASP together with SCAR correctly predicts α-motility in disease-causing chytrid fungi, which we show crawl at >30 µm/min with actin-filled pseudopods. By focusing on one migration mode in many eukaryotes, we identify a genetic marker of pseudopod formation, the morphological feature of α-motility, providing evidence for a widely distributed mode of cell crawling with a single evolutionary origin.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Cell
Motility
macromolecular substances
Article
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Phylogenetics
Cell Movement
medicine
Gene
Actin
Research Articles
030304 developmental biology
0303 health sciences
Fungal protein
Phylogenetic tree
biology
Actin-Related Protein 2-3 Complex
Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein
fungi
Cell migration
Chemotaxis
Cell Biology
Phenotype
Actins
Cell biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
030104 developmental biology
biology.protein
Pseudopodia
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of Cell Biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....129033fb0f57953797c9f5726510f05f
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1101/051821