Skip to main content
PMC home page
Cell Regulation logoLink to Cell Regulation
. 1989 Nov;1(1):55–63. doi: 10.1091/mbc.1.1.55

Multiple actin-based motor genes in Dictyostelium.

M A Titus 1, H M Warrick 1, J A Spudich 1
PMCID: PMC361425  PMID: 2519618

Abstract

Dictyostelium cells, devoid of conventional myosin, display a variety of motile activities, consistent with the presence of other molecular motors. The Dictyostelium genome was probed at low stringency with a gene fragment containing the conserved conventional myosin head domain sequences to identify other actin-based motors that may play a role in the observed motility of these mutant cells. One gene (abmA) has been characterized and encodes a polypeptide of approximately 135 kDa with a head region homologous to other myosin head sequences and a tail region that is not predicted to form either an alpha-helical structure of coiled-coil interactions. Comparisons of the amino acid sequences of the tail regions of abmA, Dictyostelium myosin I, and Acanthamoeba myosins IB and IL reveal an area of sequence similarity in the amino terminal half of the tail that may be a membrane-binding domain. The abmA gene, however, does not contain an unusual Gly, Pro, Ala stretch typical of many of the previously described myosin Is. Two additional genes (abmB and abmC) were identified using this approach and also found to contain sequences that encode proteins with typical conserved myosin head sequences. The abm genes may be part of a large family of actin-based motors that play various roles in diverse aspects of cellular motility.

Full text

PDF
55

Images in this article

56Image
on p.56

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Adams R. J., Pollard T. D. Binding of myosin I to membrane lipids. Nature. 1989 Aug 17;340(6234):565–568. doi: 10.1038/340565a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Adams R. J., Pollard T. D. Propulsion of organelles isolated from Acanthamoeba along actin filaments by myosin-I. Nature. 1986 Aug 21;322(6081):754–756. doi: 10.1038/322754a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Albanesi J. P., Fujisaki H., Hammer J. A., 3rd, Korn E. D., Jones R., Sheetz M. P. Monomeric Acanthamoeba myosins I support movement in vitro. J Biol Chem. 1985 Jul 25;260(15):8649–8652. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Clarke M., Spudich J. A. Biochemical and structural studies of actomyosin-like proteins from non-muscle cells. Isolation and characterization of myosin from amoebae of Dictyostelium discoideum. J Mol Biol. 1974 Jun 25;86(2):209–222. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(74)90013-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Collins J. H., Borysenko C. W. The 110,000-dalton actin- and calmodulin-binding protein from intestinal brush border is a myosin-like ATPase. J Biol Chem. 1984 Nov 25;259(22):14128–14135. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Côté G. P., Albanesi J. P., Ueno T., Hammer J. A., 3rd, Korn E. D. Purification from Dictyostelium discoideum of a low-molecular-weight myosin that resembles myosin I from Acanthamoeba castellanii. J Biol Chem. 1985 Apr 25;260(8):4543–4546. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. De Lozanne A., Spudich J. A. Disruption of the Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain gene by homologous recombination. Science. 1987 May 29;236(4805):1086–1091. doi: 10.1126/science.3576222. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Devereux J., Haeberli P., Smithies O. A comprehensive set of sequence analysis programs for the VAX. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 11;12(1 Pt 1):387–395. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.1part1.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gadasi H., Korn E. D. Evidence for differential intracellular localization of the Acanthamoeba myosin isoenzymes. Nature. 1980 Jul 31;286(5772):452–456. doi: 10.1038/286452a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hoshimaru M., Nakanishi S. Identification of a new type of mammalian myosin heavy chain by molecular cloning. Overlap of its mRNA with preprotachykinin B mRNA. J Biol Chem. 1987 Oct 25;262(30):14625–14632. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Howley P. M., Israel M. A., Law M. F., Martin M. A. A rapid method for detecting and mapping homology between heterologous DNAs. Evaluation of polyomavirus genomes. J Biol Chem. 1979 Jun 10;254(11):4876–4883. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Jung G., Korn E. D., Hammer J. A., 3rd The heavy chain of Acanthamoeba myosin IB is a fusion of myosin-like and non-myosin-like sequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(19):6720–6724. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.19.6720. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Jung G., Saxe C. L., 3rd, Kimmel A. R., Hammer J. A., 3rd Dictyostelium discoideum contains a gene encoding a myosin I heavy chain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Aug;86(16):6186–6190. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.16.6186. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Knecht D. A., Loomis W. F. Antisense RNA inactivation of myosin heavy chain gene expression in Dictyostelium discoideum. Science. 1987 May 29;236(4805):1081–1086. doi: 10.1126/science.3576221. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Korn E. D., Hammer J. A., 3rd Myosins of nonmuscle cells. Annu Rev Biophys Biophys Chem. 1988;17:23–45. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.17.060188.000323. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lynch T. J., Albanesi J. P., Korn E. D., Robinson E. A., Bowers B., Fujisaki H. ATPase activities and actin-binding properties of subfragments of Acanthamoeba myosin IA. J Biol Chem. 1986 Dec 25;261(36):17156–17162. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. MacLeod A. R., Karn J., Brenner S. Molecular analysis of the unc-54 myosin heavy-chain gene of Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature. 1981 Jun 4;291(5814):386–390. doi: 10.1038/291386a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Manstein D. J., Titus M. A., De Lozanne A., Spudich J. A. Gene replacement in Dictyostelium: generation of myosin null mutants. EMBO J. 1989 Mar;8(3):923–932. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03453.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Montell C., Rubin G. M. The Drosophila ninaC locus encodes two photoreceptor cell specific proteins with domains homologous to protein kinases and the myosin heavy chain head. Cell. 1988 Mar 11;52(5):757–772. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90413-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Mooseker M. S., Coleman T. R. The 110-kD protein-calmodulin complex of the intestinal microvillus (brush border myosin I) is a mechanoenzyme. J Cell Biol. 1989 Jun;108(6):2395–2400. doi: 10.1083/jcb.108.6.2395. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Mooseker M. S. Organization, chemistry, and assembly of the cytoskeletal apparatus of the intestinal brush border. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1985;1:209–241. doi: 10.1146/annurev.cb.01.110185.001233. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Peters D. J., Knecht D. A., Loomis W. F., De Lozanne A., Spudich J., Van Haastert P. J. Signal transduction, chemotaxis, and cell aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum cells without myosin heavy chain. Dev Biol. 1988 Jul;128(1):158–163. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(88)90278-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Pollard T. D. Cytoplasmic contractile proteins. J Cell Biol. 1981 Dec;91(3 Pt 2):156s–165s. doi: 10.1083/jcb.91.3.156s. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Pollard T. D., Korn E. D. Acanthamoeba myosin. I. Isolation from Acanthamoeba castellanii of an enzyme similar to muscle myosin. J Biol Chem. 1973 Jul 10;248(13):4682–4690. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sutoh K. Mapping of actin-binding sites on the heavy chain of myosin subfragment 1. Biochemistry. 1983 Mar 29;22(7):1579–1585. doi: 10.1021/bi00276a009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Toyoshima Y. Y., Kron S. J., McNally E. M., Niebling K. R., Toyoshima C., Spudich J. A. Myosin subfragment-1 is sufficient to move actin filaments in vitro. Nature. 1987 Aug 6;328(6130):536–539. doi: 10.1038/328536a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Walker J. E., Saraste M., Runswick M. J., Gay N. J. Distantly related sequences in the alpha- and beta-subunits of ATP synthase, myosin, kinases and other ATP-requiring enzymes and a common nucleotide binding fold. EMBO J. 1982;1(8):945–951. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01276.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Warrick H. M., De Lozanne A., Leinwand L. A., Spudich J. A. Conserved protein domains in a myosin heavy chain gene from Dictyostelium discoideum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Dec;83(24):9433–9437. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.24.9433. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Warrick H. M., Spudich J. A. Myosin structure and function in cell motility. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1987;3:379–421. doi: 10.1146/annurev.cb.03.110187.002115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Wessels D., Soll D. R., Knecht D., Loomis W. F., De Lozanne A., Spudich J. Cell motility and chemotaxis in Dictyostelium amebae lacking myosin heavy chain. Dev Biol. 1988 Jul;128(1):164–177. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(88)90279-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Cell Regulation are provided here courtesy of American Society for Cell Biology

RESOURCES