Furt, F. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2019

In vivo Interactions between Myosin XI, Vesicles, and Filamentous Actin Are Fast and Transient

The apical actin cytoskeleton and active membrane trafficking machinery are essential in driving polarized cell growth. To better understand the interactions between myosin XI, vesicles, and actin filament in vivo, we performed Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) and showed that the dynamics of myosin XIa at the tip are actin-dependent and that approximately half of myosin XI is bound to vesicles in the cell. To obtain single particle information, we used Variable Angle Epifluorescence Microscopy (VAEM) in Physcomitrella patens protoplasts to demonstrate that myosin XIa and VAMP72-labeled vesicles localize in time and space for periods lasting only a few seconds. Using tracking data with Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM), we showed that myosin XIa and VAMP72-labeled vesicles exhibit short runs of actin-dependent directed transport. We also found that the interaction of myosin XI with vesicles is short lived. Together, this bound fraction, fast off-rate, and short run lengths are expected to be critical for the dynamic oscillations observed at the cell apex, and may be vital for the regulation and recycling of the exocytosis machinery; while simultaneously promoting the vesicle focusing and secretion at the tip, necessary for cell wall expansion.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Myosin XI Interacting with a RabE GTPase Is Required for Polarized Growth

The fundamental eukaryotic process of intracellular trafficking requires the interconnected activity of molecular motors trafficking vesicular cargo within a dynamic cytoskeletal network. However, in plants, few mechanistic details are known about how molecular motors associate with their secretory cargo to support the ubiquitous processes of polarized growth and cell division. A yeast two-hybrid screen of a Physcomitrella patens library identified a RabE GTPase as an interactor of myosin XI and subsequently demonstrated all five RabE members interact with myosin XI. Consistent with a role in polarized transport, we observed RabE at the growing cell apex and at the expanding cell plate during cell division. An in vivo cross-correlation analysis of fluorescently tagged RabE and myosin XI revealed that both species are spatiotemporally coupled, demonstrating their simultaneous involvement in polarized growth. To determine if myosin XI and RabE are directly coupled, we first computationally predicted myosin XI:RabE interface through a homology modeling-directed approach. We identified a structurally conserved residue on myosin XI, V1422, that when mutated abolished RabE binding in the yeast two-hybrid system and resulted in unpolarized plants instead of the characteristic network of filamentous cells when regenerated from single cells. Together, this work demonstrates the requirement of a direct myosin XI:RabE interaction for polarized growth in plants.

cell biology↗