Biology subjects

Harker-Kirschneck, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Harker-Kirschneck, L..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Modelling Membrane Reshaping by Staged Polymerization of ESCRT-III Filaments

ESCRT-III filaments are composite cytoskeletal polymers that can constrict and cut cell membranes from the inside of the membrane neck. Membrane-bound ESCRT-III filaments undergo a series of dramatic composition and geometry changes in the presence of an ATP-consuming Vps4 enzyme, which causes stepwise changes in the membrane morphology. We set out to understand the physical mechanisms involved in translating the changes in ESCRT-III polymer composition into membrane deformation. We have built a coarse-grained model in which ESCRT-III polymers of different geometries and mechanical properties are allowed to copolymerise and bind to a deformable membrane. By modelling ATP-driven stepwise depolymerisation of specific polymers, we identify mechanical regimes in which changes in filament composition trigger the associated membrane transition from a flat to a buckled state, and then to a tubule state that eventually undergoes scission to release a small cargo-loaded vesicle. We then characterise how the location and kinetics of polymer loss affects the extent of membrane deformation and the efficiency of membrane neck scission. Our results identify the near-minimal mechanical conditions for the operation of shape-shifting composite polymers that sever membrane necks. Author summaryESCRT-III proteins have the unique ability to cut membrane necks from within, which is needed for a vast number of cell remodelling events including the release of cargo-containing vesicles. ESCRT-III proteins exist in different forms, which can assemble into spiral and helical homopolymers of different curvatures, and they have been suggested to polymerize and depolymerize with each other in a staged manner to deform and cut membranes. We developed a computer model to explore the physical mechanisms behind vesicle budding driven by the staged assembly and disassembly of multiple elastic filaments. We identified rules that determine the outcomes of membrane remodelling, which depend on the relative physical features of the distinct filaments, the dynamics of their disassembly, and on the presence of cargo; thereby providing experimentally testable predictions. Our study provides new physical insights into the ESCRT-III-mediated vesicle budding process, at a single subunit level, and identifies the general design principles of nanomachines built from shapeshifting copolymers, which might also be realized in synthetic systems.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2022

The patterned assembly and stepwise Vps4-mediated disassembly of composite ESCRT-III polymers drives archaeal cell division

ESCRT-III family proteins form composite polymers that deform and cut membrane tubes in the context of a wide range of cell biological processes across the tree of life. In reconstituted systems sequential changes in the composition of ESCRT-III polymers induced by the AAA ATPase Vps4 have been shown to remodel membranes. However, it is not known how composite ESCRT-III polymers are organised and remodelled in space and time in cells. Here, taking advantage of the relative simplicity of the ESCRT-III-dependent division system in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, one of the closest experimentally tractable prokaryotic relative of eukaryotes, we use super-resolution microscopy and computational modelling to show how CdvB/CdvB1/CdvB2 proteins form a precisely patterned composite ESCRT-III division ring which undergoes stepwise Vps4-dependent disassembly and contracts to cut cells into two. These observations lead us to suggest sequential changes in a patterned composite polymer as a general mechanism of ESCRT-III-dependent membrane remodelling.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Physical mechanisms of ESCRT-III-driven cell division in archaea

Living systems propagate by undergoing rounds of cell growth and division. Cell division is at heart a physical process that requires mechanical forces, usually exerted by protein assemblies. Here we developed the first physical model for the division of archaeal cells, which despite their structural simplicity share machinery and evolutionary origins with eukaryotes. We show how active geometry changes of elastic ESCRT-III filaments, coupled to filament disassembly, are sufficient to efficiently split the cell. We explore how the non-equilibrium processes that govern the filament behaviour impact the resulting cell division. We show how a quantitative comparison between our simulations and dynamic data for ESCRTIII-mediated division in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, the closest archaeal relative to eukaryotic cells that can currently be cultured in the lab, and reveal the most likely physical mechanism behind its division.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2020

On the shuttling across the blood-brain barrier via tubules formation: mechanism and cargo avidity bias

The blood-brain barrier is made of polarised brain endothelial cells (BECs) phenotypically conditioned by the central nervous system (CNS). Transport across BECs is of paramount importance for nutrient uptake as well as to rid the brain of waste products. Nevertheless, currently we do not understand how large macromolecular cargo shuttles across and how BECs discriminate between the brain-bound and own nutrients. Here, we study the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) an essential regulator of BEC transport, and show that it is associated with endocytic effectors, endo-lysosomal compartments as well as syndapin-2, a member of the Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) domain superfamily known to stabilise tubular carriers. We employed synthetic self-assembled vesicles, polymersomes, as a multivalent system with tunable avidity as a tool to investigate the mechanism of transport across BECs. We used a combination of conventional and super-resolution microscopy, both in vivo and in vitro, accompanied with biophysical modelling of transport kinetics and membrane-bound interactions. Our results demonstrate that the avidity of the ligand-receptor interaction (the overall cargo binding energy) determines the mechanism of sorting during the early stages of endocytosis and consequent trafficking. We show that high avidity cargo biases the LRP1 towards internalisation and fast degradation in BECs, while mid avidity augments the formation of syndapin-2 stabilised tubular carriers and promotes fast shuttling across BECs. Thus, we map out a very detailed mechanism where clathrin, actin, syndapin-2, dynamin and SNARE act synergistically to enable fast shuttling across BECs.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Proteasome-mediated protein degradation resets the cell division cycle and triggers ESCRT-III-mediated cytokinesis in an archaeon

The archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius is a relative of eukaryotes known to progress orderly through its cell division cycle despite lacking obvious CDK/cyclin homologues. Here, in exploring the mechanisms underpinning archaeal cell division cycle control, we show that the proteasome of S. acidocaldarius, like its eukaryotic counterpart, regulates the transition from the end of one cell division cycle to the beginning of the next. Further, we identify the archaeal ESCRT-III homologue CdvB as a key target of the proteasome, and show that state-dependent degradation of CdvB triggers archaeal cell division by allowing constriction of a CdvB1:CdvB2 ESCRT-III division ring. These findings suggest an ancient role for proteasome-mediated degradation in resetting the cell division cycle in both archaea and eukaryotes.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Transitions in filament geometry drive ESCRT-III-mediated membrane remodelling and fission

ESCRT-III is an evolutionarily conserved membrane remodeling machinery that, with the Vps4 ATPase, forms filaments able to cut biological membranes from the cytosolic side. This activity of ESCRT-III is essential for the final stage of cell division in archaea and in many eukaryotes, the formation of vesicles, the creation of exosomes, the release of viruses such as HIV-1 and Ebola, and for the repair and sealing of cellular membranes. While there has been recent rapid progress in describing the biochemical and cell biology details of different ESCRT-III functions, we lack an understanding of the physical mechanism involved in ESCRT-III-mediated membrane remodelling. Here, through the development of coarse-grained molecular dynamic simulations, we present a minimal model that captures the ability of ESCRT-III to induce experimentally reported cases of ESCRT-III driven membrane sculpting, including the formation of cones and tubules, and membrane scission. This model suggests a universal physical mechanism of action, that differs from that of other cytoskeletal elements, whereby a change in the twist of membrane bound ESCRT-III filaments drives transitions between a flat spiral and a 3D helix to induce membrane deformation and scission. We expect the mechanistic principles revealed here to be useful in manipulating ESCRT-III-driven processes in cells and in guiding the engineering of synthetic membrane-sculpting systems.

biophysics↗