Schanila Nawaz

The measurement of the elastic properties of cells is widely used as an indicator for cellular changes during differentiation, upon drug treatment, or resulting from the interaction with the supporting matrix. Elasticity is routinely quantified by indenting the cell with a probe of an AFM while applying nano-Newton forces. Because the resulting deformations are in the micrometer range, the measurements will be affected by the finite thickness of the cell, viscous effects and even cell damage induced by the experiment itself. Here, we have analyzed the response of single 3T3 fibroblasts that were indented with a micrometer-sized bead attached to an AFM cantilever at forces from 30-600 pN, resulting in indentations ranging from 0.2 to 1.2 micrometer. To investigate the cellular response at lower forces up to 10 pN, we developed an optical trap to indent the cell in vertical direction, normal to the plane of the coverslip. Deformations of up to two hundred nanometers achieved at forces of up to 30 pN showed a reversible, thus truly elastic response that was independent on the rate of deformation. We found that at such small deformations, the elastic modulus of 100 Pa is largely determined by the presence of the actin cortex. At higher indentations, viscous effects led to an increase of the apparent elastic modulus. This viscous contribution that followed a weak power law, increased at larger cell indentations. Both AFM and optical trapping indentation experiments give consistent results for the cell elasticity. Optical trapping has the benefit of a lower force noise, which allows a more accurate determination of the absolute indentation. The combination of both techniques allows the investigation of single cells at small and large indentations and enables the separation of their viscous and elastic components.

Myelin basic protein (MBP) is an essential structural component of CNS myelin. The electrostatic association of this positively charged protein with myelin-forming membranes is a crucial step in myelination, but the mechanism that regulates myelin membrane targeting is not known. Here, we demonstrate that phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) is important for the stable association of MBP with cellular membranes. In oligodendrocytes, overexpression of synaptojanin 1-derived phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase, which selectively hydrolyzes membrane PIP2, causes the detachment of MBP from the plasma membrane. In addition, constitutively active Arf6/Q67L induces the formation of PIP2-enriched endosomal vacuoles, leading to the redistribution of MBP to intracellular vesicles. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging revealed an interaction of the PIP2 sensing probe PH-PLCdelta1 with wild-type MBP, but not with a mutant MBP isoform that fails to associate with the plasma membrane. Moreover, increasing intracellular Ca(2+), followed by phospholipase C-mediated PIP2 hydrolysis, as well as reduction of the membrane charge by ATP depletion, resulted in the dissociation of MBP from the glial plasma membrane. When the corpus callosum of mice was analyzed in acute brain slices by electron microscopy, the reduction of membrane surface charge led to the loss of myelin compaction and rapid vesiculation. Together, these results establish that PIP2 is an essential determinant for stable membrane binding of MBP and provide a novel link between glial phosphoinositol metabolism and MBP function in development and disease.

Rapid nerve conduction in jawed vertebrates is facilitated by the myelination of axons, which evolved in ancient cartilaginous fish. We aim to understand the coevolution of myelin and the major myelin proteins. We found that myelin basic protein (MBP) derived from living cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays) associated with the plasma membrane of glial cells similar to the phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PIP₂)-binding marker PH-PLCδ1, and that ionomycin-induced PIP₂-hydrolysis led to its cellular redistribution. We identified two paralogous mbp genes in multiple teleost species, consistent with a genome duplication at the root of the teleost clade. Zebrafish mbpb is organized in a complex transcription unit together with the unrelated gene-of-the-oligodendrocyte-lineage (golli) while mbpa does not encode GOLLI. Moreover, the embryonic expression of mbpa and mbpb differed, indicating functional specialization after duplication. However, both mbpa and mbpb-mRNAs were detected in mature oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells, MBPa and MBPb were mass spectrometrically identified in zebrafish myelin, both associated with the plasma membrane via PIP₂, and the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide-substitution rates (Ka/Ks) was low. Together, this indicates selective pressure to conserve many aspects of the cellular expression and function of MBP across vertebrate species. We propose that the PIP₂-binding function of MBP is evolutionarily old and that its emergence in ancient gnathostomata provided glial cells with the competence to myelinate.