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General Comment |
Spectrin regulates Hippo signaling by modulating cortical actomyosin activity. Deng H et al. (2015) The Hippo pathway controls tissue growth through a core kinase cascade that impinges on the transcription of growth-regulatory genes. Understanding how this pathway is regulated in development remains a major challenge. Recent studies suggested that Hippo signaling can be modulated by cytoskeletal tension through a Rok-myosin II pathway. How cytoskeletal tension is regulated or its relationship to the other known upstream regulators of the Hippo pathway remains poorly defined. Here we identify spectrin, a contractile protein at the cytoskeleton-membrane interface, as an upstream regulator of the Hippo signaling pathway. We show that, in contrast to canonical upstream regulators such as Crumbs, Kibra, Expanded and Merlin, spectrin regulates Hippo signaling in a distinct way by modulating cortical actomyosin activity through non-muscle myosin II. These results uncover an essential mediator of Hippo signaling by cytoskeleton tension, providing a new entry point to dissecting how mechanical signals regulate Hippo signaling in living tissues.//////////////////
The Spectrin cytoskeleton regulates the Hippo signalling pathway. Fletcher GC et al. (2015) The Spectrin cytoskeleton is known to be polarised in epithelial cells, yet its role remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the Spectrin cytoskeleton controls Hippo signalling. In the developing Drosophila wing and eye, loss of apical Spectrins (alpha/beta-heavy dimers) produces tissue overgrowth and mis-regulation of Hippo target genes, similar to loss of Crumbs (Crb) or the FERM-domain protein Expanded (Ex). Apical beta-heavy Spectrin binds to Ex and co-localises with it at the apical membrane to antagonise Yki activity. Interestingly, in both the ovarian follicular epithelium and intestinal epithelium of Drosophila, apical Spectrins and Crb are dispensable for repression of Yki, while basolateral Spectrins (alpha/beta dimers) are essential. Finally, the Spectrin cytoskeleton is required to regulate the localisation of the Hippo pathway effector YAP in response to cell density human epithelial cells. Our findings identify both apical and basolateral Spectrins as regulators of Hippo signalling and suggest Spectrins as potential mechanosensors.//////////////////
NCBI Summary:
Spectrins are a family of filamentous cytoskeletal proteins that function as essential scaffold proteins that stabilize the plasma membrane and organize intracellular organelles. Spectrins are composed of alpha and beta dimers that associate to form tetramers linked in a head-to-head arrangement. This gene encodes an alpha spectrin that is specifically expressed in nonerythrocytic cells. The encoded protein has been implicated in other cellular functions including DNA repair and cell cycle regulation. Mutations in this gene are the cause of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy-5. Alternate splicing results in multiple transcript variants.[provided by RefSeq, Sep 2010]
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