spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Morris, E. J.
Right arrow Articles by Fulton, A. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Morris, E. J.
Right arrow Articles by Fulton, A. B.

Journal of Cell Science, Vol 113, Issue 13 2433-2443, Copyright © 2000 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Misdirected vimentin messenger RNA alters cell morphology and motility

EJ Morris, K Evason, C Wiand, TJ L'Ecuyer and AB Fulton
Department of Biochemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1109, USA.

Localized messenger RNAs were first observed as embryonic determinants that altered development when mislocalized. In recent years localized mRNAs have been found for several cytoskeletal proteins, including actin, vimentin and several microtubule associated proteins. We sought to determine whether redirecting mRNA for a cytoskeletal protein to an inappropriate address would alter cellular phenotypes. To do so we generated vimentin mRNAs with a myc epitope tag and the (beta)-actin 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) as a localization signal. When misdirected vimentin mRNAs are expressed in either fibroblasts or SW13 cells, cells develop numerous, extremely long processes; these cells also move more slowly to enter a wound of the monolayer. In situ hybridization revealed that the misdirected mRNA was often localized in the processes, in contrast to endogenous vimentin mRNA. The processes usually contained actin distal to the transgenic vimentin and microtubules proximal to it. SW13 cells lacking vimentin produced fewer and shorter processes, suggesting a dominant negative effect that involves recruitment of endogenous vimentin. Control experiments that transfected in constructs expressing tagged, correctly localized vimentin, or (beta)-galactosidase that localized through the (beta)-actin 3' UTR, indicate that neither the shape nor the motility changes are solely due to the level of vimentin expression in the cell. This is direct evidence that the site of expression for at least one cytoskeletal mRNA alters the phenotype of the cell in which it is expressed. Messenger RNA localization is proving to be as essential for the normal maintenance of somatic cell phenotypes as embryonic determinants are for embryogenesis.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
E. Sarnowska, E. A. Grzybowska, K. Sobczak, R. Konopinski, A. Wilczynska, M. Szwarc, T. J. Sarnowski, W. J. Krzyzosiak, and J. A. Siedlecki
Hairpin structure within the 3'UTR of DNA polymerase {beta} mRNA acts as a post-transcriptional regulatory element and interacts with Hax-1
Nucleic Acids Res., August 17, 2007; (2007) gkm502v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
M. Al-Maghrebi, H. Brule, M. Padkina, C. Allen, W. M. Holmes, and Z. E. Zehner
The 3' untranslated region of human vimentin mRNA interacts with protein complexes containing eEF-1{gamma} and HAX-1
Nucleic Acids Res., December 1, 2002; 30(23): 5017 - 5028.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2000