Abstract
The targeting of mRNA and local protein synthesis is important for the generation and maintenance of cell polarity. As part of the translational machinery as well as an actin/ microtubule -binding protein, elongation factor la (EF1α) is a candidate linker between the protein translation apparatus and the cytoskeleton. We demonstrate in this work that EF1α colocalizes with β-actin mRNA and F-actin in protrusions of chicken embryo fibroblasts and binds directly to F-actin and β-actin mRNA simultaneously in vitro in actin cosedimentation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. To investigate the role of EF1α in mRNA targeting, we mapped the two actin-binding sites on EF1α at high resolution and defined one site at the N-terminal 49 residues of domain I and the other at the C-terminal 54 residues of domain III. In vitro actin-binding assays and localization in vivo of recombinant full-length EF1α and its various truncates demonstrated that the C terminus of domain III was the dominant actin-binding site both in vitro and in vivo. We propose that the EF1α-F-actin complex is the scaffold that is important for β-actin mRNA anchoring. Disruption of this complex would lead to delocalization of the mRNA. This hypothesis was tested by using two dominant negative polypeptides: The actin-binding domain III of EF1α and the EF1α-binding site of yeast Bni1p, a protein that inhibits EF1α binding to F-actin and also is required for yeast mRNA localization. We demonstrate that either domain III of EF1α or the EF1α-binding site of Bni1p inhibits EF1α binding to β-actin mRNA in vitro and causes delocalization of β-actin mRNA in chicken embryo fibroblasts. Taken together, these results implicate EF1α in the anchoring of β-actin mRNA to the protrusion in crawling cells.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 579-592 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Molecular biology of the cell |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology