The Mammalian Orthologs of Drosophila Lgd, CC2D1A and CC2D1B, Function in the Endocytic Pathway, but Their Individual Loss of Function Does Not Affect Notch Signalling

PLoS Genet. 2015 Dec 31;11(12):e1005749. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005749. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Abstract

CC2D1A and CC2D1B belong to the evolutionary conserved Lgd protein family with members in all multi-cellular animals. Several functions such as centrosomal cleavage, involvement in signalling pathways, immune response and synapse maturation have been described for CC2D1A. Moreover, the Drosophila melanogaster ortholog Lgd was shown to be involved in the endosomal trafficking of the Notch receptor and other transmembrane receptors and physically interacts with the ESCRT-III component Shrub/CHMP4. To determine if this function is conserved in mammals we generated and characterized Cc2d1a and Cc2d1b conditional knockout mice. While Cc2d1b deficient mice displayed no obvious phenotype, we found that Cc2d1a deficient mice as well as conditional mutants that lack CC2D1A only in the nervous system die shortly after birth due to respiratory distress. This finding confirms the suspicion that the breathing defect is caused by the central nervous system. However, an involvement in centrosomal function could not be confirmed in Cc2d1a deficient MEF cells. To analyse an influence on Notch signalling, we generated intestine specific Cc2d1a mutant mice. These mice did not display any alterations in goblet cell number, proliferating cell number or expression of the Notch reporter Hes1-emGFP, suggesting that CC2D1A is not required for Notch signalling. However, our EM analysis revealed that the average size of endosomes of Cc2d1a mutant cells, but not Cc2d1b mutant cells, is increased, indicating a defect in endosomal morphogenesis. We could show that CC2D1A and its interaction partner CHMP4B are localised on endosomes in MEF cells, when the activity of the endosomal protein VPS4 is reduced. This indicates that CC2D1A cycles between the cytosol and the endosomal membrane. Additionally, in rescue experiments in D. melanogaster, CC2D1A and CC2D1B were able to functionally replace Lgd. Altogether our data suggest a functional conservation of the Lgd protein family in the ESCRT-III mediated process in metazoans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Newborn
  • Centrosome / metabolism
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Endocytosis / physiology*
  • Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport
  • Endosomes / metabolism
  • Epithelium / metabolism
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Intestinal Mucosa / metabolism
  • Intestines / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Receptor, Notch1 / genetics
  • Receptor, Notch1 / metabolism
  • Receptors, Notch / genetics
  • Receptors, Notch / metabolism*
  • Repressor Proteins / genetics
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism
  • Vesicular Transport Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • CC2D1B protein, mouse
  • CHMP4B protein, mouse
  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport
  • Freud-1 protein, mouse
  • Notch1 protein, mouse
  • Receptor, Notch1
  • Receptors, Notch
  • Repressor Proteins
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • Vesicular Transport Proteins
  • l(2)gd1 protein, Drosophila

Grants and funding

This work was funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant number KL 1028/5-1 http://www.dfg.de/index.jsp. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.