The Borg Family of Cdc42 Effector Proteins Cdc42ep1–5
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institute of Cancer Research Repository Biochemical Society Transactions (2016) 0 1–8 DOI: 10.1042/BST20160219 1 2 The Borg family of Cdc42 effector proteins 3 4 Cdc42EP1–5 5 6 Aaron J. Farrugia and Fernando Calvo 7 8 Tumour Microenvironment Team, Division of Cancer Biology, Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London SW2 6JB, U.K. 9 Correspondence: Fernando Calvo ([email protected]) 10 11 12 13 Despite being discovered more than 15 years ago, the Borg (binder of Rho GTPases) 14 – family of Cdc42 effector proteins (Cdc42EP1 5) remains largely uncharacterised and rela- 15 tively little is known about their structure, regulation and role in development and disease. 16 Recent studies are starting to unravel some of the key functional and mechanistic 17 aspects of the Borg proteins, including their role in cytoskeletal remodelling and signal- 18 ling. In addition, the participation of Borg proteins in important cellular processes such as 19 cell shape, directed migration and differentiation is slowly emerging, directly linking Borgs 20 with important physiological and pathological processes such as angiogenesis, neuro- 21 fi transmission and cancer-associated desmoplasia. Here, we review some of these nd- 22 ings and discuss future prospects. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Introduction 30 The Rho GTPase family member Cdc42 regulates a diverse range of cellular functions including cyto- 31 kinesis, cytoskeletal remodelling and cell polarity [1,2]. Like other Rho family members, Cdc42 cycles 32 between two tightly regulated conformational states, a GTP-bound active state and a GDP-bound 33 inactive state [3]. Activated Cdc42 exerts its functions by interacting with downstream effectors con- 34 taining a Cdc42/Rac interaction binding (CRIB) motif [3,4]. Several Cdc42 effector proteins, including 35Q1 ¶ kinases and scaffolds, have been well characterised [5]; however, the functions of others remain rela- 36 tively unknown. Still, elusive is the largely understudied Borg family of Cdc42 effector proteins, 37 Cdc42EP1–5[6,7]. 38 Borg proteins were simultaneously discovered by two independent groups as proteins that interact 39 with the Rho GTPases Cdc42 and TC10/RhoQ [6,7]. Using a two-hybrid screen for interactors of 40Q2 ¶ TC10, the group of Ian Macara identified three clones containing identical CRIB motifs and flanking 41 regions. Further analysis discovered the ability of these clones to bind active Cdc42 but not to Rac or 42 Rho GTPases. These initial clones were subsequently extended to five putative clones based on 43 sequence homology and their ability to bind Cdc42 in a GTP-dependent manner. They named this 44 new family the Borg (binder of Rho GTPases) proteins (Borg1–5). One of these clones was the previ- 45 ously identified MSE55 [8], which was renamed Borg5. MSE55/Borg5 had already been shown to 46 contain a functional CRIB domain in its N-terminus and to be a non-kinase effector protein of Cdc42 47 capable of inducing F-actin-based protrusions [9]. Based on these characteristics, the group of Perter 48 Burbelo used the amino acid sequence of MSE55/Borg5 to search for homologous sequences and 49 Received: 30 July 2016 identified the same five clones [7]. They named the family ‘Cdc42 effector proteins’ or Cdc42EP/CEP, 50 Revised: 15 September 2016 which led to the disparate nomenclature for each member (depending on the classification): MSE55/ 51 Accepted: 19 September 2016 Cdc42EP1/Borg5, Cdc42EP2/Borg1, Cdc42EP3/Borg2, Cdc42EP4/Borg4 and Cdc42EP5/Borg3. For 52 Version of Record published: clarity, here we use the HUGO gene nomenclature to refer to each member (i.e. Cdc42EP1 instead of 53 0 Month 2016 MSE55/Borg5), but may use the term Borg to refer to the family. 54 © 2016 The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). 1 Biochemical Society Transactions (2016) 0 1–8 DOI: 10.1042/BST20160219 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Figure 1. Cdc42EP/Borg family of Cdc42 effector proteins. 87 (A) Schematic diagram showing the different domains in all the Borg proteins. (B) Direct alignments of the CRIB domains of 88 murine Cdc42EP1–5, with conserved residues highlighted. (C) Direct alignments of the BH3 domain of murine Cdc42EP1–5, Q7 89 with conserved residues highlighted. ¶ 90 91 92 93 Structure 94 Borg proteins are relatively small in size, ranging from 150 amino acids (∼15.5 kDa) in Cdc42EP5 to 409 95 amino acids (∼39 kDa) in Cdc42EP1 (Figure 1A). No family member presents known enzymatically active 96 domains, which suggest that they may exert their biological functions via structural or scaffolding activities. All 97 Borg proteins are characterised by the presence of a highly homologous N-terminal CRIB domain (Figure 1B) 98 [6,7]. In Borgs, the CRIB domain presents an extension at the C-terminus that may mediate its specific binding 99 to active Cdc42 and TC10 but not to Rac1 [6,7], as well as determining part of the particular biological effects 100 of these proteins. Following the CRIB motif, there is a well-conserved short domain that is unique to Borg pro- 101 teins and that was defined as the Borg Homology (BH) 1 domain [6]. The central and C-terminal parts of the 102 proteins are more divergent, but still present two additional well-conserved regions termed BH2 and BH3. The 103 BH2 domain is absent in the smallest Borg, Cdc42EP5, whereas the BH3 domain is common to all Borgs. The 104 BH3 domain has a central location in Cdc42EP1 and Cdc42EP4, whereas it is localised at the C-terminal parts 105 of Cdc42EP2, Cdc42EP3 and Cdc42EP5 (Figure 1C). The BH3 domain is the only BH domain with a defined 106 molecular role and has been shown to be necessary and sufficient for the specific binding of Borgs to septins 107 [10] (see Box 1). Contrary to the BH3 domain, the roles of the BH1 and BH2 domains are still to be defined. 108 2 © 2016 The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY). Biochemical Society Transactions (2016) 0 1–8 DOI: 10.1042/BST20160219 109 110 Box 1. The septin cytoskeleton 111 112 Septins comprise a large family of proteins (13 genes and >30 protein isoforms in humans) with 113 ubiquitous and tissue-specific expressions [12]. Septins are GTP-binding proteins that participate 114 in numerous cellular processes, including cell division, cell polarity and cytoskeletal organisation 115 [13,14]. Septins can dimerise and assemble into oligomers, such as the SEPT2/6/7/9 polymer, 116 which is the best characterised in mammalian cells [15,16]. Septin oligomers can assemble into 117 higher-order structures such as filaments, bundled filaments and rings, which can serve as scaf- 118 folds and diffusion barriers that control the localisation of cellular proteins [17]. The septin fila- 119 mentous network can associate with cell membranes and has been shown to co-localise with 120 actin, tubulin and other cytoskeletal components [18,19]; thus, septins are increasingly recog- 121 nised as a novel component of the cytoskeleton [13]. In addition to the improved understanding 122 of the biochemical properties and functions of septins, a growing number of studies are highlight- 123 ing the relevance of septins in the development and physiology of specific tissues and organs 124 [12]. 125 126 127 Outside the CRIB and BH domains, sequence divergences emerge. The central regions of Cdc42EP1, 128 Cdc42EP2 and Cdc42EP5 present a proline-rich domain; in addition, Cdc42EP1 contains several heptad 129 repeats that follow the BH3 domain [10]. More recently, it has been described that Cdc42EP3 presents a puta- 130 tive actin-binding region in its central region, C-terminally to the BH2 domain (Figure 1A)[11]. This region 131 presents high homology to the actin bundling region of Anillin. This particular actin-binding region of 132 Cdc42EP3 is not conserved among Borg proteins; however, other Borg members may bind and/or modulate 133 the actin cytoskeleton by alternative mechanisms or via distinct domains. 134 135 Mode of action 136 137 Q3 At cellular and molecular levels, the function of Borg proteins remains to be clearly defined, but studies thus 138 ¶ far indicate relevant roles in cytoskeletal rearrangement. As with other Cdc42 effector proteins, Borg proteins 139 were initially linked to the regulation of cell shape and early gain-of-function experiments were described roles 140 141 142 Table 1 The major interactions and functions of Borg proteins Q8 ¶ 143 CDC42 144 effector Binding 145 protein Interactions partners Reported functions Key references 146 Cdc42EP1 Cdc42, TC10 (RhoQ), SEPT2/6/7 Cell shape regulation, [6,7,9,10,20,21,33,34] 147 (Borg5, aPKC, ERK2, multiple actomyosin contractility, cell 148 MSE55) sites identified by migration of endothelial cells 149 proteomic analysis and trophectoderm cells, directionality and 150 persistence, angiogenesis Q9 151 ¶ Cdc42EP2 Cdc42, TC10, ERK2, SEPT2/6/7 Cell shape regulation and [6,7,10,20,32,33,37] 152 (Borg1) ERK3, MK5 regulator of myogenesis 153 154 Cdc42EP3 Cdc42, TC10, ERK3, SEPT2/6/7 Cell shape regulation, [6,7,10,11,20,31,32] (Borg2) MK5 F-actin actomyosin contractility and 155 pathological fibroblast 156 activation 157 Cdc42EP4 Cdc42, TC10, PKCα SEPT2/6/7, Cell shape regulation, [6,7,10,20,23,24] 158 (Borg4) ARHGEF17 filopodia formation and 159 (TEM4) mammary cell migration 160 Cdc42EP5 Cdc42, ERK3, MK5 SEPT2/6/7 Cell shape regulation and [6,7,10,20,32] 161 (Borg3) lamellipodium formation 162 © 2016 The Author(s).