PTEN regulates cilia through Dishevelled

Nat Commun. 2015 Sep 24:6:8388. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9388.

Abstract

Cilia are hair-like cellular protrusions important in many aspects of eukaryotic biology. For instance, motile cilia enable fluid movement over epithelial surfaces, while primary (sensory) cilia play roles in cellular signalling. The molecular events underlying cilia dynamics, and particularly their disassembly, are not well understood. Phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) is an extensively studied tumour suppressor, thought to primarily act by antagonizing PI3-kinase signalling. Here we demonstrate that PTEN plays an important role in multicilia formation and cilia disassembly by controlling the phosphorylation of Dishevelled (DVL), another ciliogenesis regulator. DVL is a central component of WNT signalling that plays a role during convergent extension movements, which we show here are also regulated by PTEN. Our studies identify a novel protein substrate for PTEN that couples PTEN to regulation of cilia dynamics and WNT signalling, thus advancing our understanding of potential underlying molecular etiologies of PTEN-related pathologies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Cilia / metabolism*
  • Dishevelled Proteins
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian
  • Epithelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Immunoblotting
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase / metabolism*
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
  • Phosphoproteins / metabolism*
  • Phosphorylation
  • Retina / cytology
  • Wnt Signaling Pathway
  • Xenopus Proteins
  • Xenopus laevis

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • DVL1 protein, Xenopus
  • Dishevelled Proteins
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Xenopus Proteins
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
  • PTEN Phosphohydrolase