The activity of Rho GTPases is carefully timed to control epithelial proliferation and differentiation. RhoA is downregulated when epithelial cells reach confluence, resulting in inhibition of signaling pathways that stimulate proliferation. Here we show that GEF-H1/Lfc, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for RhoA, directly interacts with cingulin, a junctional adaptor. Cingulin binding inhibits RhoA activation and signaling, suggesting that the increase in cingulin expression in confluent cells causes downregulation of RhoA by inhibiting GEF-H1/Lfc. In agreement, RNA interference of GEF-H1 or transfection of GEF-H1 binding cingulin mutants inhibit G1/S phase transition of MDCK cells, and depletion of cingulin by regulated RNA interference results in irregular monolayers and RhoA activation. These results indicate that forming epithelial tight junctions contribute to the downregulation of RhoA in epithelia by inactivating GEF-H1 in a cingulin-dependent manner, providing a molecular mechanism whereby tight junction formation is linked to inhibition of RhoA signaling.

We characterized the sequence and protein interactions of cingulin, an M r 140–160-kD phosphoprotein localized on the cytoplasmic surface of epithelial tight junctions (TJ). The derived amino acid sequence of a full-length Xenopus laevis cingulin cDNA shows globular head (residues 1–439) and tail (1,326–1,368) domains and a central α-helical rod domain (440–1,325). Sequence analysis, electron microscopy, and pull-down assays indicate that the cingulin rod is responsible for the formation of coiled-coil parallel dimers, which can further aggregate through intermolecular interactions. Pull-down assays from epithelial, insect cell, and reticulocyte lysates show that an NH2-terminal fragment of cingulin (1–378) interacts in vitro with ZO-1 (K d ∼5 nM), ZO-2, ZO-3, myosin, and AF-6, but not with symplekin, and a COOH-terminal fragment (377–1,368) interacts with myosin and ZO-3. ZO-1 and ZO-2 immunoprecipitates contain cingulin, suggesting in vivo interactions. Full-length cingulin, but not NH2-terminal and COOH-terminal fragments, colocalizes with endogenous cingulin in transfected MDCK cells, indicating that sequences within both head and rod domains are required for TJ localization. We propose that cingulin is a functionally important component of TJ, linking the submembrane plaque domain of TJ to the actomyosin cytoskeleton.

Separation of distinct body, organ and tissue compartments, and maintenance of epithelial cell polarity require tight junctions (TJ)-cell-cell junctions located in the apicolateral regions of epithelial and endothelial cells. Studies on the protein components of vertebrate TJ have revealed an intricate network of membrane, sub-membrane, cytoskeletal, and signalling molecules. How these molecules functionally interact to provide TJ with their functions, and what roles these molecules play in control of cell growth and differentiation is a fundamental problem in cell biology.

We have previously reported that nicotine stimulates cell proliferation of three small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cell lines by activating nicotinic receptors of the neuronal type. Here we report that, in the GLC-8 SCLC cell line, nicotine stimulates mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity in a concentration- and time-dependent manner (ED50 = 10 nM). The nicotine effect was antagonized by mecamylamine, an antagonist specific for neuronal nicotinic receptors. The absence of extracellular Ca2+, or pretreatment with pertussis toxin or the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein inhibited the action of nicotine on MAP kinase. Moreover, supernatants from nicotine-stimulated cells transferred to cells pretreated with mecamylamine were still capable of activating MAP kinase. On the other hand, the same supernatants transferred to cells pretreated with mecamylamine and pertussis toxin or genistein failed to activate MAP kinase. These findings suggest that nicotine elicits its stimulatory effect on MAP kinase in SCLC cells indirectly by inducing the production and/or release of a factor which then acts via a pertussis toxin- and tyrosine kinase-sensitive route.

Cingulin, a protein component of the submembrane plaque of tight junctions (TJ), contains globular and coiled-coil domains and interacts in vitro with several TJ and cytoskeletal proteins, including the PDZ protein ZO-1. Overexpression of Xenopus cingulin in transfected Xenopus A6 cells resulted in the disruption of endogenous ZO-1 localization, suggesting that cingulin functionally interacts with ZO-1. Glutathione S-transferase pull-down experiments showed that a conserved ZO-1 interaction motif (ZIM) at the NH 2 terminus of cingulin is required for cingulin-ZO-1 interaction in vitro. An NH 2 -terminal region of cingulin, containing the ZIM, was sufficient, when fused to coiled-coil sequences, to target transfected cingulin to junctions. However, deletion of the ZIM did not abolish junctional localization of transfected cingulin in A6 cells, suggesting that cingulin can be recruited to TJ through multiple protein interactions. Interestingly, the ZIM was required for cingulin recruitment into ZO-1-containing adherens junctions of Rat-1 fibroblasts, indicating that cingulin junctional recruitment does not require the molecular context of TJ. Cingulin coiled-coil sequences enhanced the junctional accumulation of expressed cingulin head region in A6 cells, but purified recombinant cingulin did not form filaments under physiological conditions in vitro, suggesting that the cingulin coiled-coil domain acts primarily by promoting dimerization.The ability of vertebrate organisms to develop a complex body organization depends critically on the creation and maintenance of separate body, organ, and tissue compartments. This, in turn, depends on the ability of epithelia and endothelia lining different body surfaces to form semipermeable barriers that prevent the free diffusion of molecules and cells between extracellular compartments. The structure that allows epithelia and endothelia to form a semipermeable barrier is the tight junction (TJ), 1 a gasket-like seal surrounding the apicolateral region of polarized cells. TJ also define the separation between apical and basolateral domains of the plasma membrane that show different composition and function. Thus, TJ are essential for separation of tissue compartments and maintenance of epithelial cell polarity. The structure and function of TJ vary depending on type of tissue and physiological and pathological states, suggesting that changes in the expression and/or function of different TJ components underlie such modulation.Much progress has been made in recent decades in elucidating the molecular organization of TJ. TJ comprise membrane and submembrane (cytoplasmic plaque) domains. The membrane domain of TJ contains transmembrane Ig-like proteins and four-membrane pass proteins important for cell-cell adhesion and selective paracellular permeability (see Refs. 1 and 2 for reviews). The cytoplasmic plaque of TJ contains a large number of proteins, including PDZ-containing, signaling, and cytoskeletal proteins (2, 3). TJ plaque proteins probably play an important role in epi...