Caveolae are vesicular invaginations of the plasma membrane. The chief structural proteins of caveolae are the caveolins. Caveolins form a scaffold onto which many classes of signaling molecules can assemble to generate preassembled signaling complexes. In addition to concentrating these signal transducers within a distinct region of the plasma membrane, caveolin binding may functionally regulate the activation state of caveolae-associated signaling molecules. Because the responsibilities assigned to caveolae continue to increase, this review will focus on: (i) caveolin structure/function and (ii) caveolae-associated signal transduction. Studies that link caveolae to human diseases will also be considered.The Caveolin Gene Family: Caveolin-1, -2, and -3 Molecular cloning has identified three distinct caveolin genes (1-6), caveolin-1, caveolin-2, and caveolin-3. Two isoforms of caveolin-1 (Cav-1␣ and Cav-1␤) are derived from alternate initiation during translation. Caveolin-1 and -2 are most abundantly expressed in adipocytes, endothelial cells, and fibroblastic cell types, whereas the expression of caveolin-3 is muscle-specific.Caveolin proteins interact with themselves to form homo-and hetero-oligomers (7-9), which directly bind cholesterol (10) and require cholesterol for insertion into model lipid membranes (10,11). Caveolin oligomers may also interact with glycosphingolipids (12). These protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions are thought to be the driving force for caveolae formation (7). In addition, the caveolin gene family is structurally and functionally conserved from worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) to man (13), supporting the idea that caveolins play an essential role.Caveolin-1 assumes an unusual topology. A central hydrophobic domain (residues 102-134) is thought to form a hairpin-like structure within the membrane. As a consequence, both the N-terminal domain (residues 1-101) and the C-terminal domain (residues 135-178) face the cytoplasm. A 41-amino acid region of the N-terminal domain (residues 61-101) directs the formation of caveolin homooligomers (7), whereas the 44-amino acid C-terminal domain acts as a bridge to allow these homo-oligomers to interact with each other, thereby forming a caveolin-rich scaffold (14).Recent co-immunoprecipitation and dual labeling experiments directly show that caveolin-1 and -2 form a stable hetero-oligomeric complex and are strictly co-localized (9). Caveolin-2 localization corresponds to caveolae membranes as visualized by immunoelectron microscopy (9). Thus, caveolin-2 may function as an "accessory protein" in conjunction with caveolin-1. Caveolin-interacting ProteinsA number of studies support the hypothesis that caveolin proteins provide a direct means for resident caveolae proteins to be sequestered within caveolae microdomains. These caveolin-interacting proteins include G-protein ␣ subunits, Ha-Ras, Src family tyrosine kinases, endothelial NOS, 1 EGF-R and related receptor tyrosine kinases, and protein kinase C isoforms (11, 15-18, 20 -32).Heterotri...

The evolution of land flora transformed the terrestrial environment. Land plants evolved from an ancestral charophycean alga from which they inherited developmental, biochemical, and cell biological attributes. Additional biochemical and physiological adaptations to land, and a life cycle with an alternation between multicellular haploid and diploid generations that facilitated efficient dispersal of desiccation tolerant spores, evolved in the ancestral land plant. We analyzed the genome of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a member of a basal land plant lineage. Relative to charophycean algae, land plant genomes are characterized by genes encoding novel biochemical pathways, new phytohormone signaling pathways (notably auxin), expanded repertoires of signaling pathways, and increased diversity in some transcription factor families. Compared with other sequenced land plants, M. polymorpha exhibits low genetic redundancy in most regulatory pathways, with this portion of its genome resembling that predicted for the ancestral land plant. PAPERCLIP.

Large metal ions (>0.9 A ionic radius) have previously been found to bind only weakly to human serum transferrin (hTF, 80 kDa), presumably because the interdomain cleft cannot close around the metal and synergistic anion. Surprisingly, therefore, we report that Bi3+ (ionic radius 1.03 A), a metal ion widely used in anti-ulcer drugs, binds strongly to both the N- and C-lobes with log K1* = 19.42 and log K2* = 18.58 (10 mM Hepes, 5 mM bicarbonate, 310 K). The uptake of Bi3+ by apo-hTF from bismuth citrate complexes is very slow (hours), whereas that from bismuth nitrilotriacetate is rapid (minutes). Evidence from absorption and NMR spectroscopy is presented to show that Bi3+ binds to the specific Fe3+ binding sites along with carbonate as the synergistic anion. Under the conditions used, preferential binding of Bi3+ to the C-lobe of hTF is observed. Linear free energy relationships show that there is a strong correlation between the strength of binding of Bi3+ and Fe3+ to a wide variety of ligands which include transferrin. Therefore we conclude that the strength of metal ion binding to transferrin is determined more by the ligand donor set than by the size of the ion.

6Caveolae were originally identified as flask-shaped invaginations of the plasma membrane in endothelial and epithelial cells (14). Prior to the development of biochemical methods for their purification, caveolae were thought to principally mediate the transcellular movement of molecules (101,145). Recently, the development of novel purification procedures has greatly expanded our knowledge regarding the putative functions of caveolae in vivo. In this review, we seek to update the working definition of caveolae, describe the functional roles of the caveolin gene family, and summarize the evidence that supports a role for caveolae as mediators of a number of cellular signaling processes. OVERVIEW: CAVEOLAE AND CAVEOLA-RELATED DOMAINS ARE LIQUID-ORDERED MICRODOMAINSAlthough caveolae were classically defined as plasma membrane invaginations with a characteristic diameter of ϳ50 to 100 nm, this morphological description is inadequate. Caveolae can be invaginated, flat within the plane of the plasma membrane, or detached vesicles. In addition, caveolae can fuse to form grape-like structures (132) and tubules (116) with sizes significantly larger than 100 nm. Morphologically, they are abundant in endothelia, muscle cell types, adipocytes, and lung epithelial cells (34,112). Recent investigations have also revealed that caveola-like structures are present within the nervous system (15,50,71).Caveolae have a unique lipid composition. They are mainly composed of cholesterol and sphingolipids. In contrast, noncaveolar regions of the plasma membrane are composed mainly of phospholipids. Cholesterol and sphingolipids can form a liquid-ordered (l o ) phase, which is resistant to detergent solubilization (13). These detergent-resistant liquid-ordered domains purified from mammalian cells and tissues are currently referred to as detergent-insoluble glycolipid-rich membranes, cholesterolsphingolipid rafts, glycolipid-enriched membranes, detergentresistant membranes, caveolin-enriched membranes, low-density Triton-insoluble domains, caveola-like domains, and caveolarelated domains. Here, we will refer to liquid-ordered domains that contain caveolins as caveolae and liquid-ordered domains lacking caveolins as caveola-related domains (Fig. 1). In addition, experiments with liposomes in vitro have provided evidence that cholesterol and sphingolipids alone can form liquid-ordered lipid domains which are resistant to detergent solubilization (13). The idea that caveolae and caveola-related domains are liquid-ordered membranous structures is not new and has been proposed by other investigators as well (1,12,13,120,142). For a more complete definition of liquid-ordered domains, see the work of Brown and London (12, 13). Furthermore, by using multiple independent approaches, several laboratories have now provided evidence that these microdomains exist in living cells in vivo (12,13,46,65,72,120).Caveolins are the defining protein components of caveolae. Interestingly, caveolins bind cholesterol directly. In addition, cholesterol binding...