Golgin-160 is a coiled-coil protein on the cytoplasmic face of the Golgi complex that is cleaved by caspases during apoptosis. We assessed the sensitivity of cell lines stably expressing wild-type or caspase-resistant golgin-160 to several proapoptotic stimuli. Cells expressing a caspase-resistant mutant of golgin-160 were strikingly resistant to apoptosis induced by ligation of death receptors and by drugs that induce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, including brefeldin-A, dithiothreitol, and thapsigargin. However, both cell lines responded similarly to other proapoptotic stimuli, including staurosporine, anisomycin, and etoposide. The caspase-resistant golgin-160 dominantly prevented cleavage of endogenous golgin-160 after ligation of death receptors or induction of ER stress, which could be explained by a failure of initiator caspase activation. The block in apoptosis in cells expressing caspase-resistant golgin-160 could not be bypassed by expression of potential caspase cleavage fragments of golgin-160, or by drug-induced disassembly of the Golgi complex. Our results suggest that some apoptotic signals (including those initiated by death receptors and ER stress) are sensed and integrated at Golgi membranes and that golgin-160 plays an important role in transduction of these signals.
INTRODUCTIONThe Golgi complex is central to the regulation of membrane trafficking in eukaryotic cells. It is the primary site for sorting and processing of proteins undergoing both exocytosis and endocytosis (reviewed in Farquhar and Palade, 1998). Under normal conditions, the mammalian Golgi complex is a collection of stacks of cisternal membranes near the microtubule organizing center. Proteins traversing the secretory pathway enter the Golgi at the cis face, are processed as they pass through the Golgi stacks, and are sorted at the trans face into vesicles bound for their intended destinations. The trans-Golgi is also important in sorting proteins being endocytosed or cycling between the plasma membrane and intracellular membrane compartments. This affords the Golgi extensive communication with the rest of the cell and its surroundings, placing it in a prime position to sense and integrate information about the state of the cell and its environment.The structure of the Golgi is highly dynamic, allowing reversible disassembly during mitosis. Key secretory pathway proteins are phosphorylated in a cell cycle-dependent manner to stop membrane trafficking and disassemble the Golgi (reviewed in Rabouille and Jokitalo, 2003). This rearrangement from a single perinuclear organelle to dispersed vesiculated compartments is thought to ensure partitioning of the Golgi complex into both daughter cells during cytokinesis. When Golgi disassembly is prevented by addition of antibodies to Golgi reassembly and stacking protein of 65 kDa (GRASP65), cells complete S phase, but they are unable to enter mitosis. This mitotic block can be bypassed by disassembling the Golgi with drugs (Sutterlin et al., 2002). Once mitosis is complete, the Golgi...