A broad spectrum of human diseases (""""""""laminopathies"""""""") is caused by mutations in components of the nuclear lamina, a protein meshwork that lines the nuclear envelope. Many of these disease mutations affect heart and skeletal muscle. The prototype laminopathy is Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD), which causes dilated cardiomyopathy with conduction defects (DCM-CD) and dystrophy of skeletal muscles, and is caused by mutations in either lamin A or in inner nuclear membrane (INM) protein emerin. While the molecular basis for laminopathies is unknown, proximal causes are speculated to involve defects in cell signaling. EDMD models show elevated ERK1/2 signaling in heart, a pathway known to be linked to pathological cardiac hypertrophy. The broad, long-term objectives of this work are to understand how components of the nuclear lamina regulate signaling and contribute to normal and pathophysiological processes in heart and skeletal muscle. The current project is aimed at analyzing two INM proteins associated with the nuclear lamina that were recently shown to regulate signaling in myoblast differentiation, Lem2 and Net37. Lem2 (gene name, Lemd2) is involved in attenuation of ERK1/2 signaling, and Net37 is needed for secretion of IGF-II, a factor essential for autocrine signaling in myogenesis. The work will use cultured myoblasts to analyze how these INM proteins control signaling at the molecular level, and mouse models to understand their functions in heart and skeletal muscle and their potential relevance to diseases.
Aim 1 will dissect the regions of Lem2 required for ERK attenuation, identify potential ERK regulators that interact with these regions by proteomics, and functionally analyze these components in myoblast differentiation.
Aim 2 will evaluate whether Lemd2 can functionally compensate for loss of Emd in mouse, by analyzing animals with a hemizygous Lemd2 gene trapped allele in an emerin-null background. Also, a floxed allele of Lemd2 will be constructed for tissue-specific knockouts in adult heart and skeletal muscle, to evaluate the importance of Lemd2 in cardiac maintenance and in skeletal muscle function and repair.
Aim 3 will dissect the regions of Net37 required for IGF-II secretion and myoblast differentiation, analyze how the putative glycosidase activity of its luminal domain is involved in IGF-II folding and secretion, and determine whether Net37 and IGF-II have distinctive functions in muscle regeneration in mouse after silencing the endogenous genes by AAV vectors. It also will investigate whether the binding of signaling factors to the nucleoplasmic side of Net37 regulates the activity of its luminal domain. Overall this project is expected to shed significant new light on the molecular functions of Lem2 and Net37, and the results are predicted to provide insight on their functions in normal heart and skeletal muscle and in pathophysiological processes in these tissues.

Public Health Relevance

This work will analyze proteins involved in controlling molecular pathways that are of fundamental importance to heart and skeletal muscle. The studies are expected to enhance an understanding of how genetic mutations in these proteins may cause certain cardiac diseases and skeletal muscle dystrophies, and could contribute to improvement of therapeutic options for treatment of these diseases.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM028521-32
Application #
8591393
Study Section
Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Structure/Function and Dynamics Study Section (NCSD)
Program Officer
Ainsztein, Alexandra M
Project Start
1988-04-01
Project End
2014-12-31
Budget Start
2014-01-01
Budget End
2014-12-31
Support Year
32
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$508,239
Indirect Cost
$240,039
Name
Scripps Research Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
781613492
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92037
Gerace, Larry; Tapia, Olga (2018) Messages from the voices within: regulation of signaling by proteins of the nuclear lamina. Curr Opin Cell Biol 52:14-21
Stroud, Matthew J; Fang, Xi; Zhang, Jianlin et al. (2018) Luma is not essential for murine cardiac development and function. Cardiovasc Res 114:378-388
Stroud, Matthew J; Feng, Wei; Zhang, Jianlin et al. (2017) Nesprin 1?2 is essential for mouse postnatal viability and nuclear positioning in skeletal muscle. J Cell Biol 216:1915-1924
Tapia, Olga; Gerace, Larry (2016) Analysis of Nuclear Lamina Proteins in Myoblast Differentiation by Functional Complementation. Methods Mol Biol 1411:177-94
Tapia, Olga; Fong, Loren G; Huber, Michael D et al. (2015) Nuclear envelope protein Lem2 is required for mouse development and regulates MAP and AKT kinases. PLoS One 10:e0116196
Huber, Michael D; Vesely, Paul W; Datta, Kaustuv et al. (2013) Erlins restrict SREBP activation in the ER and regulate cellular cholesterol homeostasis. J Cell Biol 203:427-36
Kerkow, Donald E; Carmel, Andrew B; Menichelli, Elena et al. (2012) The structure of the NXF2/NXT1 heterodimeric complex reveals the combined specificity and versatility of the NTF2-like fold. J Mol Biol 415:649-65
Gerace, Larry; Huber, Michael D (2012) Nuclear lamina at the crossroads of the cytoplasm and nucleus. J Struct Biol 177:24-31
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Ambrus, Geza; Whitby, Landon R; Singer, Eric L et al. (2010) Small molecule peptidomimetic inhibitors of importin ýý/ýý mediated nuclear transport. Bioorg Med Chem 18:7611-20

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