Gerstner, C.D.; Reed, M.; Dahl, T.M.; Ying, G.; Frederick, J.M.; Baehr, W. Arf-like Protein 2 (ARL2) Controls Microtubule Neogenesis during Early Postnatal Photoreceptor Development. Cells2023, 12, 147.
Gerstner, C.D.; Reed, M.; Dahl, T.M.; Ying, G.; Frederick, J.M.; Baehr, W. Arf-like Protein 2 (ARL2) Controls Microtubule Neogenesis during Early Postnatal Photoreceptor Development. Cells 2023, 12, 147.
Gerstner, C.D.; Reed, M.; Dahl, T.M.; Ying, G.; Frederick, J.M.; Baehr, W. Arf-like Protein 2 (ARL2) Controls Microtubule Neogenesis during Early Postnatal Photoreceptor Development. Cells2023, 12, 147.
Gerstner, C.D.; Reed, M.; Dahl, T.M.; Ying, G.; Frederick, J.M.; Baehr, W. Arf-like Protein 2 (ARL2) Controls Microtubule Neogenesis during Early Postnatal Photoreceptor Development. Cells 2023, 12, 147.
Abstract
Arf-like protein 2 (ARL2) is a ubiquitously expressed small GTPase with multiple functions. In cell culture, ARL2 participates with tubulin cofactor D (TBCD) in the neogenesis of tubulin αβ-heterodimers, the building blocks of microtubules. To evaluate this function in retina, we conditionally deleted ARL2 in mouse retina at two distinct stages, either during embryonic development (retArl2-/-) or after ciliogenesis specifically in rods (rodArl2-/-). retArl2-/- retina sections displayed distorted nuclear layers and a disrupted microtubule cytoskeleton (MTC) as early as postnatal day 6 (P6). Rod and cone outer segments (OS) did not form. By contrast, rod ARL2 knockouts were stable at postnatal day 35 and revealed normal ERG responses. Cytoplasmic dynein is reduced in retArl2-/- inner segments (IS), suggesting that dynein may be unstable in the absence of a normal MTC. We investigated microtubular stability in the absence of either ARL2 (retARL2-/-) or DYNC1H1 (retDync1h1-/-), the dynein heavy chain, and found that both the retArl2-/- and retDync1h1-/- retinas exhibited reduced microtubules and nuclear layer distortion. The results suggest that ARL2 and dynein depend on each other to generate a functional MTC during early photoreceptor development.
Keywords
Arf-like protein 2 (ARL2); tubulin αβ-heterodimers; retina; rod photoreceptors; microtubule cytoskeleton (MTC); dynein heavy chain (DYNC1H1)
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
