Developmental alterations in centrosome integrity contribute to the post-mitotic state of mammalian cardiomyocytes

  1. David C Zebrowski
  2. Silvia Vergarajauregui
  3. Chi-Chung Wu
  4. Tanja Piatkowski
  5. Robert Becker
  6. Marina Leone
  7. Sofia Hirth
  8. Filomena Ricciardi
  9. Nathalie Falk
  10. Andreas Giessl
  11. Steffen Just
  12. Thomas Braun
  13. Gilbert Weidinger
  14. Felix B Engel  Is a corresponding author
  1. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
  2. University of Ulm, Germany
  3. Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany

Abstract

Mammalian cardiomyocytes become post-mitotic shortly after birth. Understanding how this occurs is highly relevant to cardiac regenerative therapy. Yet, how cardiomyocytes achieve and maintain a post-mitotic state is unknown. Here, we show that cardiomyocyte centrosome integrity is lost shortly after birth. This is coupled with relocalization of various centrosome proteins to the nuclear envelope. Consequently, postnatal cardiomyocytes are unable to undergo ciliogenesis and the nuclear envelope adopts the function as cellular microtubule organizing center. Loss of centrosome integrity is associated with, and can promote, cardiomyocyte G0/G1 cell cycle arrest suggesting that centrosome disassembly is developmentally utilized to achieve the post-mitotic state in mammalian cardiomyocytes. Adult cardiomyocytes of zebrafish and newt, which are able to proliferate, maintain centrosome integrity. Collectively, our data provide a novel mechanism underlying the post-mitotic state of mammalian cardiomyocytes as well as a potential explanation for why zebrafish and newts, but not mammals, can regenerate their heart.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. David C Zebrowski

    Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Silvia Vergarajauregui

    Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Chi-Chung Wu

    Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Tanja Piatkowski

    Department of Cardiac Development and Remodeling, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Robert Becker

    Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Marina Leone

    Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Sofia Hirth

    Department of Medicine II, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Filomena Ricciardi

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Nathalie Falk

    Department of Biology, Animal Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Andreas Giessl

    Department of Biology, Animal Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Steffen Just

    Department of Medicine II, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Thomas Braun

    Department of Cardiac Development and Remodeling, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Gilbert Weidinger

    Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Felix B Engel

    Experimental Renal and Cardiovascular Research, Department of Nephropathology, Institute of Pathology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
    For correspondence
    felix.engel@uk-erlangen.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Yukiko M Yamashita, University of Michigan, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: The investigation conforms with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals published by the Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and according to the regulations issued by the Committee for Animal Rights Protection of the State of Hessen (Regierungspraesidium Darmstadt) as well as Baden-Württemberg (Regierungspraesidium Tübingen). Extraction of organs and preparation of primary cell cultures were approved by the local Animal Ethics Committee in accordance to governmental and international guidelines on animal experimentation (protocol TS - 5/13 Nephropatho; Zebrafish protocol number o.183).

Version history

  1. Received: November 11, 2014
  2. Accepted: July 30, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: August 6, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: August 19, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Zebrowski et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 6,776
    views
  • 1,480
    downloads
  • 98
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. David C Zebrowski
  2. Silvia Vergarajauregui
  3. Chi-Chung Wu
  4. Tanja Piatkowski
  5. Robert Becker
  6. Marina Leone
  7. Sofia Hirth
  8. Filomena Ricciardi
  9. Nathalie Falk
  10. Andreas Giessl
  11. Steffen Just
  12. Thomas Braun
  13. Gilbert Weidinger
  14. Felix B Engel
(2015)
Developmental alterations in centrosome integrity contribute to the post-mitotic state of mammalian cardiomyocytes
eLife 4:e05563.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05563

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05563

Further reading

    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology
    Ian Lorimer
    Insight

    Establishing a zebrafish model of a deadly type of brain tumor highlights the role of the immune system in the early stages of the disease.

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Neuroscience
    Jaebin Kim, Edwin Bustamante ... Scott H Soderling
    Research Article

    One of the most extensively studied members of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases, Rac1 is an intracellular signal transducer that remodels actin and phosphorylation signaling networks. Previous studies have shown that Rac1-mediated signaling is associated with hippocampal-dependent working memory and longer-term forms of learning and memory and that Rac1 can modulate forms of both pre- and postsynaptic plasticity. How these different cognitive functions and forms of plasticity mediated by Rac1 are linked, however, is unclear. Here, we show that spatial working memory in mice is selectively impaired following the expression of a genetically encoded Rac1 inhibitor at presynaptic terminals, while longer-term cognitive processes are affected by Rac1 inhibition at postsynaptic sites. To investigate the regulatory mechanisms of this presynaptic process, we leveraged new advances in mass spectrometry to identify the proteomic and post-translational landscape of presynaptic Rac1 signaling. We identified serine/threonine kinases and phosphorylated cytoskeletal signaling and synaptic vesicle proteins enriched with active Rac1. The phosphorylated sites in these proteins are at positions likely to have regulatory effects on synaptic vesicles. Consistent with this, we also report changes in the distribution and morphology of synaptic vesicles and in postsynaptic ultrastructure following presynaptic Rac1 inhibition. Overall, this study reveals a previously unrecognized presynaptic role of Rac1 signaling in cognitive processes and provides insights into its potential regulatory mechanisms.