Loss of ninein interferes with osteoclast formation and causes premature ossification

Abstract

Ninein is a centrosome protein that has been implicated in microtubule anchorage and centrosome cohesion. Mutations in the human NINEIN gene have been linked to Seckel syndrome and to a rare form of skeletal dysplasia. However, the role of ninein in skeletal development remains unknown. Here, we describe a ninein knockout mouse with advanced endochondral ossification during embryonic development. Although the long bones maintain a regular size, the absence of ninein delays the formation of the bone marrow cavity in the prenatal tibia. Likewise, intramembranous ossification in the skull is more developed, leading to a premature closure of the interfrontal suture. We demonstrate that ninein is strongly expressed in osteoclasts of control mice, and that its absence reduces the fusion of precursor cells into syncytial osteoclasts, whereas the number of osteoblasts remains unaffected. As a consequence, ninein-deficient osteoclasts have a reduced capacity to resorb bone. At the cellular level, the absence of ninein interferes with centrosomal microtubule organization, reduces centrosome cohesion, and provokes the loss of centrosome clustering in multinucleated mature osteoclasts. We propose that centrosomal ninein is important for osteoclast fusion, to enable a functional balance between bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-resorbing osteoclasts during skeletal development.

Data availability

10.6084/m9.figshare.25650942source data files have been provided for Figure 7-figure supplement 1

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Thierry Gilbert

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Camille Gorlt

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Merlin Barbier

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III / CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Benjamin Duployer

    CIRIMAT, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Marianna Plozza

    Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Ophélie Dufrancais

    Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Laure-Elene Martet

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Elisa Dalbard

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Loelia Segot

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Christophe Tenailleau

    CIRIMAT, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Laurence Haren

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Christel Vérollet

    Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1079-9085
  13. Christiane Bierkamp

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Andreas Merdes

    Centre de Biologie Intégrative, University Toulouse III, CNRS, Toulouse, France
    For correspondence
    andreas.merdes@univ-tlse3.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3739-2728

Funding

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR16-CE13-0005-01)

  • Christel Vérollet

Universite Toulouse III (financement S&N Bernard)

  • Andreas Merdes

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Mei Wan, Johns Hopkins University, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the Genotoul Anexplo facilities of the Center for Integrative Biology, University Toulouse III (institution agreement #D3155511, project agreement APAFIS#2725-2015111213203624 v5).

Version history

  1. Received: October 11, 2023
  2. Preprint posted: November 6, 2023 (view preprint)
  3. Accepted: June 4, 2024
  4. Accepted Manuscript published: June 5, 2024 (version 1)
  5. Version of Record published: June 13, 2024 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2024, Gilbert 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

  • 288
    views
  • 79
    downloads
  • 0
    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. Thierry Gilbert
  2. Camille Gorlt
  3. Merlin Barbier
  4. Benjamin Duployer
  5. Marianna Plozza
  6. Ophélie Dufrancais
  7. Laure-Elene Martet
  8. Elisa Dalbard
  9. Loelia Segot
  10. Christophe Tenailleau
  11. Laurence Haren
  12. Christel Vérollet
  13. Christiane Bierkamp
  14. Andreas Merdes
(2024)
Loss of ninein interferes with osteoclast formation and causes premature ossification
eLife 13:e93457.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.93457

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.93457

Further reading

    1. Developmental Biology
    Zhimin Xu, Zhao Wang ... Yingchuan B Qi
    Research Article

    Precise developmental timing control is essential for organism formation and function, but its mechanisms are unclear. In C. elegans, the microRNA lin-4 critically regulates developmental timing by post-transcriptionally downregulating the larval-stage-fate controller LIN-14. However, the mechanisms triggering the activation of lin-4 expression toward the end of the first larval stage remain unknown. We demonstrate that the transmembrane transcription factor MYRF-1 is necessary for lin-4 activation. MYRF-1 is initially localized on the cell membrane, and its increased cleavage and nuclear accumulation coincide with lin-4 expression timing. MYRF-1 regulates lin-4 expression cell-autonomously and hyperactive MYRF-1 can prematurely drive lin-4 expression in embryos and young first-stage larvae. The tandem lin-4 promoter DNA recruits MYRF-1GFP to form visible loci in the nucleus, suggesting that MYRF-1 directly binds to the lin-4 promoter. Our findings identify a crucial link in understanding developmental timing regulation and establish MYRF-1 as a key regulator of lin-4 expression.

    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    Samuel C Griffiths, Jia Tan ... Hsin-Yi Henry Ho
    Research Article Updated

    The receptor tyrosine kinase ROR2 mediates noncanonical WNT5A signaling to orchestrate tissue morphogenetic processes, and dysfunction of the pathway causes Robinow syndrome, brachydactyly B, and metastatic diseases. The domain(s) and mechanisms required for ROR2 function, however, remain unclear. We solved the crystal structure of the extracellular cysteine-rich (CRD) and Kringle (Kr) domains of ROR2 and found that, unlike other CRDs, the ROR2 CRD lacks the signature hydrophobic pocket that binds lipids/lipid-modified proteins, such as WNTs, suggesting a novel mechanism of ligand reception. Functionally, we showed that the ROR2 CRD, but not other domains, is required and minimally sufficient to promote WNT5A signaling, and Robinow mutations in the CRD and the adjacent Kr impair ROR2 secretion and function. Moreover, using function-activating and -perturbing antibodies against the Frizzled (FZ) family of WNT receptors, we demonstrate the involvement of FZ in WNT5A-ROR signaling. Thus, ROR2 acts via its CRD to potentiate the function of a receptor super-complex that includes FZ to transduce WNT5A signals.