TY - JOUR A1 - Schmitt, Dominique A1 - Funk, Natalia A1 - Blum, Robert A1 - Asan, Esther A1 - Andersen, Lill A1 - Rülicke, Thomas A1 - Sendtner, Michael A1 - Buchner, Erich T1 - Initial characterization of a Syap1 knock-out mouse and distribution of Syap1 in mouse brain and cultured motoneurons JF - Histochemistry and Cell Biology N2 - Synapse-associated protein 1 (Syap1/BSTA) is the mammalian homologue of Sap47 (synapse-associated protein of 47 kDa) in Drosophila. Sap47 null mutant larvae show reduced short-term synaptic plasticity and a defect in associative behavioral plasticity. In cultured adipocytes, Syap1 functions as part of a complex that phosphorylates protein kinase B alpha/Akt1 (Akt1) at Ser\(^{473}\) and promotes differentiation. The role of Syap1 in the vertebrate nervous system is unknown. Here, we generated a Syap1 knock-out mouse and show that lack of Syap1 is compatible with viability and fertility. Adult knock-out mice show no overt defects in brain morphology. In wild-type brain, Syap1 is found widely distributed in synaptic neuropil, notably in regions rich in glutamatergic synapses, but also in perinuclear structures associated with the Golgi apparatus of specific groups of neuronal cell bodies. In cultured motoneurons, Syap1 is located in axons and growth cones and is enriched in a perinuclear region partially overlapping with Golgi markers. We studied in detail the influence of Syap1 knockdown and knockout on structure and development of these cells. Importantly, Syap1 knockout does not affect motoneuron survival or axon growth. Unexpectedly, neither knockdown nor knockout of Syap1 in cultured motoneurons is associated with reduced Ser\(^{473}\) or Thr\(^{308}\) phosphorylation of Akt. Our findings demonstrate a widespread expression of Syap1 in the mouse central nervous system with regionally specific distribution patterns as illustrated in particular for olfactory bulb, hippocampus, and cerebellum. KW - Protein kinase B KW - Spinal Muscular-arthropy KW - Rictor-mTOR complex KW - Neurotrophic factors KW - Plasma-membrane KW - Axon growth KW - SAP47 gene KW - Phosphorylation KW - Drosophilia KW - Cells KW - BSTA KW - Viability KW - Brain KW - Syap1 localization KW - Glutamatergic synapses KW - PKB/Akt phosphorylation Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-187258 VL - 146 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eckhardt, Manon A1 - Anders, Maria A1 - Muranyi, Walter A1 - Heilemann, Mike A1 - Krijnse-Locker, Jacomine A1 - Müller, Barbara T1 - A SNAP-Tagged Derivative of HIV-1-A Versatile Tool to Study Virus-Cell Interactions JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Fluorescently labeled human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) derivatives, combined with the use of advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques, allow the direct visualization of dynamic events and individual steps in the viral life cycle. HIV proteins tagged with fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been successfully used for live-cell imaging analyses of HIV-cell interactions. However, FPs display limitations with respect to their physicochemical properties, and their maturation kinetics. Furthermore, several independent FP-tagged constructs have to be cloned and characterized in order to obtain spectral variations suitable for multi-color imaging setups. In contrast, the so-called SNAP-tag represents a genetically encoded non-fluorescent tag which mediates specific covalent coupling to fluorescent substrate molecules in a self-labeling reaction. Fusion of the SNAP-tag to the protein of interest allows specific labeling of the fusion protein with a variety of synthetic dyes, thereby offering enhanced flexibility for fluorescence imaging approaches. Here we describe the construction and characterization of the HIV derivative HIV(SNAP), which carries the SNAP-tag as an additional domain within the viral structural polyprotein Gag. Introduction of the tag close to the C-terminus of the matrix domain of Gag did not interfere with particle assembly, release or proteolytic virus maturation. The modified virions were infectious and could be propagated in tissue culture, albeit with reduced replication capacity. Insertion of the SNAP domain within Gag allowed specific staining of the viral polyprotein in the context of virus producing cells using a SNAP reactive dye as well as the visualization of individual virions and viral budding sites by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy. Thus, HIV(SNAP) represents a versatile tool which expands the possibilities for the analysis of HIV-cell interactions using live cell imaging and sub-diffraction fluorescence microscopy. KW - Human-immunodeficiency-virus KW - Fusion proteins KW - Live cells KW - Fluorescence microscopy KW - Stimulated-emission KW - Plasma-membrane KW - Living cells KW - Real-time KW - TYPE-1 KW - GAG Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-133534 VL - 6 IS - 7 ER -