V-1 regulates capping protein activity in vivo

Capping Protein (CP) plays a central role in the creation of the Arp2/3-generated branched actin networks comprising lamellipodia and pseudopodia by virtue of its ability to cap the actin filament barbed end, which promotes Arp2/3-dependent filament nucleation and optimal branching. The highly conserved protein V-1/Myotrophin binds CP tightly in vitro to render it incapable of binding the barbed end. Here we addressed the physiological significance of this CP antagonist in Dictyostelium, which expresses a V-1 homolog that we show is very similar biochemically to mouse V-1. Consistent with previous studies of CP knockdown, overexpression of V-1 in Dictyostelium reduced the size of pseudopodia and the cortical content of Arp2/3 and induced the formation of filopodia. Importantly, these effects scaled positively with the degree of V-1 overexpression and were not seen with a V-1 mutant that cannot bind CP. V-1 is present in molar excess over CP, suggesting that it suppresses CP activity in the cytoplasm at steady state. Consistently, cells devoid of V-1, like cells overexpressing CP described previously, exhibited a significant decrease in cellular F-actin content. Moreover, V-1–null cells exhibited pronounced defects in macropinocytosis and chemotactic aggregation that were rescued by V-1, but not by the V-1 mutant. Together, these observations demonstrate that V-1 exerts significant influence in vivo on major actin-based processes via its ability to sequester CP. Finally, we present evidence that V-1’s ability to sequester CP is regulated by phosphorylation, suggesting that cells may manipulate the level of active CP to tune their “actin phenotype.”