The relative binding position of Nck and Grb2 adaptors impacts actin-based motility of Vaccinia virus

  1. Angika Basant  Is a corresponding author
  2. Michael Way  Is a corresponding author
  1. The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom

Abstract

Phosphotyrosine (pTyr) motifs in unstructured polypeptides orchestrate important cellular processes by engaging SH2-containing adaptors to assemble complex signalling networks. The concept of phase separation has recently changed our appreciation of multivalent networks, however, the role of pTyr motif positioning in their function remains to be explored. We have now investigated this parameter in the operation of the signalling cascade driving actin-based motility and spread of Vaccinia virus. This network involves two pTyr motifs in the viral protein A36 that recruit the adaptors Nck and Grb2 upstream of N-WASP and Arp2/3 complex-mediated actin polymerization. Manipulating the position of pTyr motifs in A36 and the unrelated p14 from Orthoreovirus, we find that only specific spatial arrangements of Nck and Grb2 binding sites result in robust N-WASP recruitment, Arp2/3 complex driven actin polymerization and viral spread. This suggests that the relative position of pTyr adaptor binding sites is optimised for signal output. This finding may explain why the relative positions of pTyr motifs are frequently conserved in proteins from widely different species. It also has important implications for regulation of physiological networks, including those undergoing phase transitions.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting file; Source Data files have been provided for all graphs and western blots.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Angika Basant

    Cellular signalling and cytoskeletal function laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    angika.basant@crick.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4754-6647
  2. Michael Way

    Cellular signalling and cytoskeletal function laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    michael.way@crick.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7207-2722

Funding

Cancer Research UK (FC001209)

  • Michael Way

Medical Research Council (FC001209)

  • Michael Way

Wellcome Trust (FC001209)

  • Michael Way

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

Copyright

© 2022, Basant & Way

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.

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  1. Angika Basant
  2. Michael Way
(2022)
The relative binding position of Nck and Grb2 adaptors impacts actin-based motility of Vaccinia virus
eLife 11:e74655.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74655

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74655

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