Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Niko Föger, Andrew Chan
Redundant versus unique roles of the actin regulatory
proteins coronin-1 and coronin-2 in the immune system
The integrity of the actin cytoskeletal network is critical for many biological processes.
Coronins constitute an evolutionary conserved family of proteins implicated in the
regulation of actin cytoskeletal dynamics. Focusing on the physiologic function of
coronin-1, a coronin family protein preferentially expressed in immune cells, we have
demostrated a requirement for coronin-1 in maintaining the cellular steady-state F-actin
content, chemokine-mediated functions in T cells and, most surprisingly, maintaining
normal cellular survival. Coronin-2 is closely related to coronin-1 and the two genes are
co-expressed in hematopoietic cells. In a genetic approach to address the question of
functional redundancy in vivo, we have generated coronin-2 deficient mice and crossed
them with coronin-1 deficient mice to obtain coronin-1_coronin-2 double deficient mice.
Analysis of the T cell compartment in coronin-1_coronin-2 double deficient mice
indicates a significantly exacerbated phenotype as compared to the respective single
knock-outs. Further phenotypical and functional analysis of lymphocytes from these
different coronin knock-out strains will define the relative roles of coronin-1 and coronin-
2 in regulating actin cytoskeletal dynamics in lymphocytes and reveal the degree of
potentially unique versus redundant functions of these proteins in the immune system.