Increased association of dynamin II with myosin II in ras transformed NIH3T3 cells.

Dynamin has been implicated in the formation of nascent vesicles through both endocytic and secretory pathways. However, dynamin has recently been implicated in altering the cell membrane shape during cell migration associated with cytoskeleton-related proteins. Myosin II has been implicated in maintaining cell morphology and in cellular movement. Therefore, reciprocal immunoprecipitation was carried out to identify the potential relationship between dynamin II and myosin II. The dynamin II expression level was higher when co-expressed with myosin II in Ras transformed NIH3T3 cells than in normal NIH3T3 cells. Confocal microscopy also confirmed the interaction between these two proteins. Interestingly, exposing the NIH3T3 cells to platelet-derived growth factor altered the interaction and localization of these two proteins. The platelet-derived growth factor treatment induced lamellipodia and cell migration, and dynamin II interacted with myosin II. Grb2, a 24 kDa adaptor protein and an essential element of the Ras signaling pathway, was found to be associated with dynamin II and myosin II gene expression in the Ras transformed NIH3T3 cells. These results suggest that dynamin II acts as an intermediate messenger in the Ras signal transduction pathway leading to membrane ruffling and cell migration.