Cited by 323Cellular Mechanics and InteractionsProtein Kinase Regulation and GTPase SignalingAxon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling

The WAVE regulatory complex links diverse receptors to the actin cytoskeleton

Open access
Chen, Baoyu, Brinkmann, Klaus, Chen, Zhucheng, Pak, Chi W., Liao, Yuxing, Shi, Shuoyong, Henry, Lisa, Grishin, Nick V. +2 more·2014·Cell

Abstract

The WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) controls actin cytoskeletal dynamics throughout the cell by stimulating the actin-nucleating activity of the Arp2/3 complex at distinct membrane sites. However, the factors that recruit the WRC to specific locations remain poorly understood. Here, we have identified a large family of potential WRC ligands, consisting of ∼120 diverse membrane proteins, including protocadherins, ROBOs, netrin receptors, neuroligins, GPCRs, and channels. Structural, biochemical, and cellular studies reveal that a sequence motif that defines these ligands binds to a highly conserved interaction surface of the WRC formed by the Sra and Abi subunits. Mutating this binding surface in flies resulted in defects in actin cytoskeletal organization and egg morphology during oogenesis, leading to female sterility. Our findings directly link diverse membrane proteins to the WRC and actin cytoskeleton and have broad physiological and pathological ramifications in metazoans.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.048

Cites

13 of 13 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Rac1 binds to two sites on CYFIP in the WAVE complex, leading to WAVE activation.

    “Rac1 binds to two sites on CYFIP in the WAVE complex, leading to WAVE activation28,30–32.”

    From The WAVE complex in developmental and adulthood brain disorders (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Introduction identifies Sra1 as CYFIP1 and says Rac binds Sra1 and activates the WAVE regulatory complex by releasing WAVE's inhibited VCA region. The Results also show Rac1 stimulating complex activity. Neither passage establishes the claim that Rac1 binds at two sites on CYFIP. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Structural studies of the WAVE complex in vitro have used a recombinant WAVE complex containing mini-WAVE, which lacks the proline-rich region due to the disordered nature of this region and difficulty in crystallization.

    “Structural studies of the WAVE complex in vitro have used a recombinant WAVE complex containing mini-WAVE21,28,30,172, which lacks the proline-rich region due to the disordered nature of this region and difficulty in crystallization21.”

    From The WAVE complex in developmental and adulthood brain disorders (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Results section ('Crystal Structure of the WIRS/WRC Complex Reveals Binding Mechanism'; page unavailable) reports crystallizing a miniWRC that lacks WAVE’s proline-rich region. The Protein Purification section also describes the WRCs as recombinant. Our copy does not say the region was omitted because it is disordered or difficult to crystallize. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Dynamic control of actin polymerization is crucial for cellular migration, adhesion, division, membrane transport, and spatiotemporal coordination of signals that govern metabolism and proliferation.

    “Dynamic control of actin polymerization is crucial for cellular migration, adhesion, division, membrane transport, and spatiotemporal coordination of signals that govern metabolism and proliferation [1, 2].”

    From HEM1 Actin Immunodysregulatory Disorder: Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Future Directions (2022) · cites this paper as [1]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says dynamic actin rearrangements are vital to eukaryotic cells and identifies adhesion, migration, and division among the processes involving WAVE proteins. The passages do not establish the claim’s additional links to membrane transport or to spatiotemporal coordination of signals governing metabolism and proliferation. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The HEM1/2 and CYFIP1/2 subunits of the WRC are structurally homologous and form a heterodimer with a flat, polybasic surface that facilitates plasma membrane association.

    “The HEM1/2 and CYFIP1/2 subunits of the WRC are structurally homologous and form a heterodimer with a flat, polybasic surface that facilitates plasma membrane association [1].”

    From HEM1 Actin Immunodysregulatory Disorder: Genotypes, Phenotypes, and Future Directions (2022) · cites this paper as [1]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) identifies HEM1/2 as Nap1 variants and CYFIP1/2 as Sra1 variants, and describes Sra1 and Nap1 as homologous proteins that form a dimer. The passages found do not describe that dimer as having a flat, polybasic surface that facilitates plasma membrane association; the Results instead show membrane recruitment through receptor interactions. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • FMRP is not only involved in translation regulation and CYFIP1 is a component of complexes that do not contain FMRP.

    “These conclusions are consistent with the fact that FMRP is, indeed, not only involved in translation regulation (Maurin et al., 2014) and CYFIP1 is a component of complexes that do not contain FMRP (Abekhoukh and Bardoni, 2014; Chen et al., 2014).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 57

  1. Adams PD Afonine PV Bunkoczi G Chen VB Davis IW Echols N Headd JJ Hung LW Kapral GJ Grosse-Kunstleve RW 2010 PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 66 213 221 20124702 PMC2815670
  2. Ashkenazy H Erez E Martz E Pupko T Ben-Tal N 2010 ConSurf 2010: calculating evolutionary conservation in sequence and structure of proteins and nucleic acids Nucleic Acids Res 38 W529 533 20478830 PMC2896094
  3. Bastock R St Johnston D 2008 Drosophila oogenesis Curr Biol 18 R1082 1087 19081037
  4. Bernadskaya YY Wallace A Nguyen J Mohler WA Soto MC 2012 UNC-40/DCC, SAX-3/Robo, and VAB-1/Eph Polarize F-Actin during Embryonic Morphogenesis by Regulating the WAVE/SCAR Actin Nucleation Complex PLoS Genet 8 e1002863 22876199 PMC3410845
  5. Bilder D Haigo SL 2012 Expanding the morphogenetic repertoire: perspectives from the Drosophila egg Dev Cell 22 12 23 22264728 PMC3266552
  6. Bischof J Maeda RK Hediger M Karch F Basler K 2007 An optimized transgenesis system for Drosophila using germ-line-specific phiC31 integrases Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104 3312 3317 17360644 PMC1805588
  7. Bogdan S Stephan R Lobke C Mertens A Klambt C 2005 Abi activates WASP to promote sensory organ development Nat Cell Biol 7 977 984 16155589
  8. Buck M Xu W Rosen MK 2004 A two-state allosteric model for autoinhibition rationalizes WASP signal integration and targeting J Mol Biol 338 271 285 15066431
  9. Burkhardt P Stegmann CM Cooper B Kloepper TH Imig C Varoqueaux F Wahl MC Fasshauer D 2011 Primordial neurosecretory apparatus identified in the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108 15264 15269 21876177 PMC3174607
  10. Campellone KG Welch MD 2010 A nucleator arms race: cellular control of actin assembly Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 11 237 251 20237478 PMC2929822
  11. Chen Z Borek D Padrick SB Gomez TS Metlagel Z Ismail AM Umetani J Billadeau DD Otwinowski Z Rosen MK 2010 Structure and control of the actin regulatory WAVE complex Nature 468 533 538 21107423 PMC3085272
  12. Depienne C Cincotta M Billot S Bouteiller D Groppa S Brochard V Flamand C Hubsch C Meunier S Giovannelli F 2011 A novel DCC mutation and genetic heterogeneity in congenital mirror movements Neurology 76 260 264 21242494
  13. Dibbens LM Tarpey PS Hynes K Bayly MA Scheffer IE Smith R Bomar J Sutton E Vandeleur L Shoubridge C 2008 X-linked protocadherin 19 mutations cause female-limited epilepsy and cognitive impairment Nat Genet 40 776 781 18469813 PMC2756413
  14. Dimova PS Kirov A Todorova A Todorov T Mitev V 2012 A novel PCDH19 mutation inherited from an unaffected mother Pediatr Neurol 46 397 400 22633638
  15. Eden S Rohatgi R Podtelejnikov AV Mann M Kirschner MW 2002 Mechanism of regulation of WAVE1-induced actin nucleation by Rac1 and Nck Nature 418 790 793 12181570
  16. Emond MR Biswas S Jontes JD 2009 Protocadherin-19 is essential for early steps in brain morphogenesis Dev Biol 334 72 83 19615992
  17. Emsley P Lohkamp B Scott WG Cowtan K 2010 Features and development of Coot Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 66 486 501 20383002 PMC2852313
  18. Gutzeit HO Eberhardt W Gratwohl E 1991 Laminin and basement membrane-associated microfilaments in wild-type and mutant Drosophila ovarian follicles J Cell Sci 100 Pt 4 781 788 1814932
  19. Hartman NC Groves JT 2011 Signaling clusters in the cell membrane Curr Opin Cell Biol 23 370 376 21665455 PMC3703921
  20. Hawasli AH Benavides DR Nguyen C Kansy JW Hayashi K Chambon P Greengard P Powell CM Cooper DC Bibb JA 2007 Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 governs learning and synaptic plasticity via control of NMDAR degradation Nat Neurosci 10 880 886 17529984 PMC3910113
  21. Ho HY Rohatgi R Lebensohn AM Le M Li J Gygi SP Kirschner MW 2004 Toca-1 mediates Cdc42-dependent actin nucleation by activating the N-WASP-WIP complex Cell 118 203 216 15260990
  22. Hornbeck PV Kornhauser JM Tkachev S Zhang B Skrzypek E Murray B Latham V Sullivan M 2012 PhosphoSitePlus: a comprehensive resource for investigating the structure and function of experimentally determined post-translational modifications in man and mouse Nucleic Acids Res 40 D261 270 22135298 PMC3245126
  23. Hudson AM Cooley L 2002a A subset of dynamic actin rearrangements in Drosophila requires the Arp2/3 complex J Cell Biol 156 677 687 11854308 PMC2174088
  24. Hudson AM Cooley L 2002b Understanding the function of actin-binding proteins through genetic analysis of Drosophila oogenesis Annu Rev Genet 36 455 488 12429700
  25. Ismail AM Padrick SB Chen B Umetani J Rosen MK 2009 The WAVE regulatory complex is inhibited Nat Struct Mol Biol 16 561 563 19363480 PMC2716658
  26. Karpushev AV Levchenko V Ilatovskaya DV Pavlov TS Staruschenko A 2011 Novel role of Rac1/WAVE signaling mechanism in regulation of the epithelial Na+ channel Hypertension 57 996 1002 21464391
  27. Kim Y Sung JY Ceglia I Lee KW Ahn JH Halford JM Kim AM Kwak SP Park JB Ho Ryu S 2006 Phosphorylation of WAVE1 regulates actin polymerization and dendritic spine morphology Nature 442 814 817 16862120
  28. Kolanus W Romeo C Seed B 1993 T cell activation by clustered tyrosine kinases Cell 74 171 183 8334702
  29. Koronakis V Hume PJ Humphreys D Liu T Horning O Jensen ON McGhie EJ 2011 WAVE regulatory complex activation by cooperating GTPases Arf and Rac1 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108 14449 14454 21844371 PMC3167530
  30. Lane L Argoud-Puy G Britan A Cusin I Duek PD Evalet O Gateau A Gaudet P Gleizes A Masselot A 2012 neXtProt: a knowledge platform for human proteins Nucleic Acids Res 40 D76 83 22139911 PMC3245017
  31. Lebensohn AM Kirschner MW 2009 Activation of the WAVE complex by coincident signals controls actin assembly Mol Cell 36 512 524 19917258 PMC2818508
  32. Morrow EM Yoo SY Flavell SW Kim TK Lin Y Hill RS Mukaddes NM Balkhy S Gascon G Hashmi A 2008 Identifying autism loci and genes by tracing recent shared ancestry Science 321 218 223 18621663 PMC2586171
  33. Nakao S Platek A Hirano S Takeichi M 2008 Contact-dependent promotion of cell migration by the OL-protocadherin-Nap1 interaction J Cell Biol 182 395 410 18644894 PMC2483522
  34. Napoli I Mercaldo V Boyl PP Eleuteri B Zalfa F De Rubeis S Di Marino D Mohr E Massimi M Falconi M 2008 The fragile X syndrome protein represses activity-dependent translation through CYFIP1, a new 4E-BP Cell 134 1042 1054 18805096
  35. Oda H Imai Y Nakatsuru Y Hata J Ishikawa T 1996 Somatic mutations of the APC gene in sporadic hepatoblastomas Cancer Res 56 3320 3323 8764128
  36. Oikawa T Yamaguchi H Itoh T Kato M Ijuin T Yamazaki D Suetsugu S Takenawa T 2004 PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 binding is necessary for WAVE2-induced formation of lamellipodia Nat Cell Biol 6 420 426 15107862
  37. Padrick SB Cheng HC Ismail AM Panchal SC Doolittle LK Kim S Skehan BM Umetani J Brautigam CA Leong JM 2008 Hierarchical regulation of WASP/WAVE proteins Mol Cell 32 426 438 18995840 PMC2680354
  38. Padrick SB Rosen MK 2010 Physical mechanisms of signal integration by WASP family proteins Annu Rev Biochem 79 707 735 20533885 PMC3017724
  39. Pathirana S Zhao D Bownes M 2001 The Drosophila RGS protein Loco is required for dorsal/ventral axis formation of the egg and embryo, and nurse cell dumping Mech Dev 109 137 150 11731228
  40. Pollitt AY Insall RH 2009 WASP and SCAR/WAVE proteins: the drivers of actin assembly J Cell Sci 122 2575 2578 19625501 PMC2954249
  41. Rorth P 1998 Gal4 in the Drosophila female germline Mech Dev 78 113 118 9858703
  42. Roulier EM Panzer S Beckendorf SK 1998 The Tec29 tyrosine kinase is required during Drosophila embryogenesis and interacts with Src64 in ring canal development Mol Cell 1 819 829 9660965
  43. Ryu JR Echarri A Li R Pendergast AM 2009 Regulation of cell-cell adhesion by Abi/Diaphanous complexes Mol Cell Biol 29 1735 1748 19158278 PMC2655615
  44. Schwabe T Bainton RJ Fetter RD Heberlein U Gaul U 2005 GPCR signaling is required for blood-brain barrier formation in drosophila Cell 123 133 144 16213218
  45. Srivastava M Begovic E Chapman J Putnam NH Hellsten U Kawashima T Kuo A Mitros T Salamov A Carpenter ML 2008 The Trichoplax genome and the nature of placozoans Nature 454 955 960 18719581
  46. Stavoe AK Nelson JC Martinez-Velazquez LA Klein M Samuel AD Colon-Ramos DA 2012 Synaptic vesicle clustering requires a distinct MIG-10/Lamellipodin isoform and ABI-1 downstream from Netrin Genes Dev 26 2206 2221 23028145 PMC3465741
  47. Stephan R Gohl C Fleige A Klambt C Bogdan S 2011 Membrane-targeted WAVE mediates photoreceptor axon targeting in the absence of the WAVE complex in Drosophila Mol Biol Cell 22 4079 4092 21900504 PMC3204070
  48. Suetsugu S Kurisu S Oikawa T Yamazaki D Oda A Takenawa T 2006 Optimization of WAVE2 complex-induced actin polymerization by membrane-bound IRSp53, PIP(3), and Rac J Cell Biol 173 571 585 16702231 PMC2063866
  49. Tai K Kubota M Shiono K Tokutsu H Suzuki ST 2010 Adhesion properties and retinofugal expression of chicken protocadherin-19 Brain Res 1344 13 24 20438721
  50. Takenawa T Suetsugu S 2007 The WASP-WAVE protein network: connecting the membrane to the cytoskeleton Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 8 37 48 17183359
  51. Uemura M Nakao S Suzuki ST Takeichi M Hirano S 2007 OL-Protocadherin is essential for growth of striatal axons and thalamocortical projections Nat Neurosci 10 1151 1159 17721516
  52. Viktorinova I Konig T Schlichting K Dahmann C 2009 The cadherin Fat2 is required for planar cell polarity in the Drosophila ovary Development 136 4123 4132 19906848
  53. Weiner OD Rentel MC Ott A Brown GE Jedrychowski M Yaffe MB Gygi SP Cantley LC Bourne HR Kirschner MW 2006 Hem-1 complexes are essential for Rac activation, actin polymerization, and myosin regulation during neutrophil chemotaxis PLoS Biol 4 e38 16417406 PMC1334198
  54. Wittenmayer N Korber C Liu H Kremer T Varoqueaux F Chapman ER Brose N Kuner T Dresbach T 2009 Postsynaptic Neuroligin1 regulates presynaptic maturation Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106 13564 13569 19628693 PMC2726414
  55. Ying J Li H Seng TJ Langford C Srivastava G Tsao SW Putti T Murray P Chan AT Tao Q 2006 Functional epigenetics identifies a protocadherin PCDH10 as a candidate tumor suppressor for nasopharyngeal, esophageal and multiple other carcinomas with frequent methylation Oncogene 25 1070 1080 16247458
  56. Zallen JA Cohen Y Hudson AM Cooley L Wieschaus E Schejter ED 2002 SCAR is a primary regulator of Arp2/3-dependent morphological events in Drosophila J Cell Biol 156 689 701 11854309 PMC2174092
  57. Zobel T Bogdan S 2013 A high resolution view of the fly actin cytoskeleton lacking a functional WAVE complex J Microsc 251 224 231 23410210

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Chen, B., Brinkmann, K., Chen, Z., Pak, C. W., Liao, Y., Shi, S., Henry, L., Grishin, N. V., Bogdan, S., & Rosen, M. K.
Affiliations
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • University of Münster (DE)
Corresponding author
  • Bogdan, Sven
  • Rosen, Michael K.
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-01
Volume
156
Issue
1-2
Pages
195-207
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2037936544
Cited by
323
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 18
FWCI
16.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM094575, R01GM056322)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (F32DK091074)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular Mechanics and Interactions
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase Signaling
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Axon Guidance and Neuronal Signaling
Keywords
WAVE regulatory complex, Arp2/3 complex, actin cytoskeleton, protocadherins, Robo receptors, netrin receptors, neuroligins, G protein-coupled receptors, channels, oogenesis, female sterility, Drosophila
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Drosophila melanogaster, Female, Humans, Membrane Proteins, Actin Cytoskeleton, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Oogenesis, Sequence Alignment, Crystallography, X-Ray, Drosophila Proteins, Multiprotein Complexes, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Family, Actin-Related Protein 2-3 Complex

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review