Biochemical interaction of an actin-capping protein, CapZ, with NAP-22

NAP-22 is a neuronal protein localized in the presynaptic membrane and synaptic vesicles and recovered in a Triton-insoluble low-density microdomain fraction after biochemical fractionation of the synaptic plasma membrane. NAP-22 organizes membrane microdomains through binding to membrane lipids such as cholesterol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. In this study, NAP-22-binding proteins were screened through the pull-down assay using brain-derived NAP-22 bound to Sepharose 4B. An actin-capping protein, CapZ, was identified in the precipitate through mass spectrometry and Western blotting. CapZ was then expressed in E. coli and the purified protein-bound NAP-22 directly. Because bacterially expressed NAP-22 bound CapZ, it was determined that the N-terminal myristoyl moiety of NAP-22 is not necessary for the binding. The binding of NAP-22 showed no effect on the actin nucleation activity of CapZ measured with centrifugation and viscometric assays. Hence, the CapZ-NAP-22 complex could work as the nucleation site of actin polymerization or as the actin filament-anchoring site on the membrane microdomain.