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As a conserved pathway that lies at the intersection between host defense and cellular homeostasis, autophagy serves as a rheostat for immune reactions. In particular, autophagy suppresses excess type I interferon (IFN-I) production in response to viral nucleic acids. It is unknown how this function of autophagy relates to the intestinal barrier where host-microbe interactions are pervasive and perpetual. Here, we demonstrate that mice deficient in autophagy proteins are protected from the intestinal bacterial pathogen Citrobacter rodentium in a manner dependent on IFN-I signaling and nucleic acid sensing pathways. Enhanced IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) expression in intestinal tissue of autophagy-deficient mice in the absence of infection was mediated by the gut microbiota. Additionally, monocytes infiltrating into the autophagy-deficient intestinal microenvironment displayed an enhanced inflammatory profile and were necessary for protection against C. rodentium. Finally, we demonstrate that the microbiota-dependent IFN-I production that occurs in the autophagy-deficient host also protects against chemical injury of the intestine. Thus, autophagy proteins prevent a spontaneous IFN-I response to microbiota that is beneficial in the presence of infectious and non-infectious intestinal hazards. These results identify a role for autophagy proteins in controlling the magnitude of IFN-I signaling at the intestinal barrier.

Epithelial barrier loss is a driver of intestinal and systemic diseases. Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) is a key effector of barrier dysfunction and a potential therapeutic target, but enzymatic inhibition has unacceptable toxicity. Here, we show that a unique domain within the MLCK splice variant MLCK1 directs perijunctional actomyosin ring (PAMR) recruitment. Using the domain structure and multiple screens, we identify a domain-binding small molecule (divertin) that blocks MLCK1 recruitment without inhibiting enzymatic function. Divertin blocks acute, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced MLCK1 recruitment as well as downstream myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation, barrier loss, and diarrhea in vitro and in vivo. Divertin corrects barrier dysfunction and prevents disease development and progression in experimental inflammatory bowel disease. Beyond applications of divertin in gastrointestinal disease, this general approach to enzymatic inhibition by preventing access to specific subcellular sites provides a new paradigm for safely and precisely targeting individual properties of enzymes with multiple functions.

We questioned how tight junctions contribute to intestinal barrier function during the cell shedding that is part of physiological cell renewal. Intravital confocal microscopy studied the jejunal villus epithelium of mice expressing a fluorescent zonula occludens 1 (ZO-1) fusion protein. Vital staining also visualized the cell nucleus (Hoechst staining) or local permeability to luminal constituents (Lucifer Yellow; LY). In a cell fated to be shed, ZO-1 redistributes from the tight junction toward the apical and then basolateral cell region. ZO-1 rearrangement occurs 15 ± 6 min ( n = 28) before movement of the cell nucleus from the epithelial layer. During cell extrusion, permeation of luminal LY extends along the lateral intercellular spaces of the shedding cell only as far as the location of ZO-1. Within 3 min after detachment from the epithelial layer, nuclear chromatin condenses. After cell loss, a residual patch of ZO-1 remains in the space previously occupied by the departed cell, and the size of the patch shrinks to 14 ± 2% ( n = 15) of the original cell space over 20 min. The duration of cell shedding measured by nucleus movement (14 ± 1 min) is much less than the total duration of ZO-1 redistribution at the same sites (45 ± 2 min). In about 15% of cell shedding cases, neighboring epithelial cells also undergo extrusion with a delay of 5–10 min. With the use of normal mice, ZO-1 immunofluorescent staining of fixed tissue confirmed ZO-1 redistribution and the presence of ZO-1 patches beneath shedding cells. Immunostaining also showed that redistribution of ZO-1 occurred without corresponding mixing of apical and basolateral membrane domains as marked by ezrin or E-cadherin. ZO-1 redistribution is the earliest cellular event yet identified as a herald of physiological cell shedding, and redistribution of tight junction function along the lateral plasma membrane sustains epithelial barrier during cell shedding.

Occludin S408 phosphorylation regulates interactions between occludin, ZO-1, and select claudins to define tight junction molecular structure and barrier function., Although the C-terminal cytoplasmic tail of the tight junction protein occludin is heavily phosphorylated, the functional impact of most individual sites is undefined. Here, we show that inhibition of CK2-mediated occludin S408 phosphorylation elevates transepithelial resistance by reducing paracellular cation flux. This regulation requires occludin, claudin-1, claudin-2, and ZO-1. S408 dephosphorylation reduces occludin exchange, but increases exchange of ZO-1, claudin-1, and claudin-2, thereby causing the mobile fractions of these proteins to converge. Claudin-4 exchange is not affected. ZO-1 domains that mediate interactions with occludin and claudins are required for increases in claudin-2 exchange, suggesting assembly of a phosphorylation-sensitive protein complex. Consistent with this, binding of claudin-1 and claudin-2, but not claudin-4, to S408A occludin tail is increased relative to S408D. Finally, CK2 inhibition reversed IL-13–induced, claudin-2–dependent barrier loss. Thus, occludin S408 dephosphorylation regulates paracellular permeability by remodeling tight junction protein dynamic behavior and intermolecular interactions between occludin, ZO-1, and select claudins, and may have therapeutic potential in inflammation-associated barrier dysfunction.

This study identifies and characterizes marvelD3, a novel tight junction protein that contains a conserved MARVEL domain. Analyses using phylogenetic, expression profiling, microscopic, and functional approaches show that marvelD3, occludin, and tricellulin are related and have distinct but overlapping functions at the tight junction., In vitro studies have demonstrated that occludin and tricellulin are important for tight junction barrier function, but in vivo data suggest that loss of these proteins can be overcome. The presence of a heretofore unknown, yet related, protein could explain these observations. Here, we report marvelD3, a novel tight junction protein that, like occludin and tricellulin, contains a conserved four-transmembrane MARVEL (MAL and related proteins for vesicle trafficking and membrane link) domain. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction; analysis of RNA and protein tissue distribution; immunofluorescent and electron microscopic examination of subcellular localization; characterization of intracellular trafficking, protein interactions, dynamic behavior, and siRNA knockdown effects; and description of remodeling after in vivo immune activation show that marvelD3, occludin, and tricellulin have distinct but overlapping functions at the tight junction. Although marvelD3 is able to partially compensate for occludin or tricellulin loss, it cannot fully restore function. We conclude that marvelD3, occludin, and tricellulin define the tight junction–associated MARVEL protein family. The data further suggest that these proteins are best considered as a group with both redundant and unique contributions to epithelial function and tight junction regulation.

Although tight junction morphology is not obviously affected by TNF, this proinflammatory cytokine promotes internalization of occludin, resulting in disrupted barrier function within the intestine., Epithelial paracellular barrier function, determined primarily by tight junction permeability, is frequently disrupted in disease. In the intestine, barrier loss can be mediated by tumor necrosis factor (α) (TNF) signaling and epithelial myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) activation. However, TNF induces only limited alteration of tight junction morphology, and the events that couple structural reorganization to barrier regulation have not been defined. We have used in vivo imaging and transgenic mice expressing fluorescent-tagged occludin and ZO-1 fusion proteins to link occludin endocytosis to TNF-induced tight junction regulation. This endocytosis requires caveolin-1 and is essential for structural and functional tight junction regulation. These data demonstrate that MLCK activation triggers caveolin-1–dependent endocytosis of occludin to effect structural and functional tight junction regulation.

Epithelia form barriers that are essential to life. This is particularly true in the intestine, where the epithelial barrier supports nutrient and water transport while preventing microbial contamination of the interstitial tissues. Along with plasma membranes, the intercellular tight junction is the primary cellular determinant of epithelial barrier function. Disruption of tight junction structure, as a result of specific protein mutations or aberrant regulatory signals, can be both a cause and an effect of disease. Recent advances have provided new insights into the extracellular signals and intracellular mediators of tight junction regulation in disease states as well as into the interactions of intestinal barrier function with mucosal immune cells and luminal microbiota. In this review, we discuss the critical roles of the tight junction in health and explore the contributions of barrier dysfunction to disease pathogenesis.

Permeability of the intestinal epithelial barrier is regulated in response to physiological and pathophysiological stimuli. Recent work has characterized a critical role of acute tight junction regulation in diarrhea secondary to T cell activation and cytokine release. The intracellular mediators of the ensuing barrier dysfunction include myosin light chain kinase, which phosphorylates myosin II regulatory light chain and triggers structural tight junction reorganization. While the molecular intermediates in this reorganization are not defined, the new discovery that individual tight junction-associated proteins are highly dynamic at steady state may provide insight into the mechanisms of regulation.

SummaryPolymorphisms in the essential autophagy gene Atg16L1 have been linked with susceptibility to Crohn’s disease, a major type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Although the inability to control intestinal bacteria is thought to underlie IBD, the role of Atg16L1 during extracellular intestinal bacterial infections has not been sufficiently examined and compared to the function of other IBD susceptibility genes, such as Nod2, which encodes a cytosolic bacterial sensor. We find that Atg16L1 mutant mice are resistant to intestinal disease induced by the model bacterial pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. An Atg16L1 deficiency alters the intestinal environment to mediate an enhanced immune response that is dependent on monocytic cells, but this hyperimmune phenotype and its protective effects are lost in Atg16L1/Nod2 double-mutant mice. These results reveal an immunosuppressive function of Atg16L1 and suggest that gene variants affecting the autophagy pathway may have been evolutionarily maintained to protect against certain life-threatening infections.

γδ intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) are located beneath or between adjacent intestinal epithelial cells and are thought to contribute to homeostasis and disease pathogenesis. Using in vivo microscopy to image jejunal mucosa of GFP γδ T-cell transgenic mice, we discovered that γδ IELs migrate actively within the intraepithelial compartment and into the lamina propria. As a result, each γδ IEL contacts multiple epithelial cells. Occludin is concentrated at sites of γδ IEL/epithelial interaction, where it forms a ring surrounding the γδ IEL. In vitro analyses showed that occludin is expressed by epithelial and γδ T cells and that occludin derived from both cell types contributes to these rings and to γδ IEL migration within epithelial monolayers. In vivo TNF administration , which results in epithelial occludin endocytosis, reduces γδ IEL migration. Further in vivo analyses demonstrated that occludin KO γδ T cells are defective in both initial accumulation and migration within the intraepithelial compartment. These data challenge the paradigm that γδ IELs are stationary in the intestinal epithelium and demonstrate that γδ IELs migrate dynamically to make extensive contacts with epithelial cells. The identification of occludin as an essential factor in γδ IEL migration provides insight into the molecular regulation of γδ IEL/epithelial interactions.

The perijunctional actomyosin ring contributes to myosin light chain kinase (MLCK)-dependent tight junction regulation. However, the specific protein interactions involved in this process are unknown. To test the hypothesis that molecular remodeling contributes to barrier regulation, tight junction protein dynamic behavior was assessed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). MLCK inhibition increased barrier function and stabilized ZO-1 at the tight junction but did not affect claudin-1, occludin, or actin exchange in vitro. Pharmacologic MLCK inhibition also blocked in vivo ZO-1 exchange in wild-type, but not long MLCK −/− , mice. Conversely, ZO-1 exchange was accelerated in transgenic mice expressing constitutively active MLCK. In vitro, ZO-1 lacking the actin binding region (ABR) was not stabilized by MLCK inhibition, either in the presence or absence of endogenous ZO-1. Moreover, the free ABR interfered with full-length ZO-1 exchange and reduced basal barrier function. The free ABR also prevented increases in barrier function following MLCK inhibition in a manner that required endogenous ZO-1 expression. In silico modeling of the FRAP data suggests that tight junction-associated ZO-1 exists in three pools, two of which exchange with cytosolic ZO-1. Transport of the ABR-anchored exchangeable pool is regulated by MLCK. These data demonstrate a critical role for the ZO-1 ABR in barrier function and suggest that MLCK-dependent ZO-1 exchange is essential to this mechanism of barrier regulation.

Permeability of the intestinal epithelial barrier is regulated in response to physiological and pathophysiological stimuli. Recent work has characterized a critical role of acute tight junction regulation in diarrhea secondary to T cell activation and cytokine release. The intracellular mediators of the ensuing barrier dysfunction include myosin light chain kinase, which phosphorylates myosin II regulatory light chain and triggers structural tight junction reorganization. While the molecular intermediates in this reorganization are not defined, the new discovery that individual tight junction-associated proteins are highly dynamic at steady-state may provide insight into the mechanisms of regulation.

Background & Aims Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) increases intestinal epithelial cell shedding and apoptosis, potentially challenging the barrier between the gastrointestinal lumen and internal tissues. We investigated the mechanism of tight junction remodeling and barrier maintenance as well as the roles of cytoskeletal regulatory molecules during TNF-induced shedding. Methods We studied wild-type and transgenic mice that express the fluorescent-tagged proteins enhanced green fluorescent protein–occludin or monomeric red fluorescent protein 1–ZO-1. After injection of high doses of TNF (7.5 μg intraperitoneally), laparotomies were performed and segments of small intestine were opened to visualize the mucosa by video confocal microscopy. Pharmacologic inhibitors and knockout mice were used to determine the roles of caspase activation, actomyosin, and microtubule remodeling and membrane trafficking in epithelial shedding. Results Changes detected included redistribution of the tight junction proteins ZO-1 and occludin to lateral membranes of shedding cells. These proteins ultimately formed a funnel around the shedding cell that defined the site of barrier preservation. Claudins, E-cadherin, F-actin, myosin II, Rho-associated kinase (ROCK), and myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) were also recruited to lateral membranes. Caspase activity, myosin motor activity, and microtubules were required to initiate shedding, whereas completion of the process required microfilament remodeling and ROCK, MLCK, and dynamin II activities. Conclusions Maintenance of the epithelial barrier during TNF-induced cell shedding is a complex process that involves integration of microtubules, microfilaments, and membrane traffic to remove apoptotic cells. This process is accompanied by redistribution of apical junctional complex proteins to form intercellular barriers between lateral membranes and maintain mucosal function.