Mouse anti-Human SVIL monoclonal antibody, clone 7F21

Human Supervillin isoform 4 (SV4), a bigger splicing isoform of Supervillin, contains extra coding exons 3, 4 and 5 (E345), compared to Supervillin isoform 1. Although previous studies have shown that SV4 associated with membrane and cytoskeleton, regulated cell migration and cell survival, its functions are still largely unknown. To broaden our understanding, SV4 specific antibody is important for further study in signaling pathway. The His-SV4 (E345) and GST-SV4 (E345) fusion proteins, which contained SV4 specific domain E345, were purified from bacteria. The His-SV4 (E345) proteins were injected in rabbits as immunogen to produce anti-SV4 serum, and SV4 antibodies were purified by GST-SV4 (E345) proteins cross-linked to affinity resins. SV4 antibodies exclusively recognized SV4 protein both in vitro and in vivo through multi-step testing by ELISA, western blot, immunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence. Taken together, our data demonstrate a novel SV4-specific polyclonal antibody which will provide a useful tool for further characterization of SV4 function.

Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a widely conserved serine/threonine kinase that regulates progression of multiple stages of mitosis. Although extensive studies about PLK1 functions during cell division have been performed, it is still not known how PLK1 regulates myosin II activation at the equatorial cortex and ingression of the cleavage furrow. In this report, we show that an actin/myosin-II-binding protein, supervillin (SVIL), is a substrate of PLK1. PLK1 phosphorylates Ser238 of SVIL, which can promote the localization of SVIL to the central spindle and association with PRC1. Expression of a PLK1 phosphorylation site mutant, S238A-SVIL, inhibited myosin II activation at the equatorial cortex and induced aberrant furrowing. SVIL has both actin-and myosin-II-binding regions in the N-terminus. Expression of Delta Myo-SVIL (deleted of the myosin-II-binding region), but not of Delta Act-SVIL (deleted of actin-binding region), reduced myosin II activation and caused defects in furrowing. Our study indicates a possible role of phosphorylated SVIL as a molecular link between the central spindle and the contractile ring to coordinate the activation of myosin II for the ingression of the cleavage furrow.