Structural organization of Weibel-Palade bodies revealed by cryo-EM of vitrified endothelial cells
- 13 October 2009
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 106 (41), 17407-17412
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0902977106
Abstract
In endothelial cells, the multifunctional blood glycoprotein von Willebrand Factor (VWF) is stored for rapid exocytic release in specialized secretory granules called Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs). Electron cryomicroscopy at the thin periphery of whole, vitrified human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) is used to directly image WPBs and their interaction with a 3D network of closely apposed membranous organelles, membrane tubules, and filaments. Fourier analysis of images and tomographic reconstruction show that VWF is packaged as a helix in WPBs. The helical signature of VWF tubules is used to identify VWF-containing organelles and characterize their paracrystalline order in low dose images. We build a 3D model of a WPB in which individual VWF helices can bend, but in which the paracrystalline packing of VWF tubules, closely wrapped by the WPB membrane, is associated with the rod-like morphology of the granules.This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mechanoenzymatic Cleavage of the Ultralarge Vascular Protein von Willebrand FactorScience, 2009
- Rab27a and MyRIP regulate the amount and multimeric state of VWF released from endothelial cellsBlood, 2009
- Probing the macromolecular organization of cells by electron tomographyCurrent Opinion in Cell Biology, 2009
- Computational resources for cryo-electron tomography in BsoftJournal of Structural Biology, 2008
- Assembly of Weibel–Palade body-like tubules from N-terminal domains of von Willebrand factorProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Two Cys residues essential for von Willebrand factor multimer assembly in the GolgiProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- Rate, extent and concentration dependence of histamine‐evoked Weibel–Palade body exocytosis determined from individual fusion events in human endothelial cellsThe Journal of Physiology, 2007
- Dual-Axis Tomography: An Approach with Alignment Methods That Preserve ResolutionJournal of Structural Biology, 1997
- SPIDER and WEB: Processing and Visualization of Images in 3D Electron Microscopy and Related FieldsJournal of Structural Biology, 1996
- The potential and limitations of neutrons, electrons and X-rays for atomic resolution microscopy of unstained biological moleculesQuarterly Reviews of Biophysics, 1995