Figure 3
NEXN correlates with gene products that control and respond to changes in actin polymerization and Nexilin is reduced by depolymerization of actin. Correlations of NEXN versus all other RNAs in the top-ten NEXN expressing tissues were examined (data from GTExPortal). The sum of correlation coefficients for individual RNAs across tissues was calculated (Rsum) and the positive extreme of this distribution was plotted (A). Actin controlling and responding gene products represented in the extreme are highlighted in blue colors. Examples of NEXN correlations in the human coronary artery (N = 133) are shown in panels B through (D). P-values and Spearman Rho values are given in the respective panels. Panels E and F show mRNA data for NEXN in cultured human bladder (HBSMCs, N = 8) and coronary artery (HCASMCs, N = 9) SMCs after treatment with Latrunculin B (LatB). Panels H and I show protein data for Nexilin/NEXN in the presence and absence of LatB (HBSMCs, 300 nM, N = 12; HCASMCs, 100 nM, N = 10). The top micrographs in panel J shows confocal imaging of YAP (red) on the left, and YAP (green) and CAV1 (red) on the right. The bottom row shows YAP (red) and Nexilin (green). The high magnification overlay at the bottom right shows partial colocalization of YAP and Nexilin at the cell membrane in yellow. All micrographs are from cross-sectioned HBSMCs and white scale bars represent 5 μm throughout.
