Centaurin-α1 interacts directly with kinesin motor protein KIF13B

Centaurin-α1 is a phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate binding protein as well as a GTPase activating protein (GAP) for the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTPases. To further understand its cellular function, we screened a rat brain cDNA library using centaurin-α1 as bait to identify centaurin-α1 interacting proteins. The yeast two-hybrid screen identified a novel kinesin motor protein as a centaurin-α1 binding partner. The motor protein, termed KIF13B, encoded by a single ∼9.5-kb transcript, is widely expressed with high levels observed in brain and kidney. Yeast two-hybrid and GST pull-down assays showed that the interaction between centaurin-α1 and KIF13B is direct and mediated by the GAP domain of centaurin-α1 and the stalk domain of KIF13B. Centaurin-α1 and KIF13B form a complex in vivo and the KIF13B interaction appears to be specific to centaurin-α1 as other members of the ARF GAP family did not show any binding activity. We also show that KIF13B and centaurin-α1 colocalize at the leading edges of the cell periphery whereas a deletion mutant of centaurin-α1 that lacks the KIF13B binding site, failed to colocalize with KIF13B in vivo. Finally, we demonstrate that KIF13B binding suppresses the ARF6 GAP activity of centaurin-α1 in intact cells. Together, our data suggest a mechanism where direct binding between centaurin-α1 and KIF13B could concentrate centaurin-α1 at the leading edges of cells, thus modulating ARF6 function.