scholarly journals Overproduction of Polypeptides Corresponding to the Amino Terminus of the F-Box Proteins Cdc4p and Met30p Inhibits Ubiquitin Ligase Activities of Their SCF Complexes

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Dixon ◽  
Lee Ellen Brunson ◽  
Mary Margaret Roy ◽  
Dechelle Smothers ◽  
Michael G. Sehorn ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Ubiquitin ligases direct the transfer of ubiquitin onto substrate proteins and thus target the substrate for proteasome-dependent degradation. SCF complexes are a family of ubiquitin ligases composed of a common core of components and a variable component called an F-box protein that defines substrate specificity. Distinct SCF complexes, defined by a particular F-box protein, target different substrate proteins for degradation. Although a few have been identified to be involved in important biological pathways, such as the cell division cycle and coordinating cellular responses to changes in environmental conditions, the role of the overwhelming majority of F-box proteins is not clear. Creating inhibitors that will block the in vivo activities of specific SCF ubiquitin ligases may provide identification of substrates of these uncharacterized F-box proteins. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system, we demonstrate that overproduction of polypeptides corresponding to the amino terminus of the F-box proteins Cdc4p and Met30p results in specific inhibition of their SCF complexes. Analyses of mutant amino-terminal alleles demonstrate that the interaction of these polypeptides with their full-length counterparts is an important step in the inhibitory process. These results suggest a common means to inhibit specific SCF complexes in vivo.

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 7845-7852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dechelle B. Smothers ◽  
Lukasz Kozubowski ◽  
Cheryl Dixon ◽  
Mark G. Goebl ◽  
Neal Mathias

ABSTRACT Ubiquitin-mediated degradation plays a crucial role in many fundamental biological pathways, including the mediation of cellular responses to changes in environmental conditions. A family of ubiquitin ligase complexes, called SCF complexes, found throughout eukaryotes, is involved in a variety of biological pathways. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an SCF complex contains a common set of components, namely, Cdc53p, Skp1p, and Hrt1p. Substrate specificity is defined by a variable component called an F-box protein. The F- box is a ∼40-amino-acid motif that allows the F-box protein to bind Skp1p. Each SCF complex recognizes different substrates according to which F-box protein is associated with the complex. In yeasts, three SCF complexes have been demonstrated to associate with the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme Cdc34p and have ubiquitin ligase activity. F-box proteins are not abundant and are unstable. As part of the SCFMet30p complex, the F-box protein Met30p represses methionine biosynthetic gene expression when availability ofl-methionine is high. Here we demonstrate that in vivo SCFMet30p complex activity can be regulated by the abundance of Met30p. Furthermore, we provide evidence that Met30p abundance is regulated by the availability of l-methionine. We propose that the cellular responses mediated by an SCF complex are directly regulated by environmental conditions through the control of F-box protein stability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Hao Qian ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Boquan Wu ◽  
Shaojun Wu ◽  
Shilong You ◽  
...  

AbstractUbiquitination is a modification after protein transcription that plays a vital role in maintaining the homeostasis of the cellular environment. The Homologous to E6AP C-terminus (HECT) family E3 ubiquitin ligases are a kind of E3 ubiquitin ligases with a C-terminal HECT domain that mediates the binding of ubiquitin to substrate proteins and a variable-length N-terminal extension. HECT-ubiquitinated ligases can be divided into three categories: NEDD4 superfamily, HERC superfamily, and other HECT superfamilies. HECT ubiquitin ligase plays an essential role in the development of many human diseases. In this review, we focus on the physiological and pathological processes involved in oxidative stress and the role of E3 ubiquitin ligase of the HECT family.


2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 1383-1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Marks ◽  
I. Martha Skerrett

Rectifying electrical synapses are rare gap junctions that favor transmission of signals in one direction. Such synapses have been identified in neural systems, including those mediating rapid escape responses of arthropods. In the Drosophila giant fiber system, adjacent cells express and contribute different transcript variants of the innexin Shaking B, resulting in heterotypic gap junctions with rectifying properties. When expressed exogenously, variants Shaking B Lethal (ShakBL) and Shaking B neural + 16 (ShakBN16) form heterotypic junctions that gate asymmetrically in response to transjunctional voltage. To determine whether the amino terminus confers properties of gating and rectification, amino-terminal domains were exchanged between ShakBL and ShakBN16, creating chimeric proteins SBL NTN16 and SBN16 NTL. The properties were analyzed in paired Xenopus oocytes. Our results suggest that the amino terminus plays an important role in establishing rectifying properties inherent to heterotypic junctions composed of ShakBL and ShakBN16. ShakBL/SBL NTN16 junctions behaved similarly to ShakBL/ShakBN16 junctions, gating in response to transjunctional voltage of one polarity and inducing a highly asymmetric conductance-voltage relationship. However, the amino terminus did not act independently to confer sensitivity to transjunctional voltage. The complementary pairing ShakBN16/SBN16 NTL displayed little sensitivity to voltage of either polarity, and in homotypic pairings SBL NTN16 was strongly gated by transjunctional voltage. We propose a model in which the amino terminus induces gating only when matched with an accommodating innexin body.


2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 4017-4027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M. Gil-Bernabé ◽  
Francisco Romero ◽  
M. Cristina Limón-Mortés ◽  
María Tortolero

ABSTRACT Sister chromatid segregation is triggered at the metaphase-to-anaphase transition by the activation of the protease separase. For most of the cell cycle, separase activity is kept in check by its association with the inhibitory chaperone securin. Activation of separase occurs at anaphase onset, when securin is targeted for destruction by the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome E3 ubiquitin protein ligase. This results in the release of the cohesins from chromosomes, which in turn allows the segregation of sister chromatids to opposite spindle poles. Here we show that human securin (hSecurin) forms a complex with enzymatically active protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and that it is a substrate of the phosphatase, both in vitro and in vivo. Treatment of cells with okadaic acid, a potent inhibitor of PP2A, results in various hyperphosphorylated forms of hSecurin which are extremely unstable, due to the action of the Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein complex ubiquitin ligase. We propose that PP2A regulates hSecurin levels by counteracting its phosphorylation, which promotes its degradation. Misregulation of this process may lead to the formation of tumors, in which overproduction of hSecurin is often observed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 3329-3340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara L. Beattie ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
Murray O. Robinson ◽  
Lea Harrington

The minimal, active core of human telomerase is postulated to contain two components, the telomerase RNA hTER and the telomerase reverse transcriptase hTERT. The reconstitution of human telomerase activity in vitro has facilitated the identification of sequences within the telomerase RNA and the RT motifs of hTERT that are essential for telomerase activity. However, the precise role of residues outside the RT domain of hTERT is unknown. Here we have delineated several regions within hTERT that are important for telomerase catalysis, primer use, and interaction with the telomerase RNA and the telomerase-associated protein TEP1. In particular, certain deletions of the amino and carboxy terminus of hTERT that retained an interaction with telomerase RNA and TEP1 were nonetheless completely inactive in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, hTERT truncations lacking the amino terminus that were competent to bind the telomerase RNA were severely compromised for the ability to elongate telomeric and nontelomeric primers. These results suggest that the interaction of telomerase RNA with hTERT can be functionally uncoupled from polymerization, and that there are regions outside the RT domain of hTERT that are critical for telomerase activity and primer use. These results establish that the human telomerase RT possesses unique polymerization determinants that distinguish it from other RTs.


2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (5) ◽  
pp. H2201-H2211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle R. Keys ◽  
Emily A. Greene ◽  
Chris J. Cooper ◽  
Sathyamangla V. Naga Prasad ◽  
Howard A. Rockman ◽  
...  

The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) kinase β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) kinase-1 (β-ARK1) is elevated during heart failure; however, its role is not fully understood. β-ARK1 contains several domains that are capable of protein-protein interactions that may play critical roles in the regulation of GPCR signaling. In this study, we developed a novel line of transgenic mice that express an amino-terminal peptide of β-ARK1 that is comprised of amino acid residues 50–145 (β-ARKnt) in the heart to determine whether this domain has any functional significance in vivo. Surprisingly, the β-ARKnt transgenic mice presented with cardiac hypertrophy. Our data suggest that the phenotype was driven via an enhanced β-AR system, as β-ARKnt mice had elevated cardiac β-AR density. Moreover, administration of a β-AR antagonist reversed hypertrophy in these mice. Interestingly, signaling through the β-AR in response to agonist stimulation was not enhanced in these mice. Thus the amino terminus of β-ARK1 appears to be critical for normal β-AR regulation in vivo, which further supports the hypothesis that β-ARK1 plays a key role in normal and compromised cardiac GPCR signaling.


2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (21) ◽  
pp. 7302-7307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanchaita Das ◽  
Elizabeth Stivison ◽  
Ewa Folta-Stogniew ◽  
Donald Oliver

ABSTRACT The SecA nanomotor promotes protein translocation in eubacteria by binding both protein cargo and the protein-conducting channel and by undergoing ATP-driven conformation cycles that drive this process. There are conflicting reports about whether SecA functions as a monomer or dimer during this dynamic process. Here we reexamined the roles of the amino and carboxyl termini of SecA in promoting its dimerization and functional state by examining three secA mutants and the corresponding proteins: SecAΔ8 lacking residues 2 to 8, SecAΔ11 lacking residues 2 to 11, and SecAΔ11/N95 lacking both residues 2 to 11 and the carboxyl-terminal 70 residues. We demonstrated that whether SecAΔ11 or SecAΔ11/N95 was functional for promoting cell growth depended solely on the vivo level of the protein, which appeared to govern residual dimerization. All three SecA mutant proteins were defective for promoting cell growth unless they were highly overproduced. Cell fractionation revealed that SecAΔ11 and SecAΔ11/N95 were proficient in membrane association, although the formation of integral membrane SecA was reduced. The presence of a modestly higher level of SecAΔ11/N95 in the membrane and the ability of this protein to form dimers, as detected by chemical cross-linking, were consistent with the higher level of secA expression and better growth of the SecAΔ11/N95 mutant than of the SecAΔ11 mutant. Biochemical studies showed that SecAΔ11 and SecAΔ11/N95 had identical dimerization defects, while SecAΔ8 was intermediate between these proteins and wild-type SecA in terms of dimer formation. Furthermore, both SecAΔ11 and SecAΔ11/N95 were equally defective in translocation ATPase specific activity. Our studies showed that the nonessential carboxyl-terminal 70 residues of SecA play no role in its dimerization, while increasing the truncation of the amino-terminal region of SecA from 8 to 11 residues results in increased defects in SecA dimerization and poor in vivo function unless the protein is highly overexpressed. They also clarified a number of conflicting previous reports and support the essential nature of the SecA dimer.


eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyae Yon Kweon ◽  
Mi-Ni Lee ◽  
Max Dorfel ◽  
Seungwoon Seo ◽  
Leah Gottlieb ◽  
...  

Amino-terminal acetylation is catalyzed by a set of N-terminal acetyltransferases (NATs). The NatA complex (including X-linked Naa10 and Naa15) is the major acetyltransferase, with 40-50% of all mammalian proteins being potential substrates. However, the overall role of amino-terminal acetylation on a whole-organism level is poorly understood, particularly in mammals. Male mice lacking Naa10 show no globally apparent in vivo amino-terminal acetylation impairment and do not exhibit complete embryonic lethality. Rather Naa10 nulls display increased neonatal lethality, and the majority of surviving undersized mutants exhibit a combination of hydrocephaly, cardiac defects, homeotic anterior transformation, piebaldism and urogenital anomalies. Naa12 is a previously unannotated Naa10-like paralogue with NAT activity that genetically compensates for Naa10. Mice deficient for Naa12 have no apparent phenotype, whereas mice deficient for Naa10 and Naa12 display embryonic lethality. The discovery of Naa12 adds to the currently known machinery involved in amino-terminal acetylation in mice.


1987 ◽  
Vol 252 (1) ◽  
pp. E147-E151
Author(s):  
K. D. Bloch ◽  
J. B. Zisfein ◽  
M. N. Margolies ◽  
C. J. Homcy ◽  
J. G. Seidman ◽  
...  

Proatrial natriuretic factor (proANF), the 126-amino acid precursor of ANF, is the major storage form in mammalian atria. In contrast, two ANF peptides containing the 28- and 24-carboxyterminal residues of proANF have been isolated from rat plasma. Whether the cleavage of proANF in vivo to these ANF peptides occurs during or after its release into the circulation has not been determined. The latter possibility was suggested by our previous study where, by using a cultured rat cardiocyte preparation, we demonstrated that proANF is secreted intact into the culture medium. We now report that serum, but not plasma, contains a protease that specifically cleaves the 17-kdalton proANF to a 14-kdalton amino-terminal peptide and the carboxyterminal 3-kdalton circulating forms of ANF. The role of this proANF-cleaving enzyme in the generation of the biologically active ANF peptides remains to be defined. Its isolation and characterization should provide insights into its site of production and whether in vivo it is involved in the processing of circulating proANF.


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