scholarly journals Molecular Basis of p53 Functional Inactivation by the Leukemic Protein MLL-ELL

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 4230-4246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitri Wiederschain ◽  
Hidehiko Kawai ◽  
JiJie Gu ◽  
Ali Shilatifard ◽  
Zhi-Min Yuan

ABSTRACT The Eleven Lysine-rich Leukemia (ELL) gene undergoes translocation and fuses in frame to the Multiple Lineage Leukemia (MLL) gene in a substantial proportion of patients suffering from acute forms of leukemia. Molecular mechanisms of cellular transformation by the MLL-ELL fusion are not well understood. Although both MLL-ELL and wild-type ELL can reduce functional activity of p53 tumor suppressor, our data reveal that MLL-ELL is a much more efficient inhibitor of p53 than is wild-type ELL. We also demonstrate for the first time that ELL extreme C terminus [ELL(eCT)] is required for the recruitment of p53 into MLL-ELL nuclear foci and is both necessary and sufficient for the MLL-ELL inhibition of p53-mediated induction of p21 and apoptosis. Finally, our results demonstrate that MLL-ELL requires the presence of intact ELL(eCT) in order to disrupt p53 interactions with p300/CBP coactivator and thus significantly reduce p53 acetylation in vivo. Since ELL(eCT) has recently been shown to be both necessary and sufficient for MLL-ELL-mediated transformation of normal blood progenitors, our data correlate ELL(eCT) contribution to MLL-ELL transformative effects with its ability to functionally inhibit p53.

2016 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolene Ramsey ◽  
Emily C. Renzi ◽  
Randy J. Arnold ◽  
Jonathan C. Trinidad ◽  
Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

ABSTRACT Palmitoylation is a reversible, posttranslational modification that helps target proteins to cellular membranes. The alphavirus small membrane proteins 6K and TF have been reported to be palmitoylated and to positively regulate budding. 6K and TF are isoforms that are identical in their N termini but unique in their C termini due to a −1 ribosomal frameshift during translation. In this study, we used cysteine (Cys) mutants to test differential palmitoylation of the Sindbis virus 6K and TF proteins. We modularly mutated the five Cys residues in the identical N termini of 6K and TF, the four additional Cys residues in TF's unique C terminus, or all nine Cys residues in TF. Using these mutants, we determined that TF palmitoylation occurs primarily in the N terminus. In contrast, 6K is not palmitoylated, even on these shared residues. In the C-terminal Cys mutant, TF protein levels increase both in the cell and in the released virion compared to the wild type. In viruses with the N-terminal Cys residues mutated, TF is much less efficiently localized to the plasma membrane, and it is not incorporated into the virion. The three Cys mutants have minor defects in cell culture growth but a high incidence of abnormal particle morphologies compared to the wild-type virus as determined by transmission electron microscopy. We propose a model where the C terminus of TF modulates the palmitoylation of TF at the N terminus, and palmitoylated TF is preferentially trafficked to the plasma membrane for virus budding. IMPORTANCE Alphaviruses are a reemerging viral cause of arthritogenic disease. Recently, the small 6K and TF proteins of alphaviruses were shown to contribute to virulence in vivo. Nevertheless, a clear understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which either protein acts to promote virus infection is missing. The TF protein is a component of budded virions, and optimal levels of TF correlate positively with wild-type-like particle morphology. In this study, we show that the palmitoylation of TF regulates its localization to the plasma membrane, which is the site of alphavirus budding. Mutants in which TF is not palmitoylated display drastically reduced plasma membrane localization, which effectively prevents TF from participating in budding or being incorporated into virus particles. Investigation of the regulation of TF will aid current efforts in the alphavirus field searching for approaches to mitigate alphaviral disease in humans.


2011 ◽  
Vol 109 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen M Andres ◽  
Chengqun Huang ◽  
Eric P Ratliff ◽  
Genaro Hernandez ◽  
Pamela Lee ◽  
...  

Autophagy-dependent mitochondrial turnover in response to cellular stress is necessary for maintaining cellular homeostasis. However, the mechanisms that govern the selective targeting of damaged mitochondria are poorly understood. Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, has been shown to be essential for the selective clearance of damaged mitochondria. Parkin is expressed in the heart, yet its function has not been investigated in the context of cardioprotection. We previously reported that autophagy is required for cardioprotection by ischemic preconditioning (IPC). In the present study, we used simulated ischemia in vitro and IPC in hearts (in vivo and ex vivo) to investigate the role of Parkin in mediating cardioprotection. In HL-1 cells, simulated ischemia induced Parkin translocation to mitochondria and mitochondrial elimination. Mitochondrial loss was blunted in Atg5-deficient cells, revealing the requirement for autophagy in mitochondrial elimination. Consistent with previous reports implicating p62/SQSTM1 in mitophagy, we found that downregulation of p62 attenuated mitophagy and exacerbated cell death in HL-1 cardiomyocytes subjected to simulated ischemia. While wild type mice showed p62 translocation to mitochondria after IPC, Parkin knockout mice exhibited attenuated translocation of p62 to mitochondria. Importantly, ablation of Parkin in mice abolished the cardioprotective effects of IPC. These results reveal for the first time the crucial role of Parkin and mitophagy in cardioprotection.


2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kim ◽  
Y. Ahn ◽  
D. Adasooriya ◽  
E.J. Woo ◽  
H.J. Kim ◽  
...  

Crown shapes in mammalian teeth vary considerably from species to species, and morphological characters in crown shape have been used to identify species. Cusp pattern is one of the characters in crown shape. In the processes governing the formation of cusp pattern, the Shh pathway has been implicated as an important player. Suppression of Shh signaling activity in vitro in explant assays appears to induce supernumerary cusp formation in wild-type tooth germs. However, the in vivo role of Shh signaling in cusp pattern formation and the molecular mechanisms by which Shh regulates cusp patterning are not clear. Here, through in vivo phenotypic analyses of mice in which Shh activity was suppressed and compared with wild-type mice, we characterized differences in the location, number, incidence, and shape of supernumerary cusps in molars at embryonic day 15.5. We found that the distances between cusps were reduced in molars of Shh activity–suppressed mice in vivo. These findings confirm and extend the previous idea that Shh acts as an inhibitor in the reaction-diffusion model for cusp pattern formation by negatively regulating the intercuspal distance. We uncovered a significant reduction of expression level of Sostdc1, which encodes a secreted modulator of Wnt signaling, after suppression of Shh activity. The supernumerary cusp formation in Sostdc1−/− mice and compound Sostdc1 and Lrp mutant mice indicates a strong association between Wnt and Shh signaling pathways in cusp patterning. In further support of this idea, there is a high degree of similarity in the supernumerary cusp patterns of mice lacking Sostdc1 or Shh at embryonic day 15.5. These results suggest that Shh plays an inhibitory role in cusp pattern formation by modulating Wnt signaling through the positive regulation of Sostdc1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Amatruda

ABSTRACT In the treatment of children and adolescents with cancer, multimodal approaches combining surgery, chemotherapy and radiation can cure most patients, but may cause lifelong health problems in survivors. Current therapies only modestly reflect increased knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of these cancers. Advances in next-generation sequencing have provided unprecedented cataloging of genetic aberrations in tumors, but understanding how these genetic changes drive cellular transformation, and how they can be effectively targeted, will require multidisciplinary collaboration and preclinical models that are truly representative of the in vivo environment. Here, I discuss some of the key challenges in pediatric cancer from my perspective as a physician-scientist, and touch on some promising new approaches that have the potential to transform our understanding of these diseases.


2002 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 923-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosef Gruenbaum ◽  
Kenneth K. Lee ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Merav Cohen ◽  
Katherine L. Wilson

Emerin belongs to the LEM-domain family of nuclear membrane proteins, which are conserved in metazoans from C. elegans to humans. Loss of emerin in humans causes the X-linked form of Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy(EDMD), but the disease mechanism is not understood. We have begun to address the function of emerin in C. elegans, a genetically tractable nematode. The emerin gene (emr-1) is conserved in C. elegans. We detect Ce-emerin protein in the nuclear envelopes of all cell types except sperm, and find that Ce-emerin co-immunoprecipitates with Ce-lamin from embryo lysates. We show for the first time in any organism that nuclear lamins are essential for the nuclear envelope localization of emerin during early development. We further show that four other types of nuclear envelope proteins, including fellow LEM-domain protein Ce-MAN1, as well as Ce-lamin, UNC-84 and nucleoporins do not depend on Ce-emerin for their localization. This result suggests that emerin is not essential to organize or localize the only lamin (B-type) expressed in C. elegans. We also analyzed the RNAi phenotype resulting from the loss of emerin function in C. elegans under laboratory growth conditions, and found no detectable phenotype throughout development. We propose that C. elegans is an appropriate system in which to study the molecular mechanisms of emerin function in vivo.


2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (4) ◽  
pp. 1128-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin S. Cannon ◽  
Benjamin L. Woods ◽  
John M. Crutchley ◽  
Amy S. Gladfelter

Cell shape is well described by membrane curvature. Septins are filament-forming, GTP-binding proteins that assemble on positive, micrometer-scale curvatures. Here, we examine the molecular basis of curvature sensing by septins. We show that differences in affinity and the number of binding sites drive curvature-specific adsorption of septins. Moreover, we find septin assembly onto curved membranes is cooperative and show that geometry influences higher-order arrangement of septin filaments. Although septins must form polymers to stay associated with membranes, septin filaments do not have to span micrometers in length to sense curvature, as we find that single-septin complexes have curvature-dependent association rates. We trace this ability to an amphipathic helix (AH) located on the C-terminus of Cdc12. The AH domain is necessary and sufficient for curvature sensing both in vitro and in vivo. These data show that curvature sensing by septins operates at much smaller length scales than the micrometer curvatures being detected.


2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephane C. BOUTET ◽  
Thomas QUERTERMOUS ◽  
Bahaa M. FADEL

TIE1, an endothelial-cell-specific tyrosine kinase receptor, is required for the survival and growth of microvascular endothelial cells during the capillary sprouting phase of vascular development. To investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate the expression of TIE1 in the endothelium, we analysed transgenic mouse embryos carrying wild-type or mutant TIE1 promoter/LacZ constructs. Our data indicate that an upstream DNA octamer element (5′-ATGCAAAT-3′) is required for the in vivo expression of TIE1 in embryonic endothelial cells. Transgenic embryos carrying the wild-type TIE1 promoter (−466 to +78bp) fused to LacZ and spanning the octamer element demonstrate endothelial-cell-specific expression of the reporter transgene. Point mutations introduced within the octamer element result in a significant decrease of endothelial LacZ expression, suggesting that the octamer site functions as a positive regulator for TIE1 gene expression in endothelial cells. DNA–protein binding studies show that the octamer element exhibits an endothelial-cell-specific pattern of binding via interaction with endothelial-cell-restricted factor(s). Our findings suggest an important role for the octamer element in regulating the expression of the TIE1 receptor in the embryonic endothelium and suggest a common mechanism for the regulation of the angiogenic and cell-specific TIE1 and TIE2 genes during vascular development.


2001 ◽  
Vol 276 (15) ◽  
pp. 11980-11987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Haney ◽  
Elizabeth Glasfeld ◽  
Cynthia Hale ◽  
David Keeney ◽  
Zhizhen He ◽  
...  

The recruitment of ZipA to the septum by FtsZ is an early, essential step in cell division inEscherichia coli. We have used polymerase chain reaction-mediated random mutagenesis in the yeast two-hybrid system to analyze this interaction and have identified residues within a highly conserved sequence at the C terminus of FtsZ as the ZipA binding site. A search for suppressors of a mutation that causes a loss of interaction (ftsZD373G) identified eight different changes at two residues within this sequence.In vitro, wild type FtsZ interacted with ZipA with a high affinity in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, whereas FtsZD373Gfailed to interact. Two mutant proteins examined restored this interaction significantly.In vivo, the alleles tested are significantly more toxic than the wild typeftsZand cannot complement a deletion. We have shown that a fusion, which encodes the last 70 residues of FtsZ in the two-hybrid system, is sufficient for the interaction with FtsA and ZipA. However, when the wild type sequence is compared with one that encodes FtsZD373G, no interaction was seen with either protein. Mutations surrounding Asp-373 differentially affected the interactions of FtsZ with ZipA and FtsA, indicating that these proteins bind the C terminus of FtsZ differently.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (23) ◽  
pp. 6068-6077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Wang ◽  
Mei-Feng Shen ◽  
Sandy Chang

Abstract Maintenance of mammalian telomeres requires both the enzyme telomerase and shelterin, which protect telomeres from inappropriately activating DNA damage response checkpoints. Dyskeratosis congenita is an inherited BM failure syndrome disorder because of defects in telomere maintenance. We have previously shown that deletion of the shelterin component Pot1b in the setting of telomerase haploinsufficiency results in rapid telomere shortening and fatal BM failure in mice, eliciting phenotypes that strongly resemble human syskeratosis congenita. However, it was unclear why BM failure occurred in the setting of Pot1b deletion. In this study, we show that Pot1b plays an essential role in HSC survival. Deletion of Pot1b results in increased apoptosis, leading to severe depletion of the HSC reserve. BM from Pot1bΔ/Δ mice cannot compete with BM from wild-type mice to provide multilineage reconstitution, indicating that there is an intrinsic requirement for Pot1b the maintenance of HSC function in vivo. Elimination of the p53-dependent apoptotic function increased HSC survival and significantly extended the lifespan of Pot1b-null mice deficient in telomerase function. Our results document for the first time the essential role of a component of the shelterin complex in the maintenance of HSC and progenitor cell survival.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (16) ◽  
pp. 8010-8017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Defourny ◽  
Alain Aghaie ◽  
Isabelle Perfettini ◽  
Paul Avan ◽  
Sedigheh Delmaghani ◽  
...  

Noise overexposure causes oxidative stress, leading to auditory hair cell damage. Adaptive peroxisome proliferation involving pejvakin, a peroxisome-associated protein from the gasdermin family, has been shown to protect against this harmful oxidative stress. However, the role of pejvakin in peroxisome dynamics and homeostasis remains unclear. Here we show that sound overstimulation induces an early and rapid selective autophagic degradation of peroxisomes (pexophagy) in auditory hair cells from wild-type, but not pejvakin-deficient (Pjvk−/−), mice. Noise overexposure triggers recruitment of the autophagosome-associated protein MAP1LC3B (LC3B; microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3β) to peroxisomes in wild-type, but not Pjvk−/−, mice. We also show that pejvakin–LC3B binding involves an LC3-interacting region within the predicted chaperone domain of pejvakin. In transfected cells and in vivo transduced auditory hair cells, cysteine mutagenesis experiments demonstrated the requirement for both C328 and C343, the two cysteine residues closest to the C terminus of pejvakin, for reactive oxygen species-induced pejvakin–LC3B interaction and pexophagy. The viral transduction of auditory hair cells from Pjvk−/− mice in vivo with both Pjvk and Lc3b cDNAs completely restored sound-induced pexophagy, fully prevented the development of oxidative stress, and resulted in normal levels of peroxisome proliferation, whereas Pjvk cDNA alone yielded only a partial correction of the defects. Overall, our results demonstrate that pexophagy plays a key role in noise-induced peroxisome proliferation and identify defective pexophagy as a cause of noise-induced hearing loss. They suggest that pejvakin acts as a redox-activated pexophagy receptor/adaptor, thereby identifying a previously unknown function of gasdermin family proteins.


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