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D Finley

Publications and source records attributed to D Finley.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Thermolability of ubiquitin-activating enzyme from the mammalian cell cycle mutant ts85.

Ubiquitin, a 76 residue protein, occurs in eucaryotic cells either free or covalently joined to a variety of protein species. Previous work suggested that ubiquitin may function as a signal for attack by proteinases specific for ubiquitin-protein conjugates. We show that the mouse cell line ts85 , a previously isolated cell cycle mutant, is temperature-sensitive in ubiquitin-protein conjugation, and that this effect is due to the specific thermolability of the ts85 ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1). From E1 thermoinactivation kinetics in mixed (wild-type plus ts85 ) extracts, and from copurification of the determinant of E1 thermolability with E1 in ubiquitin-affinity chromatography, we conclude that the determinant of E1 thermolability is contained within the E1 polypeptide. ts85 cells fail to degrade otherwise short-lived intracellular proteins at the nonpermissive temperature (accompanying paper), demonstrating that degradation of the bulk of short-lived proteins in this higher eucaryotic cell proceeds through a ubiquitin-dependent pathway. We discuss possible roles of ubiquitin-dependent pathways in DNA transactions, the cell cycle, and the heat shock response.

Animals↗

Ubiquitin dependence of selective protein degradation demonstrated in the mammalian cell cycle mutant ts85.

We have shown that covalent conjugation of ubiquitin to proteins is temperature-sensitive in the mouse cell cycle mutant ts85 due to a specifically thermolabile ubiquitin-activating enzyme (accompanying paper). We show here that degradation of short-lived proteins is also temperature sensitive in ts85 , in contrast to wild-type and revertant cells. While more than 70% of the prelabeled abnormal proteins (containing amino acid analogs) or puromycyl peptides are degraded within 4 hr at the permissive temperature in both ts85 and wild-type cells, less than 15% are degraded in ts85 cells at the nonpermissive temperature. Degradation of abnormal proteins and puromycyl peptides in both ts85 cells and wild-type cells is nonlysosomal and ATP-dependent. Immunochemical analysis shows a strong and specific reduction in the levels of in vivo labeled ubiquitin-protein conjugates at the nonpermissive temperature in ts85 cells. Degradation of normal, short-lived proteins is also specifically temperature sensitive in ts85 . We suggest that the contribution of ubiquitin-independent pathways to the degradation of short-lived proteins in this higher eucaryotic cell is no more than 10%, and possibly less.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

The substrate translocation channel of the proteasome.

The core particle (CP) of the yeast proteasome is composed of four heptameric rings of subunits arranged in a hollow, barrel-like structure. We have found that the CP is autoinhibited by the N-terminal tails of the outer (alpha) ring subunits. Crystallographic analysis showed that deletion of the tail of the alpha3 subunit opens a channel into the proteolytically active interior chamber of the CP, thus derepressing peptide hydrolysis. In the latent state of the particle, the tails prevent substrate entry by imposing topological closure on the CP. Inhibition by the alpha subunit tails is relieved upon binding of the regulatory particle to the CP to form the proteasome holoenzyme. Opening of the CP channel by assembly of the holoenzyme is regulated by the ATPase domain of Rpt2, one of 17 subunits in the RP. Thus, open-channel mutations in CP subunits suppress the closed-channel phenotype of an rpt2 mutant. These results identify a specific mechanism for allosteric regulation of the CP by the RP.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

The yeast ubiquitin gene: head-to-tail repeats encoding a polyubiquitin precursor protein.

Ubiquitin, a 76-residue protein, occurs in cells either free or covalently joined to a variety of protein species, from chromosomal histones to cytoplasmic proteins. Conjugation of ubiquitin to proteolytic substrates is essential for the selective degradation of intracellular proteins in higher eukaryotes. We show here that a protein homologous to human ubiquitin exists in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and that yeast extracts conjugate human ubiquitin to a variety of endogenous proteins in an ATP-dependent reaction. We have isolated the S. cerevisiae ubiquitin gene and found it to contain six consecutive ubiquitin-coding repeats in a found it to contain six consecutive ubiquitin-coding repeats in a head-to-tail arrangement. This apparently unique gene organization suggests that yeast ubiquitin is generated by processing of a precursor protein in which several exact repeats of the ubiquitin amino acid sequence are joined directly via Gly-Met peptide bonds between the last and first residues of mature ubiquitin, respectively. Ubiquitin-coding yeast DNA repeats are restricted to a single genomic locus; although the sequenced repeats differ in up to 27 of 228 bases per repeat, they encode identical amino acid sequences. As this predicted amino acid sequence differs in only 3 of 76 residues from that of ubiquitin in higher eukaryotes, ubiquitin is apparently the most conserved of known proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗