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Analysis of molecular masses and oligomeric states of protein complexes by blue native electrophoresis and isolation of membrane protein complexes by two-dimensional native electrophoresis.

Blue native Electrophoresis is a "charge shift" method developed for isolation of native membrane protein complexes from biological membranes that also separates both acidic and basic water-soluble proteins at a fixed pH of 7.5. In combination with a second dimension sodium dodecylsulfate electrophoresis it provides an analytical method for the determination of molecular mass and oligomeric state of nondissociated complexes, of subunit composition, and of degree of purity and for the detection of subcomplexes. The method was applied to analysis of cytochrome bc/bf complexes. By combination of a novel colorless native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (CN-PAGE) with blue native BN-PAGE, a two-dimensional native technique was developed that is suitable for preparation of highly pure membrane protein complexes.

Animals↗

Von Willebrand factor and von Willebrand's disease: a complex protein and a complex disease.

Von Willebrand factor is a complex protein which is important in several ways for normal hemostasis. Von Willebrand's disease results when there is either a quantitative or qualitative disorder of von Willebrand factor. In this review, the structure and function of von Willebrand factor are discussed. Additionally, the current laboratory and clinical classification of von Willebrand's disease and closely related variants are outlined.

Factor VIII↗

Evidence for transmembrane proton transfer in a dihaem-containing membrane protein complex.

Membrane protein complexes can support both the generation and utilisation of a transmembrane electrochemical proton potential ('proton-motive force'), either by transmembrane electron transfer coupled to protolytic reactions on opposite sides of the membrane or by transmembrane proton transfer. Here we provide the first evidence that both of these mechanisms are combined in the case of a specific respiratory membrane protein complex, the dihaem-containing quinol:fumarate reductase (QFR) of Wolinella succinogenes, so as to facilitate transmembrane electron transfer by transmembrane proton transfer. We also demonstrate the non-functionality of this novel transmembrane proton transfer pathway ('E-pathway') in a variant QFR where a key glutamate residue has been replaced. The 'E-pathway', discussed on the basis of the 1.78-Angstrom-resolution crystal structure of QFR, can be concluded to be essential also for the viability of pathogenic epsilon-proteobacteria such as Helicobacter pylori and is possibly relevant to proton transfer in other dihaem-containing membrane proteins, performing very different physiological functions.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Photoaffinity labeling of the cap-binding protein complex with ATP/dATP. Differential labeling of free eukaryotic initiation factor 4A and the eukaryotic initiation factor 4A component of the cap-binding protein complex with [alpha-32P]ATP/dATP.

It has been suggested that the cap-binding protein complex is involved in ATP-mediated melting of 5'-mRNA secondary structure to facilitate ribosome binding during initiation of translation in eukaryotic cells (Edery, I., Lee, K. A. W., and Sonenberg, N. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 2456-2462). Consequently, we have studied the interaction of dATP/ATP with the eukaryotic cap-binding protein complex by UV photoaffinity labeling. UV irradiation of the cap-binding protein complex in the presence of [alpha-32P]dATP/ATP resulted in the cross-linking of this compound to the 50-kDa polypeptide of the complex. This polypeptide is almost identical to the previously characterized eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4A. We examined the ability of dATP/ATP to cross-link to eIF-4A and found that it cross-links less efficiently (approximately 60-fold on a molar basis) compared to the cross-linking obtained for the eIF-4A component of the cap-binding protein complex. Irradiation of purified eIF-4A together with the cap-binding protein complex in the presence of [alpha-32P]dATP resulted in greater than additive labeling of the eIF-4A component of the cap-binding protein complex and purified eIF-4A, suggesting a synergistic interaction between purified eIF-4A, the cap-binding protein complex, and dATP/ATP. We also report that photoaffinity labeling of eIF-4A and the eIF-4A component in the cap-binding protein complex is stimulated by eIF-4B, but not by other initiation factors or mRNA.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Discovery of binding motif pairs from protein complex structural data and protein interaction sequence data.

Unravelling the underlying mechanisms of protein interactions requires knowledge about the interactions' binding sites. In this paper, we use a novel concept, binding motif pairs, to describe binding sites. A binding motif pair consists of two motifs each derived from one side of the binding protein sequences. The discovery is a directed approach that uses a combination of two data sources: 3-D structures of protein complexes and sequences of interacting proteins. We first extract maximal contact segment pairs from the protein complexes' structural data. We then use these segment pairs as templates to sub-group the interacting protein sequence dataset, and conduct an iterative refinement to derive significant binding motif pairs. This combination approach is efficient in handling large datasets of protein interactions. From a dataset of 78,390 protein interactions, we have discovered 896 significant binding motif pairs. The discovered motif pairs include many novel motif pairs as well as motifs that agree well with experimentally validated patterns in the literature.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

Femtomol sensitivity post-digest (18)O labeling for relative quantification of differential protein complex composition.

Stable isotope labeling (SIL) has emerged as a powerful tool to measure the relative quantitative differences between samples in many differential display-type proteomic applications. However, current SIL procedures tend to suffer from the fact that one needs to decide very early in a biochemical strategy whether or not a sample will be subjected to relative quantification. Typically, the entire strategy has to be adapted to the needs of the particular quantification method chosen which might limit the range of biochemical experiments amenable to quantification. Metabolic labeling approaches, albeit very sensitive, can only be applied to studies using appropriate cell culture systems which might not necessarily be compatible with the biological system under investigation. Chemical labeling of complex protein mixtures by, e.g., isotope-coded affinity tags (ICAT), can offer great simplification of protein mixtures but is restricted by the accessibility of the often few suitable peptides (i.e. cysteine containing peptides) for both protein identification and quantification. Here, we describe a post-digest (18)O-labeling method that can circumvent some of the above limitations by separating protein identification from quantification. An aliquot of all samples in a set can be used for rapid protein ID using, e.g., matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). In a second step, relative quantification is performed using trypsin-catalyzed (18)O incorporation into all tryptic peptides. This two-stage procedure introduces significant experimental flexibility because it enables postponement of the decision about which pairs of samples from a given set of experiments are to be compared until after the protein ID stage. In-gel digested protein quantities between 50 fmol and 15 pmol are amenable to this new method, with a dynamic range of 1:10 within one sample. Accuracy for measured relative abundances is similar to those reported for other SIL strategies (errors typically <20%), and the method is applicable to protein samples from all kinds of tissue or cell culture. This paper presents quantification data for a set of standard proteins, as well as a study of differential complex formation around the NFkappaB transcription factor p65 following stimulation with TNF-alpha.

Isotope Labeling↗

A 50-kDa cytosolic protein complexed with the 90-kDa heat shock protein (hsp90) is the same protein complexed with pp60v-src hsp90 in cells transformed by the Rous sarcoma virus.

We have previously shown that a 50-kDa protein is one component of a heteromeric complex immunoprecipitated by the 90-kDa heat shock protein (hsp90) monoclonal antibodies 8D3 and 3G3 (Perdew, G. H., and Whitelaw, M. L. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 6708-6713). In this report, we compare the 50-kDa protein with that found in pp60v-src-hsp90-p50 complexes immunoprecipitated from Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells with antibodies to pp60v-src. 35S- and 32P-labeled p50 proteins from each system were identical in their mobilities by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacryl-amide gel electrophoresis. The profile of N-chlorosuccinimide cleavage products derived from each 32P-labeled p50 protein were also identical when resolved by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We have developed a mouse monoclonal antibody, 3M/1B5p50, capable of detecting p50 on Western blots. This antibody detected the 50-kDa protein which co-purified with the pa104 pp60v-src mutant of the avian sarcoma virus oncoprotein in 44A rat fibroblasts. We did not detect p50 in association with native glucocorticoid receptor in L cells or with the overexpressed glucocorticoid receptor in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Two experiments utilizing immunochemical staining implied that essentially all cytosolic p50 is associated with hsp90. Firstly, immunoprecipitating hsp90 from Hepa 1 cytosol with monoclonal antibody 3G3 left the cytosol depleted of p50. Secondly, cytosol fractionated by sucrose gradient revealed that p50 cosedimented with hsp90, confirming the existence of p50 only in association with hsp90.

Animals↗

Comprehensive proteomic analysis of human Par protein complexes reveals an interconnected protein network.

The polarization of eukaryotic cells is controlled by the concerted activities of asymmetrically localized proteins. The PAR proteins, first identified in Caenorhabditis elegans, are common regulators of cell polarity conserved from nematode and flies to man. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which these proteins and protein complexes establish cell polarity in mammals. We have mapped multiprotein complexes formed around the putative human Par orthologs MARK4 (microtubule-associated protein/microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 4) (Par-1), Par-3, LKB1 (Par-4), 14-3-3zeta and eta (Par-5), Par-6a, -b, -c, and PKClambda (PKC3). We employed a proteomic approach comprising tandem affinity purification (TAP) of protein complexes from cultured cells and protein sequencing by tandem mass spectrometry. From these data we constructed a highly interconnected protein network consisting of three core complex "modules" formed around MARK4 (Par-1), Par-3.Par-6, and LKB1 (Par-4). The network confirms most previously reported interactions. In addition we identified more than 50 novel interactors, some of which, like the 14-3-3 phospho-protein scaffolds, occur in more than one distinct complex. We demonstrate that the complex formation between LKB1.Par-4, PAPK, and Mo25 results in the translocation of LKB1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and to tight junctions and show that the LKB1 complex may activate MARKs, which are known to introduce 14-3-3 binding sites into several substrates. Our findings suggest co-regulation and/or signaling events between the distinct Par complexes and provide a basis for further elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that govern cell polarity.

14-3-3 Proteins↗

The analysis of peptide affinity and its binding kinetics to DR1DW1 major histocompatibility complex protein.

The connection between experimentally measured values of ED50 (concentration of added peptide required to bind half of the protein), which characterize peptide-protein binding and the equilibrium dissociation constant of peptide-protein complex Kd (affinity) is considered. It is shown and confirmed by experimental studies that in certain cases, as a result of the absence of equilibrium in the system, the value of Kd could be much less than the experimental value of ED50, but not equal to that as commonly assumed. This is especially applicable to the formation of peptide-MHC complexes with low dissociation rates (strong binding), which may require longer time-intervals to reach equilibrium. Thus the search of the good binding peptides based on finding ones with the smallest measured values' of ED50 may result in missing the best binders with the lowest values of dissociation constant (highest affinity). To analyze the problem we considered the formal chemical kinetics of peptide-protein binding. Experimental studies of peptide binding was performed to obtain the parameters of the kinetic model. According to the predictions of the model, it was confirmed that peptide binding occurs through the preceding step, which is either a release of an endogenous peptide or some conformational change of the molecule. The half decay time for this process was determined to be approximately 3 h. Based on the model developed, a new effective method for determination of the dissociation rates of peptide-MHC complexes and the equilibrium dissociation constants Kd was proposed, which implies the comparison of binding levels (ED50) at different instants of time. This method works especially well for the peptide-MHC complexes with relatively slow dissociation rates (stable complexes), for which the direct off-rate measurements as well as obtaining equilibrium binding data to determine Kd are highly time consuming and not very reliable.

HLA Antigens↗

Footprinting DNA-protein complexes in situ following gel retardation assays using 1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion: Escherichia coli RNA polymerase-lac promoter complexes.

Protein-DNA complexes isolated in gel retardation assays can be digested within the acrylamide matrix by the nuclease activity of 1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion (OP-Cu). When the oligonucleotide products are eluted and analyzed on a sequencing gel, a footprint of the DNA-protein complex is obtained. Therefore, any protein-DNA complex isolated by the widely used gel retardation technique can be defined in terms of sequence-specific interactions by this simple methodology. The binding of the lac repressor and Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to an EcoRI fragment containing the lac control region has been studied by the combined gel retardation-1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion footprinting procedure. Footprints of lac repressor binding correspond to those obtained in solution with OP-Cu and DNase I and verify the experimental procedures. In studying E. coli RNA polymerase-promoter complexes, we have found that magnesium ion is required to form single-stranded DNA structures characteristic of kinetically competent open transcription complexes.

Chromatography, Gel↗

Outer membranes of a lipopolysaccharide-protein complex (LPS-17 kDa protein) as chemical tularemia vaccines.

Immunisation with outer membranes of Francisella tularensis induced an efficient protection in guinea pigs against challenge with the virulent strains 503 or 144/713 (type B biovar holarctica), both clinical isolates, and prevented the development of typical signs of infection in hamadryads (baboons), challenged with the virulent strain Schu (type A, biovar tularensis) of F. tularensis. Immunisation with a lipopolysaccharide protein complex isolated from the outer membranes afforded protection in CBA mice against challenge with strain 503. Another LPS-protein complex obtained by the simple mixture of LPS preparations from strain 503 and a 17-kDa membrane protein from the avirulent R-variant of the vaccine strain 15 also demonstrated protective properties against experimental tularemia in mice.

Animals↗

Sumoylation of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins, zinc finger proteins, and nuclear pore complex proteins: a proteomic analysis.

SUMO, a small ubiquitin-related modifier, is known to covalently attach to a number of nuclear regulatory proteins such as p53, IkappaB, promyelocytic leukemia protein and c-Jun. The sumoylation reaction is catalyzed by the SUMO protease, which exposes the C-terminal active glycine residue of the nascent SUMO, the heterodimeric SUMO activating enzyme, the SUMO conjugating enzyme, Ubc9, and SUMO protein ligases, in a manner similar to ubiquitinylation. Identification of SUMO-regulated proteins is hampered by the fact that many sumoylated proteins are present at a level below normal detection limit. This limitation was overcome by either in vivo overexpression of Myc-SUMO or in vitro sumoylation with excess biotin-SUMO and Ubc9. Sumoylated proteins so obtained were affinity purified or isolated by immunoprecipitation. The isolated sumoylated proteins were identified by sequence analysis using mass spectrometric methods. Results reveal that several heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), zinc finger proteins, and nuclear pore complex proteins were sumoylated. The sumoylation of hnRNP A1, hnRNP F, and hnRNP K were confirmed in vivo by coimmunoprecipitation. In view of the facts that hnRNPs have been implicated in RNA splicing, transport, stability, and translation, our findings suggest that sumoylation could play an important role in regulating mRNA metabolism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Characterization of a fourth adaptor-related protein complex.

Adaptor protein complexes (APs) function as vesicle coat components in different membrane traffic pathways; however, there are a number of pathways for which there is still no candidate coat. To find novel coat components related to AP complexes, we have searched the expressed sequence tag database and have identified, cloned, and sequenced a new member of each of the four AP subunit families. We have shown by a combination of coimmunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid analysis that these four proteins (epsilon, beta4, mu4, and sigma4) are components of a novel adaptor-like heterotetrameric complex, which we are calling AP-4. Immunofluorescence reveals that AP-4 is localized to approximately 10-20 discrete dots in the perinuclear region of the cell. This pattern is disrupted by treating the cells with brefeldin A, indicating that, like other coat proteins, the association of AP-4 with membranes is regulated by the small GTPase ARF. Immunogold electron microscopy indicates that AP-4 is associated with nonclathrin-coated vesicles in the region of the trans-Golgi network. The mu4 subunit of the complex specifically interacts with a tyrosine-based sorting signal, indicating that, like the other three AP complexes, AP-4 is involved in the recognition and sorting of cargo proteins with tyrosine-based motifs. AP-4 is of relatively low abundance, but it is expressed ubiquitously, suggesting that it participates in a specialized trafficking pathway but one that is required in all cell types.

Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport↗

Coupling tandem affinity purification and quantitative tyrosine iodination to determine subunit stoichiometry of protein complexes.

Rapid protein purification methodologies, such as strategies involving the tandem affinity purification module, have resulted in the identification of a tremendous number of multisubunit protein complexes. Furthermore, in this modern genomic age, mass spectrometry methods are often coupled with affinity purification to identify the genes that encode each protein subunit. However, simple methodologies to determine the stoichiometry of individual subunits within a multisubunit complex have not received much attention. In this article we describe a procedure to rapidly and efficiently determine the stoichiometry of subunits within multisubunit complexes using a combination of tandem affinity purification and quantitative 125I labeling of subunit tyrosines.

Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel↗

Regulation of Photosystem II core protein phosphorylation at the substrate level: Light induces exposure of the CP43 chlorophyll a protein complex to thylakoid protein kinase(s).

Light induces conformational changes in the CP43 chl-a-protein antenna complex in isolated PS II core-complexes exposing phosphorylation site(s) to PS II core-associated protein kinase(s), to added solubilized thylakoid protein kinase(s), as well as to tryptic cleavage. The substrate-activation effect is demonstrated by exposure of the PS II cores to light during the kinase assay as well as by preillumination of the PS II cores in which the endogenous kinase(s) has been inactivated by treatment with N-ethylmaleimid. In the latter case, phosphorylation was performed in darkness following addition of the solubilized protein kinase(s). The solubilized protein kinase(s) does not require light activation. The apparent molecular masses of the main protein kinase(s) associated with the PS II cores (about 31-35 kDa and 45 kDa) differ from that of the major protein kinase present in solubilized preparations obtained from spinach thylakoids (64 kDa). The light-induced exposure of CP43 increases with the light intensity in the range of 20-100 mumol photons m(-2) s(-1) as demonstrated by preillumination of N-ethylmaleimid treated cores followed by addition of the solubilized protein kinase(s) and performing the phosphorylation assay in darkness.

Journal Article↗

A simple physical model for binding energy hot spots in protein-protein complexes.

Protein-protein recognition plays a central role in most biological processes. Although the structures of many protein-protein complexes have been solved in molecular detail, general rules describing affinity and selectivity of protein-protein interactions do not accurately account for the extremely diverse nature of the interfaces. We investigate the extent to which a simple physical model can account for the wide range of experimentally measured free energy changes brought about by alanine mutation at protein-protein interfaces. The model successfully predicts the results of alanine scanning experiments on globular proteins (743 mutations) and 19 protein-protein interfaces (233 mutations) with average unsigned errors of 0.81 kcal/mol and 1.06 kcal/mol, respectively. The results test our understanding of the dominant contributions to the free energy of protein-protein interactions, can guide experiments aimed at the design of protein interaction inhibitors, and provide a stepping-stone to important applications such as interface redesign.

Alanine↗

Identification of a novel, non-snRNP protein complex containing U1A protein.

Mouse monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were generated against Escherichia coli-produced U1snRNP-A (U1A) protein. U1A-specific MAbs as well as MAbs that reacted with both U1A and U2snRNP-B" (U2B") were isolated. MAb 12E12 was unique among the characterized MAbs because it failed to immunoprecipitate U1A protein produced by in vitro transcription and translation using rabbit reticulocyte lysates. However, when U1A protein was made using a wheat germ extract, MAb 12E12 could immunoprecipitate U1A quite readily, as did the other MAbs. These data suggest that the MAb 12E12 epitope is masked when U1A is prepared in reticulocyte lysate. Further studies showed that MAb 12E12 recognizes an epitope that is masked when U1A protein is bound to U1 RNA. The unique nature of MAb 12E12 was used to demonstrate that U1A could be immunoprecipitated from whole-cell extracts in a form that was free of U1 RNA and other snRNP components. However, this snRNP-free U1A (SF-A) was found to co-immunoprecipitate with a unique set of non-snRNP proteins. In order to confirm that U1A exists in at least two distinct complexes (snRNP bound and snRNP free), [35S]-labeled nucleoplasmic extracts were analyzed by sucrose density gradient fractionation and immunoprecipitation. MAb 12E12 specifically immunoprecipitated SF-A, which migrated in a novel non-snRNP complex. Specifically, proteins of approximately 58, 59, 63, 65, and 105 kDa co-sedimented and co-immunoprecipitated with SF-A. Our data show that a significant portion of the cellular U1A (at least 3% or approximately 30,000 molecules) exists in the nucleoplasm in one or more novel complexes. Our previous studies have demonstrated an effect of purified U1A on polyadenylation of pre-mRNAs and, consistent with this finding, purified antibodies to SF-A significantly diminish polyadenylation in vitro.

Animals↗

Dissection of multi-protein complexes using mass spectrometry: subunit interactions in transthyretin and retinol-binding protein complexes.

Complexes formed between transthyretin and retinol-binding protein prevent loss of retinol from the body through glomerular filtration. The interactions between these proteins have been examined by electrospray ionization combined with time-of-flight mass analysis. Conditions were found whereby complexes of these proteins, containing from four to six protein molecules with up to two ligands, are preserved in the gas phase. Analysis of the mass spectra of these multimeric species gives the overall stoichiometry of the protein subunits and provides estimates for solution dissociation constants of 1.9 +/- 1.0 x 10(-7) M for the first and 3.5 +/- 1.0 x 10(-5) M for the second retinol-binding protein molecule bound to a transthyretin tetramer. Dissociation of these protein assemblies within the gas phase of the mass spectrometer shows that each retinol-binding protein molecule interacts with three transthyretin molecules. Mass spectral analysis illustrates not only a correlation with solution behavior and crystallographic data of a closely related protein complex but also exemplifies a general method for analysis of multi-protein assemblies.

Animals↗