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PubMedDate not supplied

Specific interaction between phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and profilactin.

There is evidence that the polymerization of actin takes place at the plasma membrane, and that profilactin (profilin/actin complex), the unpolymerized form of actin found in extracts of many non-muscle cells, serves as the immediate precursor. Both isolated profilin and profilactin interact with detergent when analysed by charge shift electrophoresis, indicating that they have amphipathic properties and may be able to interact directly with the plasma membrane. We demonstrate here that isolated profilin, as well as the profilactin complex, interacts with anionic phospholipids. Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) was found to be the most active phospholipid, causing a rapid and efficient dissociation of profilactin with a concomitant polymerization of the actin in appropriate conditions. These and other observations suggest the possibility of a relationship between the induction of actin filament formation and the increased activity in the phosphatidylinositol cycle seen as a result of ligand-receptor interactions in various systems.

Actins↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Isolation and characterization of the G-actin-myosin head complex.

The two main proteins involved in muscular contraction and cell motility, myosin and actin, possess the intrinsic property of being able to form filamentous structures. This property poses a serious impediment to the study of their structures and interactions, and a considerable effort has thus been made to isolate their functional domains. The globular part of myosin, subfragment-1 (S1), which possesses ATPase and actin-binding sites as well as supporting the movement of actin filaments during in vitro assays, has been isolated. But because S1 is efficient in inducing actin polymerization, as is myosin, it has not been possible to prepare and characterize a complex of S1 with monomeric actin (G-actin). We have now used chromatographically purified proteins to show that only the S1 isoenzyme carrying the A1 light-chain subunit promotes actin polymerization. The other isoenzyme, S1 (A2), carrying the A2 light-chain subunit, binds to actin, forming a tight complex of G-actin and S1 in a 1:1 ratio. This new functional difference between myosin isoforms directly implicates the A1 light-chain in myosin-induced actin polymerization. Additionally, this finding should lead to the purification of the stable G-actin-S1 complex needed to resolve the structure and to understand the molecular dynamics of the actin-myosin system.

Actins↗
PubMed2005

An empirical extremum principle for the hill coefficient in ligand-protein interactions showing negative cooperativity.

The Hill coefficient (nH) is a central parameter in the study of ligand-protein interactions, which measures the degree of cooperativity between subunits that bind the ligand in multisubunit proteins. The most common usage of nH is as an estimate of the minimal number of interacting binding sites in positively cooperating systems. In the present study, a statistical interpretation of nH for a generalized system of multiple identical binding sites is developed. This interpretation is then applied to the derivation of an empirical extremum principle for nH in negatively cooperating systems of identical binding sites, which can be used for the estimation of the minimal number of interacting sites in such systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Transcriptional repression mediated by the human polycomb-group protein EED involves histone deacetylation.

Polycomb-group (PcG) proteins form multimeric protein complexes, which are involved in maintaining the transcriptional repressive state of genes over successive cell generations. Components of PcG complexes and their mutual interactions have been identified and analysed through extensive genetic and biochemical analyses. Molecular mechanisms underlying PcG-mediated repression of gene activity, however, have remained largely unknown. Previously we reported the existence of two distinct human PcG protein complexes. The EED/EZH protein complex contains the embryonic ectoderm development (EED) and enhancer of zeste 2 (EZH2; refs 9,10) PcG proteins. The HPC/HPH PcG complex contains the human polycomb 2 (HPC2; ref. 11), human polyhomeotic (HPH), BMI1 (ref. 13 ) and RING1 (refs 14, 15) proteins. Here we show that EED (refs 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) interacts, both in vitro and in vivo, with histone deacetylase (HDAC) proteins. This interaction is highly specific because the HDAC proteins do not interact with other vertebrate PcG proteins. We further find that histone deacetylation activity co-immunoprecipitates with the EED protein. Finally, the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (ref. 17) relieves transcriptional repression mediated by EED, but not by HPC2, a human homologue of polycomb. Our data indicate that PcG-mediated repression of gene activity involves histone deacetylation. This mechanistic link between two distinct, global gene repression systems is accomplished through the interaction of HDAC proteins with a particular PcG protein, EED.

Acetylation↗
PubMed2006

Teaching Resources. Assembly and organization of macromolecular complexes.

This Teaching Resource provides lecture notes and slides for a class covering the roles of scaffold proteins in signal transduction and is part of the course "Cell Signaling Systems: A Course for Graduate Students." The lecture includes an overview of scaffold proteins in signal integration and focuses on the following scaffold proteins: A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs), WAVE-1, and proteins that contain PDZ domains.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗
PubMed1992

Fetal dexamethasone exposure alters macromolecular characteristics of rat brain development: a critical period for regionally selective alterations?

Fetal glucocorticoid exposure retards postnatal growth and evokes abnormalities of nervous system structure and function. To examine the underlying mechanisms, we administered 0.2 or 0.8 mg/kg of dexamethasone to pregnant rats on gestational days 17, 18, and 19 and assessed brain region cell development with indices of DNA content (total cell numbers), DNA concentration (cell packing density), and protein/DNA ratio (relative cell size). Dexamethasone evoked deficits of pup body and brain region weights, but the brain regions displayed growth-sparing associated initially with preservation of cell numbers (normal or elevated DNA content and concentration), at the expense of relative cell size (decreased protein/DNA). Subsequently, brain cell acquisition lagged behind that of controls, with deficits in DNA and elevations of protein/DNA. In midbrain + brainstem and in cerebellum, cell markers returned to normal by weaning. However, the forebrain showed persistent elevations of DNA and reduced protein/DNA, indicative of replacement of neurons with glia. Because the treatment period coincided with the timing of neuronal cell replication in the forebrain, but not in the other regions, these results suggest that the critical period for lasting deficits of dexamethasone coincides with the peak of neuronal mitosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Molecular biology of rotaviruses. I. Characterization of basic growth parameters and pattern of macromolecular synthesis.

The United Kingdom tissue-adapted bovine rotavirus growing in African green monkey kidney (BSC-1) cells was selected as a model system with which to study the detailed molecular virology of rotavirus replication. Study of the kinetics of infectious virus production revealed a fairly rapid replication cycle, with maximum yield of virus after 10 to 12 h at 37 degrees C. Progeny genome synthesis was first detected during the virus latent period at 2 to 3 h postinfection. Study of the kinetics of viral polypeptide synthesis showed that virus rapidly inhibited cellular polypeptide synthesis such that by 4 h postinfection, only virus-induced polypeptides, 15 of which were detected, were being synthesized. No qualitative changes in the pattern of viral polypeptide synthesis were observed during infection, although, based on kinetic synthesis, three quantitative classes of polypeptides were defined. Pulse-chase analysis revealed three post-translational changes in viral proteins, two of which were shown to be due to glycosylation. Tunicamycin inhibition studies were used to identify the putative non-glycosylated precursors of the two glycoproteins. Comparison of the infected-cell polypeptides with those present in purified virions revealed that mot of the virus-induced proteins were incorporated into virions, with only VP9 being a truly nonstructural protein. Some localization of the various polypeptides within the purified virion was achieved by producing viral cores.

Animals↗