Post-translation modification of proteins; methodologies and applications in plant sciences.

Proteins have the potential to undergo a variety of post-translational modifications and the different methods available to study these cellular processes has advanced rapidly with the continuing development of proteomic technologies. In this review we aim to detail five major post-translational modifications (phosphorylation, glycosylaion, lipid modification, ubiquitination and redox-related modifications), elaborate on the techniques that have been developed for their analysis and briefly discuss the study of these modifications in selected areas of plant science.

Chloroplast precursor proteins compete to form early import intermediates in isolated pea chloroplasts.

In order to ascertain whether there is one site for the import of precursor proteins into chloroplasts or whether different precursor proteins are imported via different import machineries, chloroplasts were incubated with large quantities of the precursor of the 33 kDa subunit of the oxygen-evolving complex (pOE33) or the precursor of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein (pLHCP) and tested for their ability to import a wide range of other chloroplast precursor proteins. Both pOE33 and pLHCP competed for import into chloroplasts with precursors of the stromally-targeted small subunit of Rubisco (pSSu), ferredoxin NADP(+) reductase (pFNR) and porphobilinogen deaminase; the thylakoid membrane proteins LHCP and the Rieske iron-sulphur protein (pRieske protein); ferrochelatase and the gamma subunit of the ATP synthase (which are both associated with the thylakoid membrane); the thylakoid lumenal protein plastocyanin and the phosphate translocator, an integral membrane protein of the inner envelope. The concentrations of pOE33 or pLHCP required to cause half-maximal inhibition of import ranged between 0.2 and 4.9 microM. These results indicate that all of these proteins are imported into the chloroplast by a common import machinery. Incubation of chloroplasts with pOE33 inhibited the formation of early import intermediates of pSSu, pFNR and pRieske protein.

The effect of amino acid-modifying reagents on chloroplast protein import and the formation of early import intermediates.

In order to identify functionally important amino acid residues in the chloroplast protein import machinery, chloroplasts were preincubated with amino-acid-modifying reagents and then allowed to import or form early import intermediates with precursor proteins. Incubation of chloroplasts with N-ethyl maleimide, diethyl pyrocarbonate, phenylglyoxal, 4,4'-di-isothiocyanatostilbene 2,2'-disulphonic acid (DIDS), dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD), and 1-ethyl- 3-dimethylaminopropylcarbodiimide (EDC) inhibited both import and formation of early import intermediates with precursor proteins by chloroplasts. This suggests that one or more of the binding components of the chloroplast protein import machinery contains functionally important solvent-exposed cysteine, histidine, arginine, and aspartate/glutamate residues, as well as functionally important lysine and aspartate/ glutamate residues in a hydrophobic environment.

Overexpression of a rat kinase-deficient phosphoinositide 3-kinase, Vps34p, inhibits cathepsin D maturation.

Lipid kinases and their phosphorylated products are important regulators of many cellular processes, including intracellular membrane traffic. The best example of this is provided by the class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI-3K), Vps34p, which is required for correct targeting of newly synthesized carboxypeptidase Y to the yeast vacuole. A probable mammalian Vps34p orthologue has been previously identified, but its function in the trafficking of lysosomal enzymes has not been resolved. To investigate the possible role(s) of mammalian Vps34p in protein targeting to lysosomes, we have cloned the rat orthologue and overexpressed a kinase-deficient mutant in HeLa cells. Expression of the mutant protein inhibited both maturation of procathepsin D and basal secretion of the precursor. In contrast wortmannin, which also inhibited maturation, caused hypersecretion of the precursor. We propose that mammalian Vps34p plays a direct role in targeting lysosomal enzyme precursors to the endocytic pathway in an analogous fashion to its role in the fusion of early endocytic vesicles with endosomes. We further suggest that inhibition of a wortmannin-sensitive enzyme, other than mammalian Vps34p, is responsible for the failure to recycle unoccupied mannose 6-phosphate receptors to the trans-Golgi network, and consequent hypersecretion of lysosomal enzyme precursors observed in the presence of this drug.

Loss of cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptor expression promotes the accumulation of lysobisphosphatidic acid in multilamellar bodies.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the importance of lipid domains within endocytic organelles in the sorting and movement of integral membrane proteins. In particular, considerable attention has become focussed upon the role of the unusual phospholipid lysobisphosphatidic acid (LBPA). This lipid appears to be directly involved in the trafficking of cholesterol and glycosphingolipids, and accumulates in a number of lysosomal storage disorders. Antibody-mediated disruption of LBPA function also leads to mis-sorting of cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptors. We now report that the converse is also true, and that spontaneous loss of cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptors from a rat fibroblast cell line led to the formation of aberrant late endocytic structures enriched in LBPA. Accumulation of LBPA was directly dependent upon the loss of the receptors, and could be reversed by expression of bovine cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptors in the mutant cell line. Ultrastructural analysis indicated that the abnormal organelles were electron-dense, had a multi-lamellar structure, accumulated endocytosed probes, and were distinct from dense-core lysosomes present within the same cells. The late endocytic structures present at steady state within any particular cell likely reflect the balance of membrane traffic through the endocytic pathway of that cell, and the rate of maturation of individual endocytic organelles. Moreover, there is considerable evidence which suggests that cargo receptors also play a direct mechanistic role in membrane trafficking events. Therefore, loss of such a protein may disturb the overall equilibrium of the pathway, and hence cause the accumulation of aberrant organelles. We propose that this mechanism underlies the phenotype of the mutant cell line, and that the formation of inclusion bodies in many lysosomal storage diseases is also due to an imbalance in membrane trafficking within the endocytic pathway.

Protein translocation across chloroplast envelope membranes.

Nuclear-encoded chloroplast proteins are imported from the cytosol into the chloroplast stroma by a common translocation machinery. Several components of the import apparatus, including GTP-binding proteins and Hsp70 proteins, have recently been identified and characterized. This review discusses the role of these proteins in chloroplast protein import.