Polyanions provide selective control of APC/C interactions with the activator subunit.

Transient interactions between the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and its activator subunit Cdc20 or Cdh1 generate oscillations in ubiquitylation activity necessary to maintain the order of cell cycle events. Activator binds the APC/C with high affinity and exhibits negligible dissociation kinetics in vitro, and it is not clear how the rapid turnover of APC/C-activator complexes is achieved in vivo. Here, we describe a mechanism that controls APC/C-activator interactions based on the availability of substrates. We find that APC/C-activator dissociation is stimulated by abundant cellular polyanions such as nucleic acids and polyphosphate. Polyanions also interfere with substrate ubiquitylation. However, engagement with high-affinity substrate blocks the inhibitory effects of polyanions on activator binding and APC/C activity. We propose that this mechanism amplifies the effects of substrate affinity on APC/C function, stimulating processive ubiquitylation of high-affinity substrates and suppressing ubiquitylation of low-affinity substrates.

Transferring an optimized TAP-toolbox for the isolation of protein complexes to a portfolio of rice tissues.

Proteins are the cell's functional entities. Rather than operating independently, they interact with other proteins. Capturing in vivo protein complexes is therefore crucial to gain understanding of the function of a protein in a cellular context. Affinity purification coupled to mass spectrometry has proven to yield a wealth of information about protein complex constitutions for a broad range of organisms. For Oryza sativa, the technique has been initiated in callus and shoots, but has not been optimized ever since. We translated an optimized tandem affinity purification (TAP) approach from Arabidopsis thaliana toward Oryza sativa, and demonstrate its applicability in a variety of rice tissues. A list of non-specific and false positive interactors is presented, based on re-occurrence over more than 170 independent experiments, to filter bona fide interactors. We demonstrate the sensitivity of our approach by isolating the complexes for the rice ANAPHASE PROMOTING COMPLEX SUBUNIT 10 (APC10) and CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE D (CDKD) proteins from the proliferation zone of the emerging fourth leaf. Next to APC10 and CDKD, we tested several additional baits in the different rice tissues and reproducibly retrieved at least one interactor for 81.4 % of the baits screened for in callus tissue and T1 seedlings. By transferring an optimized TAP tag combined with state-of-the-art mass spectrometry, our TAP protocol enables the discovery of interactors for low abundance proteins in rice and opens the possibility to capture complex dynamics by comparing tissues at different stages of a developing rice organ.

Measuring APC/C-Dependent Ubiquitylation In Vitro.

The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is a 1.2 MDa ubiquitin ligase complex with important functions in both proliferating and post-mitotic differentiated cells. In proliferating cells, APC/C controls cell cycle progression by targeting inhibitors of chromosome segregation and mitotic exit for degradation by the 26S proteasome. To understand how APC/C recruits and ubiquitylates its substrate proteins and how these processes are controlled, it is essential to analyze APC/C activity in vitro. In the past, such experiments have been limited by the fact that large quantities of purified APC/C were difficult to obtain and that mutated versions of the APC/C could not be easily generated. In this chapter we review recent advances in generating and purifying recombinant forms of the human APC/C and its co-activators, using methods that are scalable and compatible with mutagenesis. We also describe a method that allows the quantitative analysis of APC/C activity using fluorescently labeled substrate proteins.