Assembly of vault-like particles in insect cells expressing only the major vault protein.

Vaults are the largest (13 megadalton) cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein particles known to exist in eukaryotic cells. They have a unique barrel-shaped structure with 8-fold symmetry. Although the precise function of vaults is unknown, their wide distribution and highly conserved morphology in eukaryotes suggests that their function is essential and that their structure must be important for their function. The 100-kDa major vault protein (MVP) constitutes approximately 75% of the particle mass and is predicted to form the central barrel portion of the vault. To gain insight into the mechanisms for vault assembly, we have expressed rat MVP in the Sf9 insect cell line using a baculovirus vector. Our results show that the expression of the rat MVP alone can direct the formation of particles that have biochemical characteristics similar to endogenous rat vaults and display the distinct vault-like morphology when negatively stained and examined by electron microscopy. These particles are the first example of a single protein polymerizing into a non-spherically, non-cylindrically symmetrical structure. Understanding vault assembly will enable us to design agents that disrupt vault formation and hence aid in elucidating vault function in vivo.

Up-regulation of vaults may be necessary but not sufficient for multidrug resistance.

Vaults are ribonucleoprotein complexes comprised of the 100 kDa major vault protein (MVP), the 2 high m.w. vault proteins p193 (VPARP) and p240 (TEP1) and an untranslated small RNA (vRNA). Increased levels of MVP, vault-associated vRNA and vaults have been linked directly to non-P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR). To further characterize the putative role of vaults in MDR, expression levels of all of the vault proteins were examined in various MDR cell lines. Subcellular fractionation of vault particles revealed that all 3 vault proteins are increased in MDR cells compared to the parental, drug-sensitive cells. Furthermore, protein analysis of subcellular fractions of the drug-sensitive, MVP-transfected AC16 cancer cell line indicated that vault levels are increased, in this stable line. Since TEP1 is shared by both vaults and the telomerase complex, TEP1 protein (and vault) levels were compared with telomerase activity in a variety of cell lines, including various MDR lines. Our studies demonstrate that while vault levels may be a good predictor of drug resistance, their up-regulation alone is not sufficient to confer the drug-resistant phenotype. This implies a requirement of an additional factor(s) for vault-mediated MDR.

Vaults and telomerase share a common subunit, TEP1.

Vaults are large cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein complexes of undetermined function. Mammalian vaults have two high molecular mass proteins of 193 and 240 kDa. We have identified a partial cDNA encoding the 240-kDa vault protein and determined it is identical to the mammalian telomerase-associated component, TEP1. TEP1 is the mammalian homolog of the Tetrahymena p80 telomerase protein and has been shown to interact specifically with mammalian telomerase RNA and the catalytic protein subunit hTERT. We show that while TEP1 is a component of the vault particle, vaults have no detectable telomerase activity. Using a yeast three-hybrid assay we demonstrate that several of the human vRNAs interact in a sequence-specific manner with TEP1. The presence of 16 WD40 repeats in the carboxyl terminus of the TEP1 protein is a convenient number for this protein to serve a structural or organizing role in the vault, a particle with eight-fold symmetry. The sharing of the TEP1 protein between vaults and telomerase suggests that TEP1 may play a common role in some aspect of ribonucleoprotein structure, function, or assembly.

Identification of a region within the ubiquitin-activating enzyme required for nuclear targeting and phosphorylation.

The ubiquitin-activating enzyme exists as two isoforms: E1a, localized predominantly in the nucleus, and E1b, localized in the cytoplasm. Previously we generated hemagglutinin (HA) epitope-tagged cDNA constructs, HA1-E1 (epitope tag placed after the first methionine) and HA2-E1 (epitope tag placed after the second methionine) (Handley-Gearhart, P. M., Stephen, A. G., Trausch-Azar, J. S., Ciechanover, A., and Schwartz, A. L. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 33171-33178), which represent the native isoforms. HA1-E1 is exclusively nuclear, whereas HA2-E1 is found predominantly in the cytoplasm. Using high resolution isoelectric focusing and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we confirm that these epitope-tagged constructs HA1-E1 and HA2-E1 represent the two isoforms E1a and E1b. HA1-E1/E1a exists as one non-phosphorylated and four phosphorylated forms, and HA2-E1/E1b exists as one predominant non-phosphorylated form and two minor phosphorylated forms. We demonstrate that the first 11 amino acids are essential for phosphorylation and exclusive nuclear localization of HA1-E1. Within this region are four serine residues and a putative nuclear localization sequence (NLS; 5PLSKKRR). Removal of these four serine residues reduced phosphorylation levels by 60% but had no effect on nuclear localization of HA1-E1. Each serine residue was independently mutated to an alanine and analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis; only serine 4 was phosphorylated. Disruption of the basic amino acids within the NLS resulted in loss of exclusive nuclear localization and a 90-95% decrease in the phosphorylation of HA1-E1. This putative NLS was able to confer nuclear import on a non-nuclear protein in digitonin-permeabilized cells in a temperature- and ATP-dependent manner. Thus the predominant requirement for efficient phosphorylation of HA1-E1/E1a is a functional NLS, suggesting that E1a may be phosphorylated within the nucleus.

The ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1 is phosphorylated and localized to the nucleus in a cell cycle-dependent manner.

The ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1 exists as two isoforms, E1a (117 kDa) and E1b (110 kDa). E1a is phosphorylated, whereas E1b is not. In the present study we have demonstrated the cell cycle dependence of E1a phosphorylation: a 2-fold increase in the specific phosphorylation of E1a in G2 compared with the basal level of phosphorylation in the other stages of the cell cycle. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis resolved E1 into the two isoforms E1a and E1b; E1a resolved further as three phosphorylated forms and one nonphosphorylated form, while E1b resolved as one nonphosphorylated form. E1a is found predominantly in the phosphorylated forms. However, the distribution of E1a among these different phosphorylated forms was not cell cycle-dependent. We next evaluated the enzymatic activity of E1 as well as its subcellular localization throughout the cell cycle. 32P-Pyrophosphate exchange activity of E1 did not vary along the cell cycle; however, the amount of ubiquitin-protein conjugates decreased by 50% in G2. Nuclear and cytosolic fractionation of cells revealed the nuclear to cytosolic ratio of phosphorylated E1a was 3-fold greater in G2 compared with the other stages of the cell cycle. Finally, purified nuclear extracts supported E1-dependent ubiquitin conjugation of exogenous substrates as did purified cytosol. However, in nuclear extracts but not in cytosol the amount of E1 activity was rate-limiting. Thus we establish nuclear E1-dependent protein ubiquitination and propose that an increase in phosphorylation of E1a in G2 functions to increase the import and/or retention of E1a in the nucleus and may modulate nuclear protein ubiquitination.

Human ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E1. Indication of potential nuclear and cytoplasmic subpopulations using epitope-tagged cDNA constructs.

The ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1 catalyzes the first step in the ubiquitin conjugation pathway. Previously, we have cloned and sequenced the cDNA for human E1. Expression of the E1 cDNA in the ts20 cell line, which harbors a thermolabile E1, abrogated the phenotypic defects associated with this line. However, little is known of the cell biology of the E1 protein or the nature of the E1 doublet. Thus, we constructed epitope-tagged E1 cDNAs in which the HA monoclonal antibody epitope tag sequence (from influenza hemagglutinin and recognized by the 12CA5 monoclonal antibody) was fused to the amino terminus of E1. Because the amino-terminal amino acid sequence of E1 is unknown, three constructs were made in which the HA tag was placed at each of the first three ATGs in the open reading frame (HA-1E1, HA-2E1, and HA-3E1). Western analysis of HeLa cells transfected with the constructs revealed that HA-1E1 closely comigrated with the upper band of the E1 doublet, and HA-2E1 comigrated with the lower band of the E1 doublet; HA-3E1 appeared smaller than either of the E1 bands. Metabolic labeling with 32P and immunoprecipitation with anti-HA antibody revealed that only the HA-1E1 protein product is phosphorylated; polyclonal anti-E1 antibody showed that only the upper band of the endogenous E1 doublet is phosphorylated. Each of the constructs was able to rescue the mutant phenotype of the ts20 cell line. Immunofluorescence studies showed that HA-2E1 and HA-3E1 were distributed in the cytoplasm with both negative and positive nuclei. This pattern of distribution has also been observed when immunostaining with a monoclonal antibody to E1 (1C5). However, the staining pattern associated with a polyclonal anti-E1 antibody (JJJ) is characterized by positive staining cytoplasm and nuclei in all cells. The HA-1E1 construct exhibited apparently exclusive nuclear distribution in HeLa cells. The difference between the staining patterns of the polyclonal and monoclonal anti-E1 antibodies can be explained by the existence of two subpopulations of E1: one cytoplasmic and partially nuclear, and one that is nuclear. Deletion of a small region at the amino terminus of the HA-1E1, including the basic sequence KKRR, transformed its immunostaining pattern to that observed with HA-2E1.

Activation of oxidized cysteine proteinases by thioredoxin-mediated reduction in vitro.

Activity of the cysteine adducts of the cysteine proteinases papain and thaumatopain can be recovered by treatment with thioredoxin, thioredoxin reductase and NADPH. Recovery of proteinase activity did not occur if any of the components of the thioredoxin system were omitted, or if thioredoxin or thioredoxin reductase were heat-inactivated. Such an enzyme-mediated process may be of significance in the recovery of cysteine proteinases inactivated by oxidative attack.

Purification and characterization of thaumatopain, a cysteine protease from the arils of the plant Thaumatococcus daniellii.

Aqueous extracts of the aril of the seed of Thaumatococcus daniellii contain, in addition to the intensely sweet protein thaumatin, a cysteine protease that we have termed thaumatopain. Thaumatopain has been purified by ion-exchange chromatography from arils, and is a monomeric protein of Mr 30,000. The protease strongly resembles papain in proteolytic activity, pH optima, susceptibility to inhibitors of cysteine proteases and in N-terminal sequence. The protease has also been identified in crude aril extracts by affinity labelling with iodo[14C]acetate. Thaumatopain is responsible for the cysteine protease activity previously attributed to thaumatin. Thaumatin is digested by thaumatopain at neutral to alkaline pH values.