Expression, purification, electron microscopy, N-glycosylation mutagenesis and molecular modeling of human P2X4 and Dictyostelium discoideum P2XA.

The recent publication of the apo-, closed-state 3D crystal structure of zebrafish (zf) P2X4.1 has not only revolutionized the P2X research field, but also highlighted the need for further crystal structures, of receptors in different activation states, so that we can gain a complete molecular understanding of ion channel function. zfP2X4.1 was selected as a 3D-crystallization candidate because of its ability to form stable trimers in detergent solution, and purified from over-expression in baculovirus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) insect cells. In this work, we have used a similar approach to express both human P2X4 (hP2X4) and Dictyostelium discoideum P2XA (DdP2XA) in Sf9 cells. Although hP2X4 did not form stable trimers in detergent solution, both receptors bound to ATP-coupled resins, indicating that their extracellular domains were folded correctly. DdP2XA formed strong trimers in detergent solution, and we were able to selectively purify trimers using preparative electrophoresis, and build a 21Å-resolution 3D structure using transmission electron microscopy and single particle analysis. Although the structure of DdP2XA possessed similar dimensions to those of the previously determined low-resolution hP2X4 structure and the zfP2X4.1 crystal structure, N-glycosylation mutagenesis and molecular modeling indicated differences between N-glycan usage and predicted accessibility in models of DdP2XA based on the zfP2X4.1 crystal structure. Our data demonstrate that DdP2XA expressed in insect cells retains ATP-binding capacity after detergent solubilization, is an ideal candidate for structural study, and possesses a significantly different 3D structure to that of both hP2X4 and zfP2X4.1.

The acetyltransferase p300/CBP-associated factor is a p53 target gene in breast tumor cells.

p300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) is a coactivator of the tumor suppressor, p53. PCAF participates in p53's transactivation of target genes through acetylation of both bound p53 and histones within p53 target promoters. Using microarrays, we discovered that PCAF itself is induced by p53 in a panel of breast tumor cell lines. Two p53 mutant breast tumor cell lines, BT-549 and UACC-1179, were chosen for further study of PCAF induction by wild-type p53. PCAF induction following adenoviral transduction of p53 expression was confirmed with real-time polymerase chain reaction in a time course experiment. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments then showed that PCAF induction was associated with increased p53 binding to the PCAF promoter, which contains p53 consensus-binding sites. PCAF induction by p53 activity was further demonstrated in wild-type p53 MCF10A cells when PCAF expression was induced following activation of endogenous wild-type p53 with doxorubicin in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, the doxorubicin-induced increase in PCAF expression was blocked by pretreatment of the MCF10A cells with siRNA (small interfering RNA) targeted against p53 mRNA. Taken together, the results show that PCAF expression can be induced by wild-type p53.