ADP‐Ribosylation Factor Domain Protein 1 (ARD1), a Multifunctional Protein with Ubiquitin E3 Ligase, GAP, and ARF Domains

Abstract

ADP-ribosylation factor domain protein 1 (ARD1) is a multifunctional protein that belongs to the family of 20-kDa ARF proteins. The ARD1 gene encodes a 64-kDa protein with a structure comprising an 18-kDa ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) domain at the C-terminus (amino acids 403-574), and a 46-kDa N-terminal domain (amino acids 1-402) that contains, from the translation start site, a RING finger domain, two predicted B-Boxes, and a coiled-coil protein interaction motif, which places it among the TRIM (tripartite motif) or RBCC (RING, B-Box, coiled-coil) protein families. Recombinant ARD1 (amino acids 1-574) or its RING finger domain (amino acids 1-110) produced polyubiquitylated proteins when incubated in vitro with a mammalian E1, an E2 enzyme (UbcH6 or UbcH5a, -5b, or -5c), ATP, and ubiquitin. Via its C-terminal ARF domain, recombinant ARD1 binds guanine nucleotides, through which it can enhance, in a GTP-dependent manner, cholera toxin ADP-ribosyltransferase activity. Unlike ARFs, ARD1, but not its ARF domain, exhibits significant GTPase activity. Hydrolysis of GTP bound to the C-terminal ARF domain was stimulated by addition of the 46-kDa N-terminal domain (amino acids 1-402) via its GTPase activating protein (GAP) activity. The rate of GDP dissociation from the C-terminal ARF domain in ARD1, is slowed by the adjacent 15 amino acids, which act as a GDP-dissociation inhibitor (GDI) domain. Cytohesin-1, known already as a guanine nucleotide-exchange factor (GEF) ARF activator, also specifically activated recombinant human ARD1, via activation of the ARF domain. Overexpressed ARD1 fusion proteins were associated with structures resembling lysosomes and Golgi membranes, as well as the nucleus, in different types of cells, and sequences potentially responsible for the intracellular localizations were identified.