ATP-dependent Proteolytic Pathway Research Articles

Ubiquitination and Proteolysis in Limb and Respiratory Muscles of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Peripheral muscle dysfunction associated with chronic diseases is undeniably a growing problem as one of its main causes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), progresses. Among others, muscle atrophy is one component building the concept of muscle dysfunction. Muscle atrophy has a significant impact on patient clinical status, independent of the impairment in lung function. A lot of effort has been devoted lately to increasing our understanding of the relationship between COPD and the initiation and the development of muscle atrophy. A growing body of evidence is showing that the ubiquitin-proteasome system, an ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway, is playing a crucial role in the cascade leading to degradation of contractile proteins, thus promoting the development of muscle atrophy. Interestingly, this system is also involved in essential cellular processes such as response to hypoxemia and muscle tissue regeneration. In this review, existing evidence linking the activity of the ubiquitin-proteasome system and the cellular events taking place in respiratory and peripheral muscles of patients with COPD are reported. Based on this information, the reader should be able to understand the essential role of this pathway in the context of muscle homeostasis and to picture the coming research in this area.

Dietary protein deficiency reduces expression of multiple components of the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in muscle

Dietary protein deficiency reduces expression of multiple components of the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in muscle

Hybrid Proteasomes: INDUCTION BY INTERFERON-γ AND CONTRIBUTION TO ATP-DEPENDENT PROTEOLYSIS

Eukaryotic cells contain various types of proteasomes. Core 20 S proteasomes (abbreviated 20 S below) have two binding sites for the regulatory particles, PA700 and PA28. PA700-20 S-PA700 complexes are known as 26 S proteasomes and are ATP-dependent machines that degrade cell proteins. PA28 is found both in previously described complexes of the type PA28-20 S-PA28 and in complexes that also contain PA700, as PA700-20 S-PA28. We refer to the latter as "hybrid proteasomes." The relative amounts of the various types of proteasomes in HeLa extracts were determined by a combination of immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. Hybrid proteasomes accounted for about a fourth of all proteasomes in the extracts. Association of PA28 and proteasomes proved to be ATP-dependent. Hybrid proteasomes catalyzed ATP-dependent degradation of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) without ubiquitinylation, as do 26 S proteasomes. In contrast, the homo-PA28 complex (PA28-20 S-PA28) was incapable of degrading ODC. Intriguingly, a major immunomodulatory cytokine, interferon-gamma, appreciably enhanced the ODC degradation in HeLa and SW620 cells through induction of the hybrid proteasome, which may also be responsible for the immunological processing of intracellular antigens. Taken together, we report here for the first time the existence of two types of ATP-dependent proteases, the 26 S proteasome and the hybrid proteasome, which appear to share the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in mammalian cells.

Lactacystin, a specific inhibitor of the proteasome, induces apoptosis and activates caspase-3 in cultured cerebellar granule cells.

The multicatalytic protease complex or proteasome is a fundamental nonlysosomal tool that the cell uses to process or degrade proteins at a fast rate through the ubiquitin and ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway. Examples of these important proteins include the tumor suppressor protein p53, various cyclins, the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27, NFkappaB, IkappaB, c-fos, and c-jun. The activation of proteolytic enzymes, including certain cystein-proteases of the ced-3/ICE (interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme) family, is a characteristic feature of the apoptotic program. However, the role of the multicatalytic protease complex in apoptosis is not well known. In order to obtain further information regarding the participation of the ubiquitin-mediated pathway in the decision of the cell to execute the cell death program, we have used a specific inhibitor of the multicatalytic protease complex, lactacystin, in cultured cerebellar granule cells. Cells were obtained from the cerebellum of 6- to 8-day-old Wistar rats and cultured in Neurobasal medium supplemented with B-27. Addition of lactacystin to the cultures induced apoptosis of the granule cells in a time-dependent fashion. The morphological changes produced by the proteasome inhibitor included nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation measured by the diphenylamine test, as well as a positive labeling by the TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase mediated-dUTP nick end labeling) assay, all of them typical features of apoptosis. Concomitant with apoptosis, there were changes in the expression of the ubiquitin mRNA, a progressive depletion in the free ubiquitin pool, and an increase in the high molecular weight ubiquitin-protein conjugates. Caspase-3, a member of the ced-3/ICE family of cystein-proteases, showed a marked increase in activity in the lactacystin-treated cells. In flow cytometry studies, the amount of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle was smaller in the lactacystin-treated cells than in controls, suggesting that apoptosis could be due, in part, to an alteration of the cell cycle.

IFN-γ Exposes a Cryptic Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Epitope in HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase

AbstractThe proteasome, an essential component of the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in eukaryotic cells, is responsible for the degradation of most cellular proteins and is believed to be the main source of MHC class I-restricted antigenic peptides for presentation to CTL. Inhibition of the proteasome by lactacystin or various peptide aldehydes can result in defective Ag presentation, and the pivotal role of the proteasome in Ag processing has become generally accepted. However, recent reports have challenged this observation. Here we examine the processing requirements of two HLA A*0201-restricted epitopes from HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and find that they are produced by different degradation pathways. Presentation of the C-terminal ILKEPVHGV epitope is impaired in ME275 melanoma cells by treatment with lactacystin, and is independent of expression of the IFN-γ-inducible proteasome β subunits LMP2 and LMP7. In contrast, both lactacystin treatment and expression of LMP7 induce the presentation of the N-terminal VIYQYMDDL epitope. Consistent with these observations we show that up-regulation of LMP7 by IFN-γ enhances presentation of the VIYQYMDDL epitope. Hence interplay between constitutive and IFN-γ-inducible β-subunits of the proteasome can qualitatively influence Ag presentation. These observations may have relevance to the patterns of immunodominance during the natural course of viral infection.

The proteasome-dependent proteolytic system.

The 20S proteasome is an intriguingly large complex that acts as a proteolytic catalytic machine. Accumulating evidence indicates the existence of multiple factors capable of regulating the proteasome function. They are classified into two different categories, one type of regulator is PA700 or PA28 that is reversibly associated with the 20S proteasome to form enzymatically active proteasomes and the other type including a 300-kDa modulator and PI31 indirectly influences proteasome activity perhaps by promoting or suppressing the assembly of the 20S proteasome with PA700 or PA28. Thus, there have been documented two types of proteasomes composed of a core catalytic proteasome and a pair of symmetrically disposed PA700 or PA28 regulatory particle. Moreover, the recently-identified proteasome containing both PA28 and PA700 appears to play a significant role in the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in cells, as can the 26S proteasome which is known as a eukaryotic ATP-dependent protease.

Calorie restriction, stress and the ubiquitin-dependent pathway in mouse livers

Calorie restriction (R) is the only known method to delay the aging process and extend mean and maximal lifespan in rodents. R has been shown to delay the age-related accumulation of damaged proteins and to protect organisms from various stresses which can produce damaged proteins. Such stresses include irradiation, heat shock, and oxidative stress. The ubiquitin- and ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway (UPP) has been associated with the degradation of abnormal and/or damaged proteins. We examined the effect of diet and oxidative stress on activities of the UPP in supernatants from livers taken from 23-month-old Emory mice which had been exposed to an in-vivo injection of paraquat. Paraquat induces oxidative stress by generating superoxide radicals. In livers from non-stressed animals, steady-state levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates, de novo conjugate formation, and E1 and E2 activities were significantly lower in R animals than in control (C) animals. However, after exposure to paraquat, levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates were significantly higher in R versus C animals, and de novo conjugate formation and E1 and E2 activities in R animals rose to levels which were indistinguishable from levels of these activities noted in C animals. R was associated with an increased ability to degrade β-lactoglobulin by the UPP after an oxidative stress was imposed. Ability to degrade β-lactoglobulin by the C or R livers in non-stressed animals was not significantly different. Taken together, these data indicate that oxidative stress in R animals is associated with enhanced levels of ubiquitin conjugates and that this enhancement may be due to an increase in UPP activity. These data also indicate that the ability to form ubiquitin conjugates and the UPP system does not change with oxidative stress in C animals. The latter is consistent with prior reports that suggests that older C animals may already be in a state of enhanced oxidative stress and that activities of the UPP provide a sensitive indicator of levels of cellular redox status.

Aging, calorie restriction and ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis in the livers of Emory mice

Calorie restriction (R), the only known method to delay the aging process and extend mean and maximal lifespan, has been shown to delay the age-related decline in protein degradation. There are several proteolytic pathways. The ubiquitin- and ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway (UPP) is frequently associated with degradation of damaged abnormal and/or regulatory proteins. We examined the effect of aging and R on supernatants of livers taken from young (4.5 months) and old (23 months) Emory mice. Aging was associated with increased levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates, enhanced ability to form high molecular weight conjugates and ubiquitin activating (E1) and ubiquitin conjugating (E2) activity in the control (C) liver supernatants. The age-related increase in levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates in liver appears to be primarily due to increased E1 and E2 activities. R prevented the age-related increase in E1 and E2 activity, and thus prevented the age-related increase in levels of ubiquitin conjugates. In spite of the age-related increase in ubiquitin conjugates, no age-related changes in ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway were observed in the C animals. R was associated with an enhanced ability (130%) to degrade β-lactoglobulin by the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway in livers from 4.5-month-old animals relative to age-matched C livers. However, rates of the ubiquitin-dependent degradation of β-lactoglobulin in the 23-month-old C and R animals were indistinguishable. There were no age- or diet-related differences in the ability to degrade another substrate, oxidized ribonuclease (RNase).

Anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody prevents muscle atrophy in colon-26 adenocarcinoma-bearing mice with modulation of lysosomal and ATP-ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathways.

Progression of skeletal muscle atrophy is one of the characteristic features in cancer patients. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been reported to be responsible for the loss of lean body mass during cancer cachexia in colon-26 adenocarcinoma (C-26)-bearing mice. This study was carried out to elucidate the intracellular proteolytic pathways operating in skeletal muscle in C-26-bearing mice, and to examine the effect of anti IL-6 receptor antibody on muscle atrophy. On day 17 after tumor inoculation, the gastrocnemius muscle weight of C-26-bearing mice had significantly decreased to 69% of that of the pair-fed control mice. This weight loss occurred in association with increases in the mRNA levels of cathepsins B and L, poly-ubiquitin (Ub) and the subunits of proteasomes in the muscles. Furthermore, enzymatic activity of cathepsin B+L in the muscles also increased to 119% of the control. The administration of anti-murine IL-6 receptor antibody to C-26-bearing mice reduced the weight loss of the gastrocnemius muscles to 84% of that of the control mice, whose enzymatic activity of cathepsin B+L and mRNA levels of cathepsin L and poly-Ub were significantly suppressed compared with those of the C-26-bearing mice. Our data indicate that both the lysosomal cathepsin pathway and the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway might be involved in the muscle atrophy of C-26-bearing mice. The results also suggest that anti IL-6 receptor antibody could be a potential therapeutic agent against muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia by inhibiting these proteolytic systems.

Structure and functions of the 20S and 26S proteasomes.

The proteasome is an essential component of the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in eukaryotic cells and is responsible for the degradation of most cellular proteins. The 20S (700-kDa) proteasome contains multiple peptidase activities that function through a new type of proteolytic mechanism involving a threonine active site. The 26S (2000-kDa) complex, which degrades ubiquitinated proteins, contains in addition to the 20S proteasome a 19S regulatory complex composed of multiple ATPases and components necessary for binding protein substrates. The proteasome has been highly conserved during eukaryotic evolution, and simpler forms are even found in archaebacteria and eubacteria. Major advances have been achieved recently in our knowledge about the molecular organization of the 20S and 19S particles, their subunits, the proteasome's role in MHC-class 1 antigen presentation, and regulators of its activities. This article focuses on recent progress concerning the biochemical mechanisms and intracellular functions of the 20S and 26S proteasomes.

Ubiquitin in cerebrospinal fluid in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

Ubiquitin (Ub) was determined by a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in serum (S) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 29 patients with 'probable Alzheimer's disease' (AD), 14 patients with vascular dementia (VAD), and 13 healthy individuals. The mean concentration of Ub in CSF (110 +/- 20 ng/mL) was about 20% of that in serum (940 +/- 120 ng/mL) in healthy controls. There was no significant correlation between S-Ub and CSF-Ub, or between the CSF/S.Ub ratio and the CSF/S albumin ratio. These findings suggest that a major portion of CSF-Ub is intrathecally produced. CSF-Ub was increased while S-Ub was decreased in both AD and VAD patients as compared with controls. As a consequence, the CSF/S Ub ratio showed good discrimination between patients and controls: 22/29 (76%) of the AD patients and 9/14 (64%) of the VAD patients had a CSF/S Ub ratio that was higher than the highest control value. No significant differences in any of the parameters were found between AD and VAD. Ub is involved in an ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway and also acts as a heatshock protein. The increase in CSF-Ub in AD and VAD may therefore be interpreted as a cytoprotective response to abnormal or damaged proteins, and CSF-Ub may have a potential as a non-disease-specific marker for cerebral degeneration.

Protective Effect of Ascorbic Acid on the Breakdown of Proteins Exposed to Hydrogen Peroxide in Chicken Skeletal Muscle

Ascorbic acid is believed to protect cells from oxidative damage by reacting with oxygen-derived free radicals. We investigated whether ascorbic acid would affect the rate of breakdown of skeletal muscle proteins in extracts exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Ascorbic acid (20 mmol/L) alone had little or no effect on the rate of ATP-independent or ATP-dependent breakdown of proteins in chicken skeletal muscle. Pretreatment of chicken skeletal muscle extracts with 10 mmol/L H2O2 resulted in a complete loss of ATP-dependent proteolysis and a significant increase (14- to 15-fold) in the rate of ATP-independent protein breakdown. Ascorbic acid (20 mmol/L) did not prevent H2O2 (10 mmol/L) from inactivating the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in skeletal muscle. However, ascorbic acid (20 mmol/L) prevented the H2O2-induced increase in the ATP-independent proteolysis of endogenous muscle proteins. Ascorbic acid also slowed the rate of hydrolysis of exogenously added [3H]superoxide dismutase exposed to H2O2 and inhibited the enhanced degradation of [3H]lysozyme and H2O2-treated [3H]superoxide dismutase by the proteolytic systems exposed to H2O2. Thus ascorbic acid seems to inhibit the H2O2-induced increase in ATP-independent proteolysis 1) by preventing damage to proteins by H2O2 resulting in a decreased supply of substrates for the ATP-independent degradative system and 2) by preventing activation of the proteolytic enzymes that participate in the energy-independent degradation of H2O2-treated proteins.

Ubiquitin Pool Modulation and Protein Degradation in Wheat Roots during High Temperature Stress

Ubiquitin, a key component in an ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway, participates in the response of various eucaryotic organisms to high temperature stress. Our objective was to determine if ubiquitin serves a similar capacity for metabolizing altered proteins in higher plants during stress. Degradation of total proteins was measured, and ubiquitin pools (free versus conjugated) were extracted with an improved protocol from wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Len) roots treated at 22, 27, 32, 37, and 42 degrees C for 1 hour and assayed by western blots and radioimmunoassays. Heat-shock protein synthesis was detected by in vivo labeling and autoradiography. Mean half-life of total root proteins decreased from 51 hours at 22 degrees C to 23 hours at 40 degrees C. Ubiquitin pools were extracted better and proteolysis was slowed more by the improved protocol than by a conventional procedure for plant proteins. Amounts of high molecular mass conjugates were elevated and levels of low molecular mass conjugates and free ubiquitin were depressed when roots were treated at 37 or 42 degrees C than at lower temperatures; the same high temperatures also induced synthesis of heat-shock proteins. We concluded that high temperatures increase breakdown of root proteins, which are degraded via the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway. A conjugate with an apparent molecular mass of 23 kilodaltons was tentatively identified as an ubiquitinated histone.

Arsenite inhibits two steps in the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway

Eukaryotic cells possess a multienzyme ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in which the small, highly conserved protein ubiquitin (Ub) acts as a cofactor. In this pathway, formation of a covalent Ub-substrate conjugate precedes ATP-dependent degradation of the substrate. Inorganic arsenite (AsO2-) inhibited Ub-dependent protein degradation in a concentration-dependent fashion, both in intact rabbit reticulocytes and in a reticulocyte lysate (fraction II). Concentrations of arsenite causing half-maximal inhibition in fraction II varied with the substrate, ranging from 0.025 mM (bovine alpha-lactalbumin) to 3.3 mM (reduced/carboxymethylated bovine serum albumin). Inhibition was rapidly reversed upon addition of dithiothreitol. Arsenite inhibited the Ub-dependent proteolytic pathway at one or both of two steps, depending on the substrate. 1) Proteins with acidic amino termini must be amino terminally arginylated, in a tRNA-dependent reaction, prior to becoming conjugated to Ub (Ferber, S., and Ciechanover, A. (1987) Nature 326, 808-811). Arsenite inhibited substrate arginylation, and therefore also inhibited Ub conjugation. The inhibited species appeared to be arginyl aminoacyl-tRNA transferase, since arsenite was without strong effect on the rate or extent of arginyl-tRNA formation in fraction II, yet almost completely inhibited arginine transfer from arginyl-tRNA to reduced/carboxymethylated bovine serum albumin. 2) Arsenite also inhibited Ub-substrate conjugate turnover, as shown in pulse-chase experiments. For a given substrate, degradative (protease-dependent) and Ub regenerative (isopeptidase-dependent) components of conjugate turnover were similarly inhibited by arsenite. The potency of this inhibition varied for different substrates. Monosubstituted trivalent arsenicals such as arsenite typically interact with sites containing vicinal sulfhydryl groups. Inhibition by arsenite of two steps in the Ub-dependent proteolytic pathway suggests that the relevant pathway components could possess this kind of structural/catalytic feature.

A novel ATP-requiring protease from skeletal muscle that hydrolyzes non-ubiquitinated proteins

Previously, we isolated an ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in muscle, liver, and reticulocytes that requires ubiquitin and the enzymes which conjugate ubiquitin to proteins. We report here that skeletal muscle contains another soluble alkaline energy-dependent (but ubiquitin-independent) proteolytic activity. The cleavage of non-ubiquitinated protein substrates by the partially purified protease requires ATP hydrolysis since ATP in the absence of Mg2+, nonhydrolyzable ATP analogs, and pyrophosphate all fail to stimulate proteolysis. Proteolytic activity is also stimulated by UTP, CTP, and GTP, although not as effectively as by ATP (Km(ATP) = 0.027 mM). The enzyme is inactivated by the serine protease inhibitors diisopropyl fluorophosphate and 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin, but not by specific inhibitors of aspartic, thiol, or metalloproteases. It is maximally active at pH 8 and has a molecular weight of approximately 600,000. This new activity differs from the 720-kDa multicatalytic proteinase, but resembles the soluble ATP-dependent proteolytic system that we previously isolated from murine erythroleukemia cells.

Degradation of Ornithine Decarboxylase in Reticulocyte Lysate Is ATP-dependent but Ubiquitin-independent

Reticulocyte lysate contains all the components of the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic system. Several proteins are degraded in reticulocyte lysate in a ubiquitin-dependent manner. However, none of the proteins studied has a short intracellular half-life. We have investigated the degradation of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), one of the most labile proteins in mammalian cells. ODC is efficiently degraded in reticulocyte lysate depleted of the ubiquitin activating enzyme, E1, in fraction II of reticulocyte lysate completely lacking ubiquitin, and in fraction II depleted of the entire complex of enzymes responsible for the ligation of ubiquitin to target proteins. The degradation of ODC is ATP dependent. Therefore, our results demonstrate that in addition to the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway, reticulocyte lysate contains at least one additional ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway. In vitro synthesized ODC served as a substrate in the present degradation study. Its successful utilization establishes a general strategy for investigating the degradation of short-lived proteins (for which a corresponding cDNA is available), that constitute a very small fraction of cellular proteins and for which purification is difficult or impossible. In contrast to ODC synthesized in vitro, that isolated from cells was not degraded by the reticulocyte lysate degradation system, suggesting that post-translational modifications may be involved in regulating ODC degradation.

Involvement of the proteasome in various degradative processes in mammalian cells.

Eukaryotic cells contain a 700-kDa proteolytic complex (the "proteasome" or multicatalytic endopeptidase complex), whose role in intracellular protein breakdown is unclear. It has been suggested that the proteasome functions in the rapid degradation of oxidant-damaged proteins and in the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway. To test these possibilities, oxidant-damaged hemoglobin and albumin were produced by treating hemoglobin and albumin with phenylhydrazine, with hydroxyl radicals, or with both hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. After oxidant damage, these proteins were degraded more rapidly in erythrocyte extracts and also by the purified proteasome. However, complete removal of proteasomes from these extracts by immunoprecipitation (or inhibitors of its proteolytic activity) did not reduce the breakdown of oxidant-damaged hemoglobin and decreased degradation of hydroxyl- and superoxide-treated proteins by only 30-40%. Thus, erythrocytes must contain another proteolytic system for degradation of oxidant-damaged proteins. In contrast, immunoprecipitation of proteasomes with polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies prevented the ATP/ubiquitin-dependent degradation of lysozyme and also blocked the ATP-stimulated degradation of ubiquitin-conjugated lysozyme in reticulocyte and skeletal muscle extracts. These data indicate a critical role of the proteasome in the degradation of ubiquitin-conjugated proteins and suggest that the proteasome is associated with or is a component of the larger ubiquitin-conjugate-degrading enzyme complex.

Polyamines inhibit the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in rabbit reticulocyte lysates

Reticulocytes contain a soluble nonlysosomal proteolytic pathway that requires ATP and ubiquitin. Polyamines at physiological concentrations were found to inhibit rapidly the ATP-dependent proteolytic system in reticulocyte lysates; spermidine and putrescine inhibited this process by 26–72% and spermine by 71–96%. Spermine had little effect on the ATP-independent breakdown of oxidant-treated hemoglobin. By fractionating the ATP-dependent system, we show that polyamines inhibit the ATP-dependent degradation of ubiquitin-protein conjugates.

N-terminal amino acid sequence of leukemia derived growth factor (LGF) from human erythroleukemia cell culture.

A human erythroleukemia cell line, K-562 T1, was adapted to a protein-free chemically defined medium; that is, the medium does not contain any proteins such as exogenous hormones, growth factors, serum and serum albumin. The K-562 T1 cells which can proliferate in a protein-free medium are one of the model systems suitably supporting the autocrine hypothesis, which claims that cancer cells produce and respond to their own growth factors. The K-562 T1 cells were cultured in a protein-free medium at large scale and the growth factors were purified from the conditioned medium. It was found that K-562 T1 cells produce at least two growth factors; one is LGF-I (leukemia-derived growth factor-I) which can stimulate the proliferation of a wide range of human leukemia cell lines and the other is LGF-II (leukemia-derived growth factor-II), which can contribute to the growth of fibroblasts. LGF-I was purified using QAE-Sephadex, Bio Gel P-60 and Mono S FPLC. The purified protein was found to be homogenous by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and NH2-terminal sequence analysis. The molecular weight of LGF-I was 20,000 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The 30 NH2-terminal residues of LGF-I are the same as that of ubiquitin. Ubiquitin is a protein found in eukaryotic cells with molecular weight of 8,600. In the nucleus ubiquitin is conjugated to histone 2A to form the nuclear protein A24 which may play a role in regulation of chromatin structure, and in the cytoplasm is part of an ATP-dependent non-lysosomal proteolytic pathway. However, its physiological significance has not yet been fully resolved. Ubiquitin purified from bovine thymus did not show cell proliferating activity for any cells tested. The results suggest that LGF-I is a new autocrine growth factor with a molecular weight of 20,000 daltons, containing ubiquitin at the NH2-terminal end.

The degradation of guanidinated lysozyme in reticulocyte lysate.

Egg white lysozyme, treated with O-methylisourea to convert lysine to homoarginine residues, was used as a substrate for the ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Although guanidinated lysozyme was degraded by an ATP-dependent, hemin-sensitive process, ubiquitin conjugates of this protein were present at less than 5% the level of conjugates between ubiquitin and nonguanidinated lysozyme. When lysates were chromatographed on DEAE-cellulose to produce Fractions I and II of (Hershko et al. (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 3107), ubiquitin-depleted Fraction II was capable of degrading nonguanidinated lysozyme, but the degradation of guanidinated lysozyme was markedly reduced or abolished. Glycerol-stabilized Fraction II, on the other hand, supported the degradation of both proteins in an ATP-dependent process stimulated by ubiquitin. The degradation of the two proteins differed, however, in that guanidinated lysozyme was more sensitive to competitive substrates, and higher concentrations of ubiquitin were required for its maximal proteolysis. Despite ubiquitin stimulation of guanidinated lysozyme degradation, only trace amounts of higher molecular weight species of guanidinated lysozyme attributable to ubiquitin conjugation were observed in ubiquitin-supplemented, glycerol-stabilized Fraction II even when special precautions were employed to preserve labile covalent bonds. These results indicate that covalent attachment of ubiquitin to the epsilon-amino group of substrate lysines is not mandatory for ATP-dependent proteolysis in rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The observation that ubiquitin stimulates proteolysis of guanidinated lysozyme, without extensive conjugation to it, suggests that ubiquitin may have essential functions for proteolysis other than direct marking of the protein substrate.