Large Number Of Nuclear Proteins Research Articles

Influence of acute promyelocytic leukemia therapeutic drugs on nuclear pore complex density and integrity

During cell division, a large number of nuclear proteins are released into the cytoplasm due to nuclear envelope breakdown. Timely nuclear import of these proteins following exit from mitosis is critical for establishment of the G1 nuclear environment. Dysregulation of post-mitotic nuclear import may affect the fate of newly divided stem or progenitor cells and may lead to cancer. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a malignant disorder that involves a defect in blood cell differentiation at the promyelocytic stage. Recent studies suggest that pharmacological concentrations of the APL therapeutic drugs, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO), affect post-mitotic nuclear import of the APL-associated oncoprotein PML/RARA. In the present study, we have investigated the possibility that ATRA and ATO affect post-mitotic nuclear import through interference with components of the nuclear import machinery. We observe reduced density and impaired integrity of nuclear pore complexes after ATRA and/or ATO exposure. Using a post-mitotic nuclear import assay, we demonstrate distinct import kinetics among different nuclear import pathways while nuclear import rates were similar in the presence or absence of APL therapeutic drugs.

GW28-e0140 Knockout of Small Ubiquitin-Like Modifier 1 Protects the Mice from Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Dysfunction

Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO1-3) conjugation (SUMOylation), a post-translational modification, modulates activity of a large number of nuclear proteins, including transcriptional factors and chromatin-associated proteins, and plays a crucial role in heart development and pathogenesis of heart

The nuclear proteome of Trypanosoma brucei.

Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan flagellate that is transmitted by tsetse flies into the mammalian bloodstream. The parasite has a huge impact on human health both directly by causing African sleeping sickness and indirectly, by infecting domestic cattle. The biology of trypanosomes involves some highly unusual, nuclear-localised processes. These include polycistronic transcription without classical promoters initiated from regions defined by histone variants, trans-splicing of all transcripts to the exon of a spliced leader RNA, transcription of some very abundant proteins by RNA polymerase I and antigenic variation, a switch in expression of the cell surface protein variants that allows the parasite to resist the immune system of its mammalian host. Here, we provide the nuclear proteome of procyclic Trypanosoma brucei, the stage that resides within the tsetse fly midgut. We have performed quantitative label-free mass spectrometry to score 764 significantly nuclear enriched proteins in comparison to whole cell lysates. A comparison with proteomes of several experimentally characterised nuclear and non-nuclear structures and pathways confirmed the high quality of the dataset: the proteome contains about 80% of all nuclear proteins and less than 2% false positives. Using motif enrichment, we found the amino acid sequence KRxR present in a large number of nuclear proteins. KRxR is a sub-motif of a classical eukaryotic monopartite nuclear localisation signal and could be responsible for nuclear localization of proteins in Kinetoplastida species. As a proof of principle, we have confirmed the nuclear localisation of six proteins with previously unknown localisation by expressing eYFP fusion proteins. While proteome data of several T. brucei organelles have been published, our nuclear proteome closes an important gap in knowledge to study trypanosome biology, in particular nuclear-related processes.

Abstract 12932: Loss of Small Ubiquitin-Like Modifier 1 Protects the Heart From Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy and Dysfunction in Mice

Introduction: Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO1-3) conjugation (SUMOylation), a post-translational modification, modulates activity of a large number of nuclear proteins, including transcriptional factors and chromatin-associated proteins, and plays a crucial role in heart development and pathogenesis of heart diseases. It was reported that levels of SUMO1 significantly decrease in human failing hearts, overexpression of SUMO1 improves cardiac function in a mouse model of heart failure. To clarify whether SUMO1 does indeed play a critical role in heart disease, we compared outcome after transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in wild- type (WT) and Sumo1 knockout (SUMO1-KO) mice. Methods and Results: SUMO1-KO and WT littermate mice were subjected to TAC. Echocardiography analysis of cardiac function was performed at 8 weeks after TAC. The effect of SUMO1 deletion on regulation of expression of hypertrophy-related genes was evaluated by qPCR, Western blot, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Compared to WT mice, SUMO1-KO mice showed a significantly lower ratio of left ventricular (LV) weight to body weight (5.73±0.49 mg/g vs 6.76±1.11mg/g; p <0.05,n=8) and smaller transverse section area of cardiomyocyte (259±47 μm 2 vs 328±56 μm 2 , p <0.05,n=3). Moreover, in SUMO1-KO mice, LV diameters in end-diastole and end-systole were significantly shorter, while percentage of LV fractional shortening was higher (51.64±6.24% vs 40.63±15.46%; p <0.05,n=10). Furthermore, the TAC-induced increase in mRNA and protein levels of ANF, BNP, SKA, and β-MHC was significantly less in SUMO1-KO than in WT mice. Finally, we found that the enrichment of chromatin-bound SUMO2/3 on promoters of selected hypertrophy-related genes was higher in SUMO1-KO than in WT mice after TAC. Conclusions: Our results do not support a model whereby SUMO1 is critical for outcome after TAC. The data imply that increased chromatin-bound SUMO2/3 at the promoters of key hypertrophy-related genes suppressed their expression and thereby contributed to the beneficial effect of SUMO1 deletion. This suggests a novel, not yet recognized, aspect of redundancy of the SUMOylation system. Therefore, SUMO2/3 may be better suited than SUMO1 to counterbalance SUMO1 depletion in heart failure.

UNcleProt (Universal Nuclear Protein database of barley): The first nuclear protein database that distinguishes proteins from different phases of the cell cycle

ABSTRACTProteins are the most abundant component of the cell nucleus, where they perform a plethora of functions, including the assembly of long DNA molecules into condensed chromatin, DNA replication and repair, regulation of gene expression, synthesis of RNA molecules and their modification. Proteins are important components of nuclear bodies and are involved in the maintenance of the nuclear architecture, transport across the nuclear envelope and cell division. Given their importance, the current poor knowledge of plant nuclear proteins and their dynamics during the cell's life and division is striking. Several factors hamper the analysis of the plant nuclear proteome, but the most critical seems to be the contamination of nuclei by cytosolic material during their isolation. With the availability of an efficient protocol for the purification of plant nuclei, based on flow cytometric sorting, contamination by cytoplasmic remnants can be minimized. Moreover, flow cytometry allows the separation of nuclei in different stages of the cell cycle (G1, S, and G2). This strategy has led to the identification of large number of nuclear proteins from barley (Hordeum vulgare), thus triggering the creation of a dedicated database called UNcleProt, http://barley.gambrinus.ueb.cas.cz/.

The linker histone in Saccharomyces cerevisiae interacts with actin-related protein 4 and both regulate chromatin structure and cellular morphology

Chromatin structure promotes important epigenetic mechanisms that regulate cellular fate by organizing, preserving and controlling the way by which the genetic information works. Our understanding of chromatin and its functions is sparse and not yet well defined. The uncertainty comes from the complexity of chromatin and is induced by the existence of a large number of nuclear proteins that influence it. The intricate interaction among all these structural and functional nuclear proteins has been under extensive study in the recent years. Here, we show that Saccharomyces cerevisiae linker histone physically interacts with Arp4p (actin-related protein 4) which is a key subunit of three chromatin modifying complexes – INO80, SWR1 and NuA4. A single – point mutation in the actin – fold domain of Arp4p together with the knock-out of the gene for the linker histone in S. cerevisiae severely abrogates cellular and nuclear morphology and leads to complete disorganizing of the higher levels of chromatin organization.

Proteomic Survey of Ubiquitin-Linked Nuclear Proteins in Interferon-Stimulated Macrophages

Ubiquitin modification plays a critical role in immune responses. Some cytoplasmic factors require ubiquitination to execute proper signaling upon pathogen and cytokine stimulation. However, ubiquitin modification and its functional significance have not been fully studied for many nuclear proteins. We report here that stimulation of RAW macrophages with interferon-γ and toll-like receptor ligands that activates innate immune responses triggers a global increase in ubiquitinated proteins in the nucleus, pointing to the role for ubiquitin modification in regulating nuclear events during innate immune responses. By immunopurification and mass-spectrometry analyses, we found that more than 200 proteins are directly or indirectly associated with ubiquitin in stimulated RAW cells. These proteins included proteins in the ubiquitin pathways, those involved in DNA metabolism, chromatin and transcriptional regulation, and mRNA processing. The largest group of proteins found in our list was ribosomal proteins important for protein translation. Other proteins found here were heat shock proteins and stress-response factors, suggesting a link between macrophage activation and stress response. In conclusion, upon macrophage activation, a large number of nuclear proteins become associated with ubiquitin modification, presumably leading to a global shift in the genome activity, important for proper execution of innate immune responses.

PABPN1 overexpression leads to upregulation of genes encoding nuclear proteins that are sequestered in oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy nuclear inclusions

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is an adult-onset disease caused by expanded (GCN)12-17 stretches encoding the N-terminal polyalanine domain of the poly(A) binding protein nuclear 1 (PABPN1). OPMD is characterized by intranuclear inclusions (INIs) in skeletal muscle fibers, which contain PABPN1, molecular chaperones, ubiquitin, proteasome subunits, and poly(A)-mRNA. We describe an adenoviral model of PABPN1 expression that produces INIs in most cells. Microarray analysis revealed that PABPN1 overexpression reproducibly changed the expression of 202 genes. Sixty percent of upregulated genes encode nuclear proteins, including many RNA and DNA binding proteins. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that all tested nuclear proteins encoded by eight upregulated genes colocalize with PABPN1 within the INIs: CUGBP1, SFRS3, FKBP1A, HMG2, HNRPA1, PRC1, S100P, and HSP70. In addition, CUGBP1, SFRS3, and FKBP1A were also found in OPMD muscle INIs. This study demonstrates that a large number of nuclear proteins are sequestered in OPMD INIs, which may compromise cellular function.

Nanocapillary liquid chromatography interfaced to tandem matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry: mapping the nuclear proteome of human fibroblasts.

Miniaturized liquid chromatography nanoseparation in combination with minigel fractionation of human primary cell nuclei is presented. We obtained high-sensitivity and high-throughput identification of expressed proteins by subcellular fractionation and nanocapillary liquid chromatography interfaced to both electrospray ionization (ESI)- and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) tandem mass spectrometry. The reversed-phase nanocapillary eluents were applied directly onto the MALDI target plate as discrete crystal spots using in-line matrix infusion. When working with primary cells, only a limited amount of sample is available. To maximize the number of identified proteins from a restricted amount of sample, miniaturized sample preparation protocols and nanoflow separation is a necessity, especially when working with low-abundant proteins. From the same isolated nuclear sample, complementary separation of intact proteins by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis was made. In total 594 gene products from the nuclear preparations were identified out of which 261 were unique. Several proteins involved in transcriptional events were identified such as TATA-binding protein, EBNA-co-activator, and interleukin enhancer binding proteins, indicating that sufficient proteomic depth is obtained to study transcriptional controlling events. Our results suggest that by sample prefractionation and downscaled nanoflow separation along with a combined mass spectrometry strategy, it is possible to identify a large number of nuclear proteins from human primary cells. These findings are of particular importance due to the disease link of these targets cells.

Inhibition of nuclear import and alteration of nuclear pore complex composition by rhinovirus.

Nucleocytoplasmic trafficking pathways and the status of nuclear pore complex (NPC) components were examined in cells infected with rhinovirus type 14. A variety of shuttling and nonshuttling nuclear proteins, using multiple nuclear import pathways, accumulated in the cytoplasm of cells infected with rhinovirus. An in vitro nuclear import assay with semipermeabilized infected cells confirmed that nuclear import was inhibited and that docking of nuclear import receptor-cargo complexes at the cytoplasmic face of the NPC was prevented in rhinovirus-infected cells. The relocation of cellular proteins and inhibition of nuclear import correlated with the degradation of two NPC components, Nup153 and p62. The degradation of Nup153 and p62 was not due to induction of apoptosis, because p62 was not proteolyzed in apoptotic HeLa cells, and Nup153 was cleaved to produce a 130-kDa cleavage product that was not observed in cells infected with poliovirus or rhinovirus. The finding that both poliovirus and rhinovirus cause inhibition of nuclear import and degradation of NPC components suggests that this may be a common feature of the replicative cycle of picornaviruses. Inhibition of nuclear import is predicted to result in the cytoplasmic accumulation of a large number of nuclear proteins that could have functions in viral translation, RNA synthesis, packaging, or assembly. Additionally, inhibition of nuclear import also presents a novel strategy whereby cytoplasmic RNA viruses can evade host immune defenses by preventing signal transduction into the nucleus.

NFBD1/KIAA0170 is a novel nuclear transcriptional transactivator with BRCT domain.

The BRCT (BRCA1 C-terminus) superfamily includes a large number of nuclear proteins closely involved in DNA repair, recombination, and cell-cycle control. The human cDNA clone NFBD1 (previously designated KIAA0170) encodes a novel protein (2089 amino acids in length; calculated molecular mass 226,440 D) with possible BRCT domains at its carboxy terminus (amino acid residues 1894-2089). This gene product has been described as one of the BRCT superfamily proteins. However, its biological significance has been unclarified. Expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged full-length NFBD1 or a series of deletion mutants indicated that NFBD1 was localized to the nucleus in various mammalian cells, and a 197-amino acid segment near the amino terminus (amino acid residues 142-338) contained a nuclear targeting signal. In vitro DNA-binding experiments showed that the highly basic region of NFBD1 (amino acid residues 1841-1893) possessed DNA-binding activity. The region encoding amino acids 508-995 of NFBD1 fused inframe with GAL4 DNA-binding domain activated transcription in both yeast and mammalian cells, while the possible BRCT domains of NFBD1 failed to induce transcription in mammalian cells. Overexpression of antisense NFBD1 RNA in a p53-deficient human osteogenic sarcoma cell line (SAOS-2) resulted in remarkable suppression of SAOS-2 colony formation. These results suggest that NFBD1 is a nuclear transcriptional transactivator with possible BRCT domains and may contribute to cell growth control.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, a potential target for drugs: Cellular regulatory role of the polymer and the polymerase protein mediated by catalytic and macromolecular colligative actions (Review).

The cellular coenzymatic role of NAD, being a pleiotropic cofactor for diverse cellular reactions, is extended to poly(ADP-ribose) and to the highly abundant nuclear protein, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, with special focus on the pharmacological action of ligands on the latter. The polymer is defined to possess a helical configuration. From direct analyses of the polymer under physiological conditions, it is concluded that the polymerase is dormant in normal tissues, but is activated under certain pathological conditions: malignancy, retroviral integrate containing cells, and in a variety of inflammatory states. The interaction of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase ligands with the DNA component of the active poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase - DNA complex is shown. A major cellular function of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase protein is its binding capacity to a large number of nuclear proteins and DNA sites, an effect which is induced by drugs that inhibit the polymerase activity. The malignancy-reverting effect of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase ligand drugs is illustrated in chemically and oncovirally transformed cancer cells. The poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase ligand-induced cessation of HIV replication is analyzed. Peroxynitrite-induced DNA damage-initiated pathological responses are shown to be inhibited by a specific poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase ligand. The irreversibly acting C-NO drugs oxidize asymmetric zinc fingers [poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, HIV gag-precursor protein] and act as anti-cancer and anti-HIV agents, an effect that is regulated by cellular concentration of GSH.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation: potential mechanisms for the regulation of protein function.

Protein O-GlcNAcylation is the process whereby single N-acetylglucosamine residues are glycosidically linked to the hydroxyl side chains of specific serine and threonine residues. O-GlcNAc was originally identified while probing the surfaces of lymphocytes using UDP-[3H] galactose and highly purified galactosyltransferase (1). O-GlcNAc was not a substrate for galactosyltransferase unless the cell membrane was first disrupted with detergents indicating that it is an intracellular glycosylation. Subcellular fractionation further demonstrated that O-GlcNAc is found exclusively on nuclear and cytosolic proteins (2,3). Galactosyltransferase labeling of mouse liver nuclei with subsequent analysis by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and fluorography indicates that a large number of nuclear proteins are modified with O-GlcNAc residues and suggests that O-GlcNAc is as abundant as phosphorylation (4).

Complex interaction of yeast nuclear proteins with the enhancer/promoter region of SV40.

Though highly complex enhancers found in animal cells have not been reported to occur in yeasts they are able to activate the transcription of adjacent genes in yeast cells. Saccharomyces cerevisiae expresses a large number of nuclear proteins that are able to recognize, and specifically bind to, the enhancer sequences of the SV40 animal tumor virus. The complexity of proteins that interact with different elements of the animal enhancers is similar in yeast and animal cell nuclear extracts. Most enhancer motifs, recognized by known trans-acting factors, are protected in footprinting experiments by yeast nuclear proteins.