Project description:The novel neuroproteasome is localized to the neuronal plasma membrane to degrade intracellular proteins into peptides that are released to the extracellular space. Selective inhibition of this neuronal membrane proteasome (NMP) complex ceased the release of peptides and rapidly attenuated neuronal transmission. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that these neuron-specific peptides mediate a novel form of communication through unique peptide-receptor interactions to promote intracellular signaling cascades relevant to neuronal development and function. Our work indicates that NMP peptides can rapidly induce N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-dependent calcium influx from dendrites to the soma, leading to rapid and sustained phosphorylation of the well-defined activity-dependent transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). We also determined that the gene expression program drastically changes upon NMP peptide treatment of neurons with an increase in expression of immediate early genes (e.g., Fos, Npas4, Egr4) known to have critical neuroregulatory roles. These data support our current thinking that NMP peptides are endogenous and selective activators of synaptic NMDA receptors and are critical for promoting activity-dependent gene expression. This pathway is orthogonal to the classic neurotransmitters previously described to activate NMDARs and points to NMP and its resulting peptides as key contributors to the development and function of the nervous system. However, the unique peptide sequences leading to neuronal activation are still poorly understood. Here, we show that the NMP peptides have tremendous sequence diversity through an unbiased peptidomic approach, and the current ongoing effort is to identify unique active peptide sequences with distinct receptor specificity. Elucidating the mechanism of the NMP and its active peptide products is crucial to understanding the role of this novel signaling process in the nervous system.
Project description:Proteasomes are critical for peripheral nervous system (PNS) function. Here, we investigate mammalian PNS proteasomes and reveal the presence of the neuronal membrane proteasome (NMP). We show that specific inhibition of the NMP on distal nerve fibers innervating the mouse hind paw leads to reduction in mechanical and pain sensitivity. Investigating PNS NMPs we demonstrate their presence on the somata, proximal, and distal axons of a subset of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Single-cell RNA sequencing experiments reveal that the NMP expressing DRGs are primarily MrgprA3+ and Cysltr2+. NMP inhibition in DRG cultures leads to cell autonomous and non-cell autonomous changes in Ca2+ signaling induced by KCl depolarization, ab-meATP, or the pruritogen histamine. Taken together, these data support a model whereby NMPs are expressed on a subset of somatosensory DRGs to modulate signaling between neurons of distinct sensory modalities and indicate the NMP as a potential target for controlling pain
Project description:As the major protein degradation machinery of eukaryotic cells, the 26S proteasome is generally thought to localize in the nucleus and cytosol. A portion of proteasomes are known to associate with various membrane structures of the cell, the mechanism and biological meaning of which have been elusive. Here we show that N-myristoylation of the proteasome subunit Rpt2 is an evolutionarily conserved determinant of proteasome-membrane interaction. Loss of this modification leads to embryonic lethality in mice, significant reduction of migration ability in MEFs and profound changes in the membrane-associated proteome as determined by SILAC-MS, suggesting a key role of membrane-tethered proteasomes in carrying out compartmentalized protein degradation. And the tumorigenicity is reduced in the oncogene-transformed MEF without modification. Serendipitously, we found that the Rpt2-G2A mutation cell lines confers partial resistance to proteasome inhibitors, such as Bortezomib and MG132. Thus, N-myristoylation of Rpt2 determines the localization and activity of the proteasome at the membrane, which is critical for embryogenesis, cellular homeostasis and tumorigenesis.
Project description:Activity-dependent changes in neuronal function require coordinated regulation of the protein synthesis and protein degradation machinery to maintain protein homeostasis, critical to proper neuronal function. However, the biochemical evidence for this balance and coordination remains poorly understood and largely underexplored. Leveraging our recent discovery of a neuronal-specific 20S membrane proteasome complex (NMP), we began exploring how neuronal activity regulates its function. Remarkably, we observed polypeptides being synthesized during neuronal stimulation were rapidly turned over by the NMP. This turnover correlated with enhanced production of NMP-derived peptides in the extracellular space. Using parameters determined in these experiments, we constructed Markov process chain models in silico which predicted that the kinetics of this process necessitate coordination of translation and degradation. In a series of biochemical analyses, this predicted coordination was instantiated by NMP-mediated and ubiquitin-independent degradation of ribosome-associated nascent polypeptides. Using in-depth, global, and unbiased mass spectrometry, we identified the nascent protein substrates of the NMP. Among these substrates, we found that immediate-early gene products c-Fos and Npas4 were targeted to the NMP during ongoing activity-dependent protein synthesis, prior to activity-induced transcriptional responses. We propose that these findings generally define an activity-dependent protein homeostasis program through the NMP that selectively targets nascent polypeptides prior to adopting their final functional conformations.
Project description:Membrane-associated, integral membrane and secreted proteins are of key importance in many cellular processes. For most of the 28 952 predicted proteins in Arabidopsis, the actual subcellular localisation has not been demonstrated experimentally. So far, their potential membrane-association has been deduced from algorithms that predict transmembrane domains and signal peptides. However, the comprehensiveness and accuracy of these algorithms is still limited. The majority of membrane-associated and secreted proteins is synthesised on membrane-bound polysomes. Therefore, the isolation and characterisation of mRNA associated with membrane-bound polysomes offers an experimental tool for the genome-wide identification of these proteins. Here we describe an efficient method to isolate mRNA from membrane-bound polysomes and report on the validation of the method to enrich for transcripts encoding membrane-associated and secreted proteins. The sensitivity and reproducibility of the isolation method was investigated by DNA microarray analysis. Pearson correlations between transcript levels obtained from three replicate isolations showed that the method is highly reproducible. A significant enrichment for mRNAs encoding proteins containing predicted transmembrane domains and signal peptides was observed in the membrane-bound polysomal fraction. In this fraction, 301 transcripts were classified by gene ontologies as âcellular component unknownâ, and potentially encode previously unrecognised secreted or membrane-associated proteins. Membrane-bound (MBP) and free polysomes (FP) were isolated in triplicate from one batch of two weeks old aboveground parts of Arabidopsis seedlings. Each combination of isolated MBP and FP was applied to 4 microarrays, of which two were dyeswapped, giving a total of 12 arrays.
Project description:CENP-A, a variant of histone H3, is incorporated into centromeric chromatin and plays a role during kinetochore establishment. In fission yeast, the localization of CENP-A is limited to a region spanning 10 to 20 kb of the core domain of the centromere. Here, we report a mutant (rpt3-1) in which this region is expanded to 40 to 70 kb. Likely due to abnormal distribution of CENP-A, this mutant exhibits chromosome instability and enhanced gene silencing. Interestingly, the rpt3+ gene encodes a subunit of the 19S proteasome, which localizes to the nuclear membrane. While Rpt3 associates with centromeric chromatin, the mutant protein has lost this localization. A loss of the cut8+ gene encoding an anchor of the proteasome to the nuclear membrane causes similar phenotypes as observed in the rpt3-1 mutant. Thus, we propose that the proteasome (or its subcomplex) associates with centromeric chromatin and regulates distribution of CENP-A. Chromosomal distributions of differentially expressed centromere protein A in wild-type and a proteasome mutant.
Project description:Membrane-associated, integral membrane and secreted proteins are of key importance in many cellular processes. For most of the 28 952 predicted proteins in Arabidopsis, the actual subcellular localisation has not been demonstrated experimentally. So far, their potential membrane-association has been deduced from algorithms that predict transmembrane domains and signal peptides. However, the comprehensiveness and accuracy of these algorithms is still limited. The majority of membrane-associated and secreted proteins is synthesised on membrane-bound polysomes. Therefore, the isolation and characterisation of mRNA associated with membrane-bound polysomes offers an experimental tool for the genome-wide identification of these proteins. Here we describe an efficient method to isolate mRNA from membrane-bound polysomes and report on the validation of the method to enrich for transcripts encoding membrane-associated and secreted proteins. The sensitivity and reproducibility of the isolation method was investigated by DNA microarray analysis. Pearson correlations between transcript levels obtained from three replicate isolations showed that the method is highly reproducible. A significant enrichment for mRNAs encoding proteins containing predicted transmembrane domains and signal peptides was observed in the membrane-bound polysomal fraction. In this fraction, 301 transcripts were classified by gene ontologies as ‘cellular component unknown’, and potentially encode previously unrecognised secreted or membrane-associated proteins. Keywords: mRNA localisation, mRNA fractionation, predict protein localisation
Project description:Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAPs) are promising novel alternatives to conventional antibacterial agents, but the overlap in resistance mechanisms between small-molecule antibiotics and CAPs is unknown. Does evolution of antibiotic resistance decrease (cross-resistance) or increase (collateral sensitivity) susceptibility to CAPs? We systematically addressed this issue by studying the susceptibilities of a comprehensive set of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli strains towards 24 antimicrobial peptides. Strikingly, antibiotic resistant bacteria frequently showed collateral sensitivity to CAPs, while cross-resistance was relatively rare. We identified clinically relevant multidrug resistance mutations that simultaneously elevate susceptibility to certain CAPs. Transcriptome and chemogenomic analysis revealed that such mutations frequently alter the lipopolysaccharide composition of the outer cell membrane and thereby increase the killing efficiency of membrane-interacting antimicrobial peptides. Furthermore, we identified CAP-antibiotic combinations that rescue the activity of existing antibiotics and slow down the evolution of resistance to antibiotics. Our work provides a proof of principle for the development of peptide based antibiotic adjuvants that enhance antibiotic action and block evolution of resistance.