Visualization of the physical and functional interaction between hMYH and hRad9 by Dronpa bimolecular fluorescence complementation.

BACKGROUND: Human MutY glycosylase homolog (hMYH), a component of the base excision repair pathway, is responsible for the generation of apurinic/apyrimidinic sites. Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 (9-1-1) is a heterotrimeric protein complex that plays a role in cell cycle checkpoint control and DNA repair. In humans, hMYH and 9-1-1 interact through Hus1 and to a lesser degree with Rad1 in the presence of DNA damage. In Saccharomyces pombe, each component of the 9-1-1 complex interacts directly with SpMYH. The glycosylase activity of hMYH is stimulated by Hus1 and the 9-1-1 complex and enhanced by DNA damage treatment. Cells respond to different stress conditions in different manners. Therefore, we investigated whether Rad9 interacted with hMYH under different stresses. Here, we identified and visualized the interaction between hRad9 and hMYH and investigated the functional consequences of this interaction. RESULTS: Co-IP and BiFC indicates that hMYH interacts with hRad9. As shown by GST-pull down assay, this interaction is direct. Furthermore, BiFC with deletion mutants of hMYH showed that hRad9 interacts with N-terminal region of hMYH. The interaction was enhanced by hydroxyurea (HU) treatment. mRNA and protein levels of hMYH and hRad9 were increased following HU treatment. A marked increase in p-Chk1 (S345) and p-Cdk2 (T14, Y15) was observed. But this phosphorylation decreased in siMYH- or siRad9-transfected cells, and more pronounced decrease observed in co-transfected cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data reveal that hRad9 interacts directly with N-terminal region of hMYH. This interaction is enhanced by HU treatment. Knockdown of one or both protein result in decreasing Chk1 and Cdk2 phosphorylation. Since both protein functions in the early detection of DNA damage, we suggest that this interaction occurs early in DNA damage pathway.

Bacterial beta-lactamase fragmentation complementation strategy can be used as a method for identifying interacting protein pairs.

We investigated the applicability of the TEM-1 beta- lactamase fragment complementation (BFC) system to develop a strategy for the screening of protein-protein interactions in bacteria. A BFC system containing a human Fas-associated death domain (hFADD) and human Fas death domain (hFasDD) was generated. The hFADD-hFasDD interaction was verified by cell survivability in ampicillin-containing medium and the colorimetric change of nitrocefin. It was also confirmed by His pull-down assay using cell lysates obtained in selection steps. A coiled-coil helix coiled-coil domain-containing protein 5 (CHCH5) was identified as an interacting protein of human uracil DNA glycosylase (hUNG) from the bacterial BFC cDNA library strategy. The interaction between hUNG and CHCH5 was further confirmed with immunoprecipitation using a mammalian expression system. CHCH5 enhanced the DNA glycosylase activity of hUNG to remove uracil from DNA duplexes containing a U/G mismatch pair. These results suggest that the bacterial BFC cDNA library strategy can be effectively used to identify interacting protein pairs.

Functional interaction between hMYH and hTRADD in the TNF-α-mediated survival and death pathways of HeLa cells.

UNLABELLED: The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway is a classical immune system pathway that plays a key role in regulating cell survival and apoptosis. The TNF receptor-associated death domain (TRADD) protein is recruited to the death domain of TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1), where it interacts with TNF receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2) and receptor-interacting protein (RIP) for the induction of apoptosis, necrosis, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB), and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation. In this study, we found that the human MutY homolog (hMYH) interacted with human TRADD (hTRADD) via the C-terminal domain of hMYH. Moreover, under conditions promoting TNF-α-induced cell death or survival in HeLa cells, this interaction was weakened or enhanced, respectively. The interaction between hMYH and hTRADD was important for signaling pathways mediated by TNF-α. Our results also suggested that the hTRADD-hMYH association was involved in the nuclear translocation of NFκB and formation of the TNFR1-TRADD complex. Thus, this study identified a novel mechanism through which the hMYH-hTRADD interaction may affect the TNF-α signaling pathway. IMPLICATIONS: In HeLa cells, the hTRADD-hMYH interaction functioned in both cell survival and apoptosis pathways following TNF-α stimulation.

A physical association between the human mutY homolog (hMYH) and DNA topoisomerase II-binding protein 1 (hTopBP1) regulates Chk1-induced cell cycle arrest in HEK293 cells.

BACKGROUND: Human DNA topoisomerase II-binding protein 1 (hTopBP1) plays an important role in DNA replication and the DNA damage checkpoint pathway. The human mutY homolog (hMYH) is a base excision repair DNA glycosylase that excises adenines or 2-hydroxyadenines that are mispaired with guanine or 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG). hTopBP1 and hMYH were involved in ATR-mediated Chk1 activation, moreover, both of them were associated with ATR and hRad9 which known as checkpoint-involved proteins. Therefore, we investigated whether hTopBP1 interacted with hMYH, and what the function of their interaction is. RESULTS: We documented the interaction between hTopBP1 and hMYH and showed that this interaction increased in a hydroxyurea-dependent manner. We also mapped the hMYH-interacting region of hTopBP1 (residues 444-991). In addition, we investigated several cell cycle-related proteins and found that co-knockdown of hTopBP1 and hMYH significantly diminished cell cycle arrest due to compromised checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) activation. Moreover, we observed that hMYH was essential for the accumulation of hTopBP1 on damaged DNA, where hTopBP1 interacts with hRad9, a component of the Rad9-Hus1-Rad1 complex. The accumulation of hTopBP1 on chromatin and its subsequent interaction with hRad9 lead to cell cycle arrest, a process mediated by Chk1 phosphorylation and ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein (ATR) activation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that hMYH is necessary for the accumulation of hTopBP1 to DNA damage lesion to induce the association of hTopBP1 with 9-1-1 and that the interaction between hMYH and hTopBP1 is essential for Chk1 activation. Therefore, we suggest that the interaction between hMYH and hTopBP1 is crucial for activation of the ATR-mediated cell cycle checkpoint.

Human MutY homolog induces apoptosis in etoposide-treated HEK293 cells.

Etoposide (ETP) treatment of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and Rad3-related protein (ATR)-, topoisomerase-binding protein-1 (TopBP1) and human MutY homolog (hMYH)-depleted cells results in a significant reduction in apoptotic signaling. The association between ATR or TopBP1 and hMYH increased following ETP treatment. In hMYH knockdown cells, the interaction between ATR and TopBP1 decreased following ETP treatment. We suggest that hMYH functions as a sensor of ETP-induced apoptosis. The results suggest that in the absence of hMYH, cells are unable to recognize the damage signal and the ATR pathway is not activated.

Arresting cancer proliferation by controlling the surface crystallinity of carbon materials without generating reactive oxygen species.

This study demonstrated that the surface crystallinity of carbon nanostructures is an additional independent factor that should be considered for the inhibition of cancer proliferation without activating reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, cytotoxic evaluation of both proliferating cancer cells and fully differentiated nerve cells (i.e. non-proliferative) showed selective cytotoxicity: single-walled and highly crystalline carbon nanostructures aggressively inhibited the proliferation of glioma cancer cells, but exhibited no notable cytotoxicity effects on differentiated nerve cells. Although single-wall carbon nanotubes have been shown to elicit potent proinflammatory responses by means of trigger ROS, our results demonstrated that highly crystalline carbon structures can be utilized as a selective antiproliferative agent against brain tumor cells without increasing the ROS level and without significant cytotoxic effects to adjacent nerve cells.

Knock-down of human MutY homolog (hMYH) decreases phosphorylation of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) induced by hydroxyurea and UV treatment.

The effect of human MutY homolog (hMYH) on the activation of checkpoint proteins in response to hydroxyurea (HU) and ultraviolet (UV) treatment was investigated in hMYH-disrupted HEK293 cells. hMYH-disrupted cells decreased the phosphorylation of Chk1 upon HU or UV treatment and increased the phosphorylation of Cdk2 and the amount of Cdc25A, but not Cdc25C. In siMYH-transfected cells, the increased rate of phosphorylated Chk1 upon HU or UV treatment was lower than that in siGFP-transfected cells, meaning that hMYH was involved in the activation mechanism of Chk1 upon DNA damage. The phosphorylation of ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3- related protein (ATR) upon HU or UV treatment was decreased in hMYH-disrupted HEK293 and HaCaT cells. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that hMYH was immunoprecipitated by anti-ATR. These results suggest that hMYH may interact with ATR and function as a mediator of Chk1 phosphorylation in response to DNA damage.

Ribosomal protein S3 is phosphorylated by Cdk1/cdc2 during G2/M phase.

Ribosomal protein S3 (rpS3) is a multifunctional protein involved in translation, DNA repair, and apoptosis. The relationship between rpS3 and cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) involved in cell cycle regulation is not yet known. Here, we show that rpS3 is phosphorylated by Cdk1 in G2/M phase. Co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays revealed that Cdk1 interacted with rpS3. An in vitro kinase assay showed that Cdk1 phosphorylated rpS3 protein. Phosphorylation of rpS3 increased in nocodazole-arrested mitotic cells; however, treatment with Cdk1 inhibitor or Cdk1 siRNA significantly attenuated this phosphorylation event. The phosphorylation of a mutant form of rpS3, T221A, was significantly reduced compared with wild-type rpS3. Decreased phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation of T221A was much more pronounced in G2/M phase. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of rpS3 by Cdk1 occurs at Thr221 during G2/M phase and, moreover, that this event is important for nuclear accumulation of rpS3.

Development of bimolecular fluorescence complementation using Dronpa for visualization of protein-protein interactions in cells.

PURPOSE: We developed a bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) strategy using Dronpa, a new fluorescent protein with reversible photoswitching activity and fast responsibility to light, to monitor protein-protein interactions in cells. PROCEDURES: Dronpa was split at residue Glu164 in order to generate two Dronpa fragments [Dronpa N-terminal: DN (Met1-Glu164), Dronpa C-terminal: DC (Gly165-Lys224)]. DN or DC was separately fused with C terminus of hHus1 or N terminus of hRad1. Flexible linker [(GGGGS)×2] was introduced to enhance Dronpa complementation by hHus1-hRad1 interaction. Furthermore, we developed expression vectors to visualize the interaction between hMYH and hHus1. Gene fragments corresponding to the coding regions of hMYH and hHus1 were N-terminally or C-terminally fused with DN and DC coding region. RESULTS: Complemented Dronpa fluorescence was only observed in HEK293 cells cotransfected with hHus1-LDN and DCL-hRad1 expression vectors, but not with hHus1-LDN or DCL-hRad1 expression vector alone. Western blot analysis of immunoprecipitated samples using anti-c-myc or anti-flag showed that DN-fused hHus1 interacted with DC-fused hRad1. Complemented Dronpa fluorescence was also observed in cells cotransfected with hMYH-LDN and DCL-hHus1 expression vectors or hMYH-LDN and hHus1-LDC expression vectors. Furthermore, complemented Dronpa, induced by the interaction between hMYH-LDN and DCL-hHus1, showed almost identical photoswitching activity as that of native Dronpa. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that BiFC using Dronpa can be successfully used to investigate protein-protein interaction in live cells. Furthermore, the fact that complemented Dronpa has a reversible photoswitching activity suggests that it can be used as a tool for tracking protein-protein interaction.

Repair activities of human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase are stimulated by the interaction with human checkpoint sensor Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 complex.

Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 (9-1-1) is a checkpoint protein complex playing roles in DNA damage sensing, cell cycle arrest, DNA repair or apoptosis. Human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (hOGG1) is the major DNA glycosylase responsible for repairing a specific aberrantly oxidized nucleotide, 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG). In this study, we identified a novel interaction between hOGG1 and human 9-1-1, and investigated the functional consequences of this interaction. Co-immunoprecipitation assays using transiently transfected HEK293 cells demonstrated an interaction between hOGG1 and the 9-1-1 proteins. Subsequently, GST pull-down assays using bacterially expressed and purified hOGG1-His and GST-fused 9-1-1 subunits (GST-hRad9, GST-hRad1, and GST-hHus1) demonstrated that hOGG1 interacted directly with the individual subunits of the human 9-1-1 complex. In vitro excision assay, which employed a DNA duplex containing an 8-oxoG/C mismatch, showed that hRad9, hRad1, and hHus1 enhanced the 8-oxoG excision and beta-elimination activities of hOGG1. In addition, the presence of hRad9, hRad1, and hHus1 enhanced the formation of covalently cross-linked hOGG1-8-oxoG/C duplex complexes, as determined by a trapping assay using NaBH(4). A trimeric human 9-1-1 complex was purified from Escherichia coli cell transformed with hRad9, His-fused hRad1, or His-fused hHus1 expressing vectors. It also showed the similar activity to enhance in vitro hOGG1 glycosylase activity, compared with individual human 9-1-1 subunits. Detection of 8-oxoG in HEK293 cells using flow cytometric and spectrofluorometric analysis revealed that over-expression of hOGG1 or human 9-1-1 reduced the formation of 8-oxoG residues following the H(2)O(2) treatment. The highest 8-oxoG reduction was observed in HEK293 cells over-expressing hOGG1 and all the three subunits of human 9-1-1. These indicate that individual human 9-1-1 subunits and human 9-1-1 complex showed almost the same abilities to enhance the in vitro 8-oxoG excision activity of hOGG1, but that the greatest effect to remove 8-oxoG residues in H(2)O(2)-treated cells was derived from the 9-1-1 complex as a whole.