Immunoprecipitation of Cullin-RING Ligases (CRLs) in Arabidopsis thaliana Seedlings.

CRL (Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase) is the major class of plant E3 ubiquitin ligases. Immunoprecipitation-based methods are useful techniques for revealing interactions among Cullin-RING Ligase (CRL) subunits or between CRLs and other proteins, as well as for detecting poly-ubiquitin modifications of the CRLs themselves. Here, we describe two immunoprecipitation (IP) procedures suitable for CRLs in Arabidopsis: a procedure for IP analysis of CRL subunits and their interactors and a second procedure for in vivo ubiquitination analysis of the CRLs. Both protocols can be divided into two major steps: (1) preparation of cell extracts without disruption of protein interactions and (2) affinity purification of the protein complexes and subsequent detection. We provide a thorough description of all the steps, as well as advice on how to choose proper buffers for these analyses. We also suggest a series of negative controls that can be used to verify the specificity of the procedure.

Development of an efficient E. coli expression and purification system for a catalytically active, human Cullin3-RINGBox1 protein complex and elucidation of its quaternary structure with Keap1.

The Cullin3-based E3 ubiquitin ligase complex is thought to play an important role in the cellular response to oxidative stress and xenobiotic assault. While limited biochemical studies of the ligase's role in these complex signaling pathways are beginning to emerge, structural studies are lagging far behind due to the inability to acquire sufficient quantities of full-length, highly pure and active Cullin3. Here we describe the design and construction of an optimized expression and purification system for the full-length, human Cullin3-RINGBox 1 (Rbx1) protein complex from Escherichia coli. The dual-expression system is comprised of codon-optimized Cullin3 and Rbx1 genes co-expressed from a single pET-Duet-1 plasmid. Rapid purification of the Cullin3-Rbx1 complex is achieved in two steps via an affinity column followed by size-exclusion chromatography. Approximately 15mg of highly pure and active Cullin3-Rbx1 protein from 1L of E. coli culture can be achieved. Analysis of the quaternary structure of the Cullin3-Rbx1 and Cullin3-Rbx1-Keap1 complexes by size-exclusion chromatography and analytical ultracentrifugation indicates a 1:1 stoichiometry for the Cullin3-Rbx1 complex (MW=111kDa), and a 1:1:2 stoichiometry for the Cullin3-Rbx1-Keap1 complex (MW=280kDa). This latter complex has a novel quaternary structural organization for cullin E3 ligases, and it is fully active based on an in vitro Cullin3-Rbx1-Keap1-Nrf2 ubiquitination activity assay that was developed and optimized in this study.

Molecular structure and biochemical properties of the HCCH-Zn2+ site in HIV-1 Vif.

Virion infectivity factor (Vif) is an HIV accessory protein that is essential for the infection of CD4(+) T cells. Vif recruits a Cullin 5 (Cul5)-based ubiquitin ligase that targets a host cytidine deaminase, apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G), for proteasomal degradation. The Vif N-terminus binds APOBEC3G, and the C-terminus interacts with the Cul5-based ubiquitin ligase machinery. Within the C-terminus, a highly conserved H(108)-X(5)-C(114)-X(17-18)-C(133)-X(3-5)-H(139) (HCCH) motif binds zinc and is implicated in the Vif-Cul5 interaction. We have employed the biomimetic peptide HCCHp (HIV-1 Vif amino acids 101-142) in order to determine the zinc ligands and investigate the role of zinc binding in Cul5 recognition. Using CD spectroscopy, a competitive zinc binding assay, and a light scattering assay, we found that mutation of the conserved His and Cys residues in HCCHp had little effect on secondary structure but reduced zinc binding affinity and altered the aggregation properties of the peptides. X-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to study zinc coordination in wild-type HCCHp. The data are consistent with S(2)N(imid)(2) coordination and strongly suggest that His-108, Cys-114, Cys-133, and His-139 are zinc ligands. Mutation of one or both conserved Cys residues in HCCHp led to a decrease in Cys ligation, and an increase in the number of (N, O) ligands, with noninteger coordination numbers suggesting zinc site heterogeneity. A purified fragment of human Cul5 was found to inhibit zinc-induced aggregation of HCCHp, and pull-down experiments revealed that zinc binding to HCCHp increases the strength of the HCCHp-Cul5 interaction by 8-fold.

Dynamic in vivo interaction of DDB2 E3 ubiquitin ligase with UV-damaged DNA is independent of damage-recognition protein XPC.

Damage DNA binding protein 2 (DDB2) has a high affinity for UV-damaged DNA and has been implicated in the initial steps of global genome nucleotide excision repair (NER) in mammals. DDB2 binds to CUL4A and forms an E3 ubiquitin ligase. In this study, we have analyzed the properties of DDB2 and CUL4A in vivo. The majority of DDB2 and CUL4A diffuse in the nucleus with a diffusion rate consistent with a high molecular mass complex. Essentially all DDB2 binds to UV-induced DNA damage, where each molecule resides for approximately 2 minutes. After the induction of DNA damage, DDB2 is proteolytically degraded with a half-life that is two orders of magnitude larger than its residence time on a DNA lesion. This indicates that binding to damaged DNA is not the primary trigger for DDB2 breakdown. The bulk of DDB2 binds to and dissociates from DNA lesions independently of damage-recognition protein XPC. Moreover, the DDB2-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase is bound to many more damaged sites than XPC, suggesting that there is little physical interaction between the two proteins. We propose a scenario in which DDB2 prepares UV-damaged chromatin for assembly of the NER complex.

L2DTL/CDT2 and PCNA interact with p53 and regulate p53 polyubiquitination and protein stability through MDM2 and CUL4A/DDB1 complexes.

The CUL4-ROC1 E3 ligase complex regulates genome stability, replication and cell cycle progression. A novel WD40 domain-containing protein, L2DTL/CDT2 and PCNA were identified as proteins associated with CUL4/DDB1 complexes. Inactivation of CUL4A, L2DTL, PCNA, DDB1 or ROC1 induced p53 stabilization and growth arrest. L2DTL, PCNA and DDB1/CUL4A complexes were found to physically interact with p53 tumor suppressor and its regulator MDM2/HDM2. The isolated CUL4A complexes display potent and robust polyubiquitination activity towards p53 and this activity is dependent on L2DTL, PCNA, DDB1, ROC1 and MDM2/HDM2. We also found that the interaction between p53 and CUL4 complex is regulated by DNA damage. Our data further showed that MDM2/HDM2 is rapidly proteolyzed in response to UV irradiation and this process is regulated by CUL4/DDB1 and PCNA. Our studies demonstrate that PCNA, L2DTL and the DDB1-CUL4A complex play critical and differential roles in regulating the protein stability of p53 and MDM2/HDM2 in unstressed and stressed cells.

High-level expression and purification of recombinant SCF ubiquitin ligases.

The SCF complexes are the prototype of a superfamily of cullin-dependent ubiquitin ligases, which regulate diverse cellular functions by promoting the ubiquitination of a large number of regulatory and signaling proteins. The SCF complexes are organized by the elongated scaffold protein subunit Cul1, which interacts with the Rbx1 RING finger protein at one end and the Skp1 adaptor protein at the other. By binding to Skp1, members of the F-box protein family are responsible for recruiting specific substrates to the ligase machine. This chapter describes methods that we have developed to achieve high-level expression and purification of two recombinant SCF complexes from both insect cells and bacteria. We emphasize the power of protein coexpression and a novel "Split-n-Coexpress" method in producing soluble and functional recombinant proteins and protein complexes. We propose that similar approaches can be used to obtain large quantities of other SCF and SCF-like complexes for biochemical and structural investigations.