Phosphorylation of the compartmentalized PKA substrate TAF15 regulates RNA-protein interactions.

Spatiotemporal-controlled second messengers alter molecular interactions of central signaling nodes for ensuring physiological signal transmission. One prototypical second messenger molecule which modulates kinase signal transmission is the cyclic-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). The main proteinogenic cellular effectors of cAMP are compartmentalized protein kinase A (PKA) complexes. Their cell-type specific compositions precisely coordinate substrate phosphorylation and proper signal propagation which is indispensable for numerous cell-type specific functions. Here we present evidence that TAF15, which is implicated in the etiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, represents a novel nuclear PKA substrate. In cross-linking and immunoprecipitation experiments (iCLIP) we showed that TAF15 phosphorylation alters the binding to target transcripts related to mRNA maturation, splicing and protein-binding related functions. TAF15 appears to be one of multiple PKA substrates that undergo RNA-binding dynamics upon phosphorylation. We observed that the activation of the cAMP-PKA signaling axis caused a change in the composition of a collection of RNA species that interact with TAF15. This observation appears to be a broader principle in the regulation of molecular interactions, as we identified a significant enrichment of RNA-binding proteins within endogenous PKA complexes. We assume that phosphorylation of RNA-binding domains adds another layer of regulation to binary protein-RNAs interactions with consequences to RNA features including binding specificities, localization, abundance and composition.

Mutational scanning pinpoints distinct binding sites of key ATGL regulators in lipolysis.

ATGL is a key enzyme in intracellular lipolysis and plays an important role in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. ATGL is tightly regulated by a known set of protein-protein interaction partners with activating or inhibiting functions in the control of lipolysis. Here, we use deep mutational protein interaction perturbation scanning and generate comprehensive profiles of single amino acid variants that affect the interactions of ATGL with its regulatory partners: CGI-58, G0S2, PLIN1, PLIN5 and CIDEC. Twenty-three ATGL amino acid variants yield a specific interaction perturbation pattern when validated in co-immunoprecipitation experiments in mammalian cells. We identify and characterize eleven highly selective ATGL switch mutations which affect the interaction of one of the five partners without affecting the others. Switch mutations thus provide distinct interaction determinants for ATGL's key regulatory proteins at an amino acid resolution. When we test triglyceride hydrolase activity in vitro and lipolysis in cells, the activity patterns of the ATGL switch variants trace to their protein interaction profile. In the context of structural data, the integration of variant binding and activity profiles provides insights into the regulation of lipolysis and the impact of mutations in human disease.

The RNA helicase Dbp10 coordinates assembly factor association with PTC maturation during ribosome biogenesis.

During ribosome biogenesis a plethora of assembly factors and essential enzymes drive the unidirectional maturation of nascent pre-ribosomal subunits. The DEAD-box RNA helicase Dbp10 is suggested to restructure pre-ribosomal rRNA of the evolving peptidyl-transferase center (PTC) on nucleolar ribosomal 60S assembly intermediates. Here, we show that point mutations within conserved catalytic helicase-core motifs of Dbp10 yield a dominant-lethal growth phenotype. Such dbp10 mutants, which stably associate with pre-60S intermediates, impair pre-60S biogenesis at a nucleolar stage prior to the release of assembly factor Rrp14 and stable integration of late nucleolar factors such as Noc3. Furthermore, the binding of the GTPase Nug1 to particles isolated directly via mutant Dbp10 bait proteins is specifically inhibited. The N-terminal domain of Nug1 interacts with Dbp10 and the methyltransferase Spb1, whose pre-60S incorporation is also reduced in absence of functional Dbp10 resulting in decreased methylation of 25S rRNA nucleotide G2922. Our data suggest that Dbp10's helicase activity generates the necessary framework for assembly factor docking thereby permitting PTC rRNA methylation and the progression of pre-60S maturation.

Missense variant interaction scanning reveals a critical role of the FERM domain for tumor suppressor protein NF2 conformation and function.

NF2 (moesin-ezrin-radixin-like [MERLIN] tumor suppressor) is frequently inactivated in cancer, where its NF2 tumor suppressor functionality is tightly coupled to protein conformation. How NF2 conformation is regulated and how NF2 conformation influences tumor suppressor activity is a largely open question. Here, we systematically characterized three NF2 conformation-dependent protein interactions utilizing deep mutational scanning interaction perturbation analyses. We identified two regions in NF2 with clustered mutations which affected conformation-dependent protein interactions. NF2 variants in the F2-F3 subdomain and the α3H helix region substantially modulated NF2 conformation and homomerization. Mutations in the F2-F3 subdomain altered proliferation in three cell lines and matched patterns of disease mutations in NF2 related-schwannomatosis. This study highlights the power of systematic mutational interaction perturbation analysis to identify missense variants impacting NF2 conformation and provides insight into NF2 tumor suppressor function.

De Novo Linear Phosphorylation Site Motifs for BCR-ABL Kinase Revealed by Phospho-Proteomics in Yeast.

BCR-ABL is the oncogenic fusion product of tyrosine kinase ABL1 and a highly frequent driver of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The kinase activity of BCR-ABL is strongly elevated; however, changes of substrate specificity in comparison to wild-type ABL1 kinase are less well characterized. Here, we heterologously expressed full-length BCR-ABL kinases in yeast. We exploited the proteome of living yeast as an in vivo phospho-tyrosine substrate for assaying human kinase specificity. Phospho-proteomic analysis of ABL1 and BCR-ABL isoforms p190 and p210 yielded a high-confidence data set of 1127 phospho-tyrosine sites on 821 yeast proteins. We used this data set to generate linear phosphorylation site motifs for ABL1 and the oncogenic ABL1 fusion proteins. The oncogenic kinases yielded a substantially different linear motif when compared to ABL1. Kinase set enrichment analysis with human pY-sites that have high linear motif scores well-recalled BCR-ABL driven cancer cell lines from human phospho-proteome data sets.

A human kinase yeast array for the identification of kinases modulating phosphorylation-dependent protein-protein interactions.

Protein kinases play an important role in cellular signaling pathways and their dysregulation leads to multiple diseases, making kinases prime drug targets. While more than 500 human protein kinases are known to collectively mediate phosphorylation of over 290,000 S/T/Y sites, the activities have been characterized only for a minor, intensively studied subset. To systematically address this discrepancy, we developed a human kinase array in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a simple readout tool to systematically assess kinase activities. For this array, we expressed 266 human kinases in four different S. cerevisiae strains and profiled ectopic growth as a proxy for kinase activity across 33 conditions. More than half of the kinases showed an activity-dependent phenotype across many conditions and in more than one strain. We then employed the kinase array to identify the kinase(s) that can modulate protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Two characterized, phosphorylation-dependent PPIs with unknown kinase-substrate relationships were analyzed in a phospho-yeast two-hybrid assay. CK2α1 and SGK2 kinases can abrogate the interaction between the spliceosomal proteins AAR2 and PRPF8, and NEK6 kinase was found to mediate the estrogen receptor (ERα) interaction with 14-3-3 proteins. The human kinase yeast array can thus be used for a variety of kinase activity-dependent readouts.

Lipid droplet-mitochondria coupling via perilipin 5 augments respiratory capacity but is dispensable for FA oxidation.

Disturbances in lipid homeostasis can cause mitochondrial dysfunction and lipotoxicity. Perilipin 5 (PLIN5) decorates intracellular lipid droplets (LDs) in oxidative tissues and controls triacylglycerol (TG) turnover via its interactions with adipose triglyceride lipase and the adipose triglyceride lipase coactivator, comparative gene identification-58. Furthermore, PLIN5 anchors mitochondria to the LD membrane via the outermost part of the carboxyl terminus. However, the role of this LD-mitochondria coupling (LDMC) in cellular energy catabolism is less established. In this study, we investigated the impact of PLIN5-mediated LDMC in comparison to disrupted LDMC on cellular TG homeostasis, FA oxidation, mitochondrial respiration, and protein interaction. To do so, we established PLIN5 mutants deficient in LDMC whilst maintaining normal interactions with key lipolytic players. Radiotracer studies with cell lines stably overexpressing wild-type or truncated PLIN5 revealed that LDMC has no significant impact on FA esterification upon lipid loading or TG catabolism during stimulated lipolysis. Moreover, we demonstrated that LDMC exerts a minor if any role in mitochondrial FA oxidation. In contrast, LDMC significantly improved the mitochondrial respiratory capacity and metabolic flexibility of lipid-challenged cardiomyocytes, which was corroborated by LDMC-dependent interactions of PLIN5 with mitochondrial proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration, dynamics, and cristae organization. Taken together, this study suggests that PLIN5 preserves mitochondrial function by adjusting FA supply via the regulation of TG hydrolysis and that LDMC is a vital part of mitochondrial integrity.

Decoding the cellular effects of genetic variation through interaction proteomics.

It is often unclear how genetic variation translates into cellular phenotypes, including how much of the coding variation can be recovered in the proteome. Proteogenomic analyses of heterogenous cell lines revealed that the genetic differences impact mostly the abundance and stoichiometry of protein complexes, with the effects propagating post-transcriptionally via protein interactions onto other subunits. Conversely, large scale binary interaction analyses of missense variants revealed that loss of interaction is widespread and caused by about 50% disease-associated mutations, while deep scanning mutagenesis of binary interactions identified thousands of interaction-deficient variants per interaction. The idea that phenotypes arise from genetic variation through protein-protein interaction is therefore substantiated by both forward and reverse interaction proteomics. With improved methodologies, these two approaches combined can close the knowledge gap between nucleotide sequence variation and its functional consequences on the cellular proteome.

Exploring absent protein function in yeast: assaying post translational modification and human genetic variation.

Yeast is a valuable eukaryotic model organism that has evolved many processes conserved up to humans, yet many protein functions, including certain DNA and protein modifications, are absent. It is this absence of protein function that is fundamental to approaches using yeast as an in vivo test system to investigate human proteins. Functionality of the heterologous expressed proteins is connected to a quantitative, selectable phenotype, enabling the systematic analyses of mechanisms and specificity of DNA modification, post-translational protein modifications as well as the impact of annotated cancer mutations and coding variation on protein activity and interaction. Through continuous improvements of yeast screening systems, this is increasingly carried out on a global scale using deep mutational scanning approaches. Here we discuss the applicability of yeast systems to investigate absent human protein function with a specific focus on the impact of protein variation on protein-protein interaction modulation.

Global analysis of protein arginine methylation.

Quantitative information about the levels and dynamics of post-translational modifications (PTMs) is critical for an understanding of cellular functions. Protein arginine methylation (ArgMet) is an important subclass of PTMs and is involved in a plethora of (patho)physiological processes. However, because of the lack of methods for global analysis of ArgMet, the link between ArgMet levels, dynamics, and (patho)physiology remains largely unknown. We utilized the high sensitivity and robustness of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to develop a general method for the quantification of global protein ArgMet. Our NMR-based approach enables the detection of protein ArgMet in purified proteins, cells, organoids, and mouse tissues. We demonstrate that the process of ArgMet is a highly prevalent PTM and can be modulated by small-molecule inhibitors and metabolites and changes in cancer and during aging. Thus, our approach enables us to address a wide range of biological questions related to ArgMet in health and disease.

A functionally defined high-density NRF2 interactome reveals new conditional regulators of ARE transactivation.

NRF2 (NFE2L2) is a cytoprotective transcription factor associated with >60 human diseases, adverse drug reactions and therapeutic resistance. To provide insight into the complex regulation of NRF2 responses, 1962 predicted NRF2-partner interactions were systematically tested to generate an experimentally defined high-density human NRF2 interactome. Verification and conditional stratification of 46 new NRF2 partners was achieved by co-immunoprecipitation and the novel integration of quantitative data from dual luminescence-based co-immunoprecipitation (DULIP) assays and live-cell fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCCS). The functional impact of new partners was then assessed in genetically edited loss-of-function (NRF2-/-) and disease-related gain-of-function (NRF2T80K and KEAP1-/-) cell-lines. Of the new partners investigated >77% (17/22) modified NRF2 responses, including partners that only exhibited effects under disease-related conditions. This experimentally defined binary NRF2 interactome provides a new vision of the complex molecular networks that govern the modulation and consequence of NRF2 activity in health and disease.

Near-atomic structures of the BBSome reveal the basis for BBSome activation and binding to GPCR cargoes.

Dynamic trafficking of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) out of cilia is mediated by the BBSome. In concert with its membrane recruitment factor, the small GTPase ARL6/BBS3, the BBSome ferries GPCRs across the transition zone, a diffusion barrier at the base of cilia. Here, we present the near-atomic structures of the BBSome by itself and in complex with ARL6GTP, and we describe the changes in BBSome conformation induced by ARL6GTP binding. Modeling the interactions of the BBSome with membranes and the GPCR Smoothened (SMO) reveals that SMO, and likely also other GPCR cargoes, must release their amphipathic helix 8 from the membrane to be recognized by the BBSome.

RIM-binding protein couples synaptic vesicle recruitment to release sites.

At presynaptic active zones, arrays of large conserved scaffold proteins mediate fast and temporally precise release of synaptic vesicles (SVs). SV release sites could be identified by clusters of Munc13, which allow SVs to dock in defined nanoscale relation to Ca2+ channels. We here show in Drosophila that RIM-binding protein (RIM-BP) connects release sites physically and functionally to the ELKS family Bruchpilot (BRP)-based scaffold engaged in SV recruitment. The RIM-BP N-terminal domain, while dispensable for SV release site organization, was crucial for proper nanoscale patterning of the BRP scaffold and needed for SV recruitment of SVs under strong stimulation. Structural analysis further showed that the RIM-BP fibronectin domains form a "hinge" in the protein center, while the C-terminal SH3 domain tandem binds RIM, Munc13, and Ca2+ channels release machinery collectively. RIM-BPs' conserved domain architecture seemingly provides a relay to guide SVs from membrane far scaffolds into membrane close release sites.

The Molecular Architecture of Native BBSome Obtained by an Integrated Structural Approach.

The unique membrane composition of cilia is maintained by a diffusion barrier at the transition zone that is breached when the BBSome escorts signaling receptors out of cilia. Understanding how the BBSome removes proteins from cilia has been hampered by a lack of structural information. Here, we present a nearly complete Cα model of BBSome purified from cow retina. The model is based on a single-particle cryo-electron microscopy density map at 4.9-Å resolution that was interpreted with the help of comprehensive Rosetta-based structural modeling constrained by crosslinking mass spectrometry data. We find that BBSome subunits have a very high degree of interconnectivity, explaining the obligate nature of the complex. Furthermore, like other coat adaptors, the BBSome exists in an autoinhibited state in solution and must thus undergo a conformational change upon recruitment to membranes by the small GTPase ARL6/BBS3. Our model provides the first detailed view of the machinery enabling ciliary exit.

Feedback inhibition of cAMP effector signaling by a chaperone-assisted ubiquitin system.

Activation of G-protein coupled receptors elevates cAMP levels promoting dissociation of protein kinase A (PKA) holoenzymes and release of catalytic subunits (PKAc). This results in PKAc-mediated phosphorylation of compartmentalized substrates that control central aspects of cell physiology. The mechanism of PKAc activation and signaling have been largely characterized. However, the modes of PKAc inactivation by regulated proteolysis were unknown. Here, we identify a regulatory mechanism that precisely tunes PKAc stability and downstream signaling. Following agonist stimulation, the recruitment of the chaperone-bound E3 ligase CHIP promotes ubiquitylation and proteolysis of PKAc, thus attenuating cAMP signaling. Genetic inactivation of CHIP or pharmacological inhibition of HSP70 enhances PKAc signaling and sustains hippocampal long-term potentiation. Interestingly, primary fibroblasts from autosomal recessive spinocerebellar ataxia 16 (SCAR16) patients carrying germline inactivating mutations of CHIP show a dramatic dysregulation of PKA signaling. This suggests the existence of a negative feedback mechanism for restricting hormonally controlled PKA activities.

Phosphorylation of the Bruchpilot N-terminus in Drosophila unlocks axonal transport of active zone building blocks.

Protein scaffolds at presynaptic active zone membranes control information transfer at synapses. For scaffold biogenesis and maintenance, scaffold components must be safely transported along axons. A spectrum of kinases has been suggested to control transport of scaffold components, but direct kinase-substrate relationships and operational principles steering phosphorylation-dependent active zone protein transport are presently unknown. Here, we show that extensive phosphorylation of a 150-residue unstructured region at the N-terminus of the highly elongated Bruchpilot (BRP) active zone protein is crucial for ordered active zone precursor transport in Drosophila Point mutations that block SRPK79D kinase-mediated phosphorylation of the BRP N-terminus interfered with axonal transport, leading to BRP-positive axonal aggregates that also contain additional active zone scaffold proteins. Axonal aggregates formed only in the presence of non-phosphorylatable BRP isoforms containing the SRPK79D-targeted N-terminal stretch. We assume that specific active zone proteins are pre-assembled in transport packages and are thus co-transported as functional scaffold building blocks. Our results suggest that transient post-translational modification of a discrete unstructured domain of the master scaffold component BRP blocks oligomerization of these building blocks during their long-range transport.

Interaction modulation through arrays of clustered methyl-arginine protein modifications.

Systematic analysis of human arginine methylation identifies two distinct signaling modes; either isolated modifications akin to canonical post-translational modification regulation, or clustered arrays within disordered protein sequence. Hundreds of proteins contain these methyl-arginine arrays and are more prone to accumulate mutations and more tightly expression-regulated than dispersed methylation targets. Arginines within an array in the highly methylated RNA-binding protein synaptotagmin binding cytoplasmic RNA interacting protein (SYNCRIP) were experimentally shown to function in concert, providing a tunable protein interaction interface. Quantitative immunoprecipitation assays defined two distinct cumulative binding mechanisms operating across 18 proximal arginine-glycine (RG) motifs in SYNCRIP. Functional binding to the methyltransferase PRMT1 was promoted by continual arginine stretches, whereas interaction with the methyl-binding protein SMN1 was arginine content-dependent irrespective of linear position within the unstructured region. This study highlights how highly repetitive modifiable amino acid arrays in low structural complexity regions can provide regulatory platforms, with SYNCRIP as an extreme example how arginine methylation leverages these disordered sequences to mediate cellular interactions.

Understanding Disease Variants through the Lens of Protein Interactions.

High-density interaction mapping of mitochondrial proteins provides clues to molecular mechanisms implicated in the progression of neurological disorders.

Protein interaction perturbation profiling at amino-acid resolution.

The identification of genomic variants in healthy and diseased individuals continues to rapidly outpace our ability to functionally annotate these variants. Techniques that both systematically assay the functional consequences of nucleotide-resolution variation and can scale to hundreds of genes are urgently required. We designed a sensitive yeast two-hybrid-based 'off switch' for positive selection of interaction-disruptive variants from complex genetic libraries. Combined with massively parallel programmed mutagenesis and a sequencing readout, this method enables systematic profiling of protein-interaction determinants at amino-acid resolution. We defined >1,000 interaction-disrupting amino acid mutations across eight subunits of the BBSome, the major human cilia protein complex associated with the pleiotropic genetic disorder Bardet-Biedl syndrome. These high-resolution interaction-perturbation profiles provide a framework for interpreting patient-derived mutations across the entire protein complex and thus highlight how the impact of disease variation on interactome networks can be systematically assessed.