The mouse and human genes encoding the recognition component of the N-end rule pathway.

The N-end rule relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. The N-end rule pathway is one proteolytic pathway of the ubiquitin system. The recognition component of this pathway, called N-recognin or E3, binds to a destabilizing N-terminal residue of a substrate protein and participates in the formation of a substrate-linked multiubiquitin chain. We report the cloning of the mouse and human Ubr1 cDNAs and genes that encode a mammalian N-recognin called E3alpha. Mouse UBR1p (E3alpha) is a 1,757-residue (200-kDa) protein that contains regions of sequence similarity to the 225-kDa Ubr1p of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mouse and human UBR1p have apparent homologs in other eukaryotes as well, thus defining a distinct family of proteins, the UBR family. The residues essential for substrate recognition by the yeast Ubr1p are conserved in the mouse UBR1p. The regions of similarity among the UBR family members include a putative zinc finger and RING-H2 finger, another zinc-binding domain. Ubr1 is located in the middle of mouse chromosome 2 and in the syntenic 15q15-q21.1 region of human chromosome 15. Mouse Ubr1 spans approximately 120 kilobases of genomic DNA and contains approximately 50 exons. Ubr1 is ubiquitously expressed in adults, with skeletal muscle and heart being the sites of highest expression. In mouse embryos, the Ubr1 expression is highest in the branchial arches and in the tail and limb buds. The cloning of Ubr1 makes possible the construction of Ubr1-lacking mouse strains, a prerequisite for the functional understanding of the mammalian N-end rule pathway.

Alterations in components of the ubiquitin-protein ligase system following maturation of reticulocytes to erythrocytes.

Previous studies have shown that the activity of the ubiquitin-mediated proteolytic system declines markedly following reticulocyte maturation, but the specific alterations responsible for this phenomenon have not been defined. We find that the rate of ATP-dependent degradation of 125I-albumin is reduced 20-fold in lysates of rabbit erythrocytes, as compared to reticulocyte lysates. The activity of the proteolytic system in erythrocyte extracts can be restored by supplementation with components of the ubiquitin-protein ligase system purified from reticulocytes by affinity chromatography. These components are the ubiquitin-carrier protein E2, the activity of which is nearly completely absent, and the ligase E3, the activity of which is partially reduced in erythrocytes. Erythrocyte extracts contain other ligases which attach a single, or a few ubiquitin molecules to proteins; these products are different from the multi-ubiquitin derivatives which are formed by the ligase system of protein breakdown. Mature red cells may thus serve to distinguish between different ubiquitin-protein ligase systems with presumably different functions.

ATP-dependent degradation of ubiquitin-protein conjugates.

Previous studies have indicated that the ATP-requiring conjugation of ubiquitin with proteins plays a role in the energy-dependent degradation of intracellular proteins. To examine whether such conjugates are indeed intermediates in protein breakdown, conjugates of 125I-labeled lysozyme with ubiquitin were isolated and incubated with a fraction of reticulocyte extract that lacks the enzymes that carry out ubiquitin-protein conjugation. ATP markedly stimulated degradation of the lysozyme moiety of ubiquitin conjugates to products soluble in trichloroacetic acid. By contrast, free 125I-labeled lysozyme was not degraded under these conditions, unless ubiquitin and the three enzymes required for ubiquitin conjugation were supplemented. Mg2+ was absolutely required for conjugate breakdown. Of various nucleotides, only CTP replaced ATP. Nonhydrolyzable analogs of ATP were not effective. In the absence of ATP, free lysozyme is released from ubiquitin-lysozyme conjugates by isopeptidases present in the extract. Thus, ATP is involved in both the formation and the breakdown of ubiquitin-protein conjugates.