Inter-ring rotations of AAA ATPase p97 revealed by electron cryomicroscopy.

The type II AAA+ protein p97 is involved in numerous cellular activities, including endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation, transcription activation, membrane fusion and cell-cycle control. These activities are at least in part regulated by the ubiquitin system, in which p97 is thought to target ubiquitylated protein substrates within macromolecular complexes and assist in their extraction or disassembly. Although ATPase activity is essential for p97 function, little is known about how ATP binding or hydrolysis is coupled with p97 conformational changes and substrate remodelling. Here, we have used single-particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) to study the effect of nucleotides on p97 conformation. We have identified conformational heterogeneity within the cryo-EM datasets from which we have resolved two major p97 conformations. A comparison of conformations reveals inter-ring rotations upon nucleotide binding and hydrolysis that may be linked to the remodelling of target protein complexes.

The role of the N-domain in the ATPase activity of the mammalian AAA ATPase p97/VCP.

p97/valosin-containing protein (VCP) is a type II ATPase associated with various cellular activities that forms a homohexamer with each protomer containing an N-terminal domain (N-domain); two ATPase domains, D1 and D2; and a disordered C-terminal region. Little is known about the role of the N-domain or the C-terminal region in the p97 ATPase cycle. In the p97-associated human disease inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia, the majority of missense mutations are located at the N-domain D1 interface. Structure-based predictions suggest that such mutations affect the interaction of the N-domain with D1. Here we have tested ten major inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia-linked mutants for ATPase activity and found that all have increased activity over the wild type, with one mutant, p97(A232E), having three times higher activity. Further mutagenesis of p97(A232E) shows that the increase in ATPase activity is mediated through D2 and requires both the N-domain and a flexible ND1 linker. A disulfide mutation that locks the N-domain to D1 in a coplanar position reversibly abrogates ATPase activity. A cryo-EM reconstruction of p97(A232E) suggests that the N-domains are flexible. Removal of the C-terminal region also reduces ATPase activity. Taken together, our data suggest that the conformation of the N-domain in relation to the D1-D2 hexamer is directly linked to ATP hydrolysis and that the C-terminal region is required for hexamer stability. This leads us to propose a model where the N-domain adopts either of two conformations: a flexible conformation compatible with ATP hydrolysis or a coplanar conformation that is inactive.

Insights into adaptor binding to the AAA protein p97.

The AAA (ATPase associated with various cellular activities) p97 [also known as VCP (valosin-containing protein)] participates in numerous biological activities and is an essential component of the ubiquitin signalling pathway. A plethora of adaptors have been reported for p97, and increasing evidence is suggesting that it is through adaptor binding that p97 is diverted into different cellular pathways. Studying the interaction between p97 and its adaptors is therefore crucial to our understanding of the physiological roles of the protein. The interactions between p97 and the PUB [PNGase (peptide N-glycosidase)/ubiquitin-associated] domain of PNGase, the UBX (ubiquitin regulatory X) domain of p47, and the UBD (ubiquitin D) domain of Npl4 have been structurally characterized. UBX and UBD are structural homologues that share similar p97-binding modes; it is plausible that other proteins that contain a UBX/UBX-like domain also interact with p97 via similar mechanisms. In addition, several short p97-interacting motifs, such as VBM (VCP-binding motif), VIM (VCP-interacting motif) and SHP, have been identified recently and are also shared between p97 adaptors, hinting that proteins possessing the same p97-binding motif might also share common p97-binding mechanisms. In this review, we aim to summarize our current knowledge on adaptor binding to p97.