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G Blobel

Publications and source records attributed to G Blobel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The lamin B receptor of the inner nuclear membrane undergoes mitosis-specific phosphorylation and is a substrate for p34cdc2-type protein kinase.

The lamin B receptor (LBR) is an integral protein of the inner nuclear membrane that interacts with lamin B in vitro. If contains a 204-amino acid nucleoplasmic amino-terminal domain and a hydrophobic carboxyl-terminal domain with eight putative transmembrane segments. We found cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of LBR using phosphoamino acid analysis and phosphopeptide mapping of in vivo 32P-labeled LBR immunoprecipitated from chicken cells in interphase and arrested in mitosis. LBR was phosphorylated only on serine residues in interphase and on serine and threonine residues in mitosis. Some serine residues phosphorylated in interphase were not phosphorylated in mitosis. To identify a threonine residue specifically phosphorylated in mitosis and the responsible protein kinase, wild-type and mutant LBR nucleoplasmic domain fusion proteins were phosphorylated in vitro by p34cdc2-type protein kinase. Comparisons of phosphopeptide maps to those of in vivo 32P-labeled mitotic LBR showed that Thr188 is likely to be phosphorylated by this enzyme during mitosis. These phosphorylation/dephosphorylation events may be responsible for some of the changes in the interaction between the nuclear lamina and the inner nuclear membrane that occur during mitosis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Primary structure, import, and assembly of the yeast homolog of succinate dehydrogenase flavoprotein.

We have isolated a homolog for the flavoprotein subunit of succinate dehydrogenase [succinate:(acceptor) oxidoreductase, EC 1.3.99.1] from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and used the obtained peptide sequences to clone and characterize the corresponding gene. It contained an open reading frame of 1923 base pairs and encoded a protein of 640 amino acids (M(r), 70,238) that showed approximately 49% and approximately 28% identity with the Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis enzymes, respectively. All features of the FAD cofactor binding site were completely conserved. Comparison of the deduced protein sequence with the N-terminal sequence determined from the isolated protein revealed an N-terminal extension of 28 amino acids that presumably represents a mitochondrial signal sequence. After in vitro transcription and translation, the preprotein was efficiently imported into isolated yeast mitochondria, cleaved to its mature form, and assembled into the membrane-bound succinate dehydrogenase complex.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Nopp140 shuttles on tracks between nucleolus and cytoplasm.

Nopp140 is a nucleolar phosphoprotein of 140 kd that we originally identified and purified as a nuclear localization signal (NLS)-binding protein. Molecular characterization revealed a 10-fold repeated motif of highly conserved acidic serine clusters that contain an abundance of phosphorylation consensus sites for casein kinase II (CK II). Indeed, Nopp140 is one of the most phosphorylated proteins in the cell, and NLS binding was dependent on phosphorylation. Nopp140 was shown to shuttle between the nucleolus and the cytoplasm. Shuttling is likely to proceed on tracks that were revealed by immunoelectron microscopy. These tracks extend from the dense fibrillar component of the nucleolus across the nucleoplasm to some nuclear pore complexes. We suggest that Nopp140 functions as a chaperone for import into and/or export from the nucleolus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The two steps of nuclear import, targeting to the nuclear envelope and translocation through the nuclear pore, require different cytosolic factors.

We have isolated two cytosolic fractions from Xenopus oocytes that contain all of the activity necessary to support both steps of nuclear import in digitonin-permeabilized mammalian cells: binding at the nuclear envelope and translocation through the nuclear pore. The first cytosolic fraction (fraction A) interacts with an import-competent, but not a mutant, nuclear localization sequence-bearing conjugate and stimulates its accumulation at the nuclear envelope in an ATP-independent fashion. The second cytosolic fraction (fraction B) gives no discernible effect when added alone; but when added either together with fraction A, or after fraction A, stimulates the passage of the conjugate from the outer nuclear envelope to the interior of the nucleus in an ATP-dependent fashion.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Signal peptides open protein-conducting channels in E. coli.

Plasma membrane vesicles and protoplasts of Escherichia coli were fused to planar lipid bilayers and studied with electrophysiological techniques. Large transmembrane aqueous channels were opened when 0.2 nM LamB signal peptide was added to the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. These aqueous pores are similar in conductance to those previously observed in mammalian endoplasmic reticulum when puromycin is used to release and thus unplug nascent translocating chains. Signal sequences have been previously shown to be necessary and sufficient for targeting proteins to cellular membranes. These results demonstrate that signal peptides are sufficient for opening the protein-conducting channels. We suggest that they are the physiological ligands that open protein-conducting channels at the initiation of protein translocation across prokaryotic plasma membrane and mammalian endoplasmic reticulum.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The signal sequence receptor, unlike the signal recognition particle receptor, is not essential for protein translocation.

Detergent extracts of canine pancreas rough microsomal membranes were depleted of either the signal recognition particle receptor (SR), which mediates the signal recognition particle (SRP)-dependent targeting of the ribosome/nascent chain complex to the membrane, or the signal sequence receptor (SSR), which has been proposed to function as a membrane bound receptor for the newly targeted nascent chain and/or as a component of a multi-protein translocation complex responsible for transfer of the nascent chain across the membrane. Depletion of the two components was performed by chromatography of detergent extracts on immunoaffinity supports. Detergent extracts lacking either SR or SSR were reconstituted and assayed for activity with respect to SR dependent elongation arrest release, nascent chain targeting, ribosome binding, secretory precursor translocation, and membrane protein integration. Depletion of SR resulted in the loss of elongation arrest release activity, nascent chain targeting, secretory protein translocation, and membrane protein integration, although ribosome binding was unaffected. Full activity was restored by addition of immunoaffinity purified SR before reconstitution of the detergent extract. Surprisingly, depletion of SSR was without effect on any of the assayed activities, indicating that SSR is either not required for translocation or is one of a family of functionally redundant components.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

A new family of yeast nuclear pore complex proteins.

We have identified a novel family of yeast nuclear pore complex proteins. Three individual members of this family, NUP49, NUP100, and NUP116, have been isolated and then characterized by a combination of molecular genetics and immunolocalization. Employing immunoelectron and immunofluorescence microscopy on yeast cells, we found that the binding of a polyspecific monoclonal antibody recognizing this family was predominantly at the nuclear pore complexes. Furthermore, the tagging of NUP49 with a unique epitope enabled the immunolocalization of this protein to the nuclear pore complex by both fluorescence and electron microscopy. DNA sequence analysis has shown that the amino-terminal regions of NUP49, NUP100, and NUP116 share repeated "GLFG" motifs separated from each other by glutamine, asparagine, serine and threonine rich spacers. All three proteins lack a repetitive domain found in the two precisely described yeast nuclear pore complex proteins. Only NUP49 is essential for cell viability. NUP116-deficient cells grow very slowly and are temperature sensitive, whereas the lack of NUP100 has no detectable phenotype. NUP100 and NUP116 are homologous over their entire lengths. Interestingly, NUP100 and NUP116 are both flanked by a histidine tRNA gene and a transposon element suggesting that they may have arisen by gene duplication. We propose that subfamilies of pore complex proteins can be defined by their characteristic combinations of different modular domains.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The single transmembrane segment of gp210 is sufficient for sorting to the pore membrane domain of the nuclear envelope.

The glycoprotein gp210 is located in the "pore membrane," a specialized domain of the nuclear envelope to which the nuclear pore complex (NPC) is anchored. gp210 contains a large cisternal domain, a single transmembrane segment (TM), and a COOH-terminal, 58-amino acid residue cytoplasmic tail (CT) (Wozniak, R. W., E. Bartnik, and G. Blobel. 1989. J. Cell Biol. 108:2083-2092; Greber, U. F., A. Senior, and L. Gerace. 1990. EMBO (Eur. Mol. Biol. Organ.) J. 9:1495-1502). To locate determinants for sorting of gp210 to the pore membrane, we constructed various cDNAs coding for wild-type, mutant, and chimeric gp210, and monitored localization of the expressed protein in 3T3 cells by immunofluorescence microscopy using appropriate antibodies. The large cisternal domain of gp210 (95% of its mass) did not reveal any sorting determinants. Surprisingly, the TM of gp210 is sufficient for sorting to the pore membrane. The CT also contains a sorting determinant, but it is weaker than that of the TM. We propose specific lateral association of the transmembrane helices of two proteins to yield either a gp210 homodimer or a heterodimer of gp210 and another protein. The cytoplasmically oriented tails of these dimers may bind cooperatively to the adjacent NPCs. In addition, we demonstrate that gp210 co-localizes with cytoplasmically dispersed nucleoporins, suggesting a cytoplasmic association of these components.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Primary structure of a human arginine-rich nuclear protein that colocalizes with spliceosome components.

The cDNA for a 54-kDa nuclear protein (p54) has been cloned from a human hepatoma expression library. Contained within p54 is an arginine/serine-rich region similar to segments of several proteins that participate in pre-mRNA splicing including the 70-kDa component of U1 small nuclear and "suppressor-of-white-apricot" proteins. The arginine/serine-rich region is dominated by a series of 8-amino acid imperfect repetitive motifs (consensus sequence, Arg-Arg-Ser-Arg-Ser-Arg-Ser-Arg). Antibodies raised against synthetic peptides of p54 react with an approximately 70-kDa protein on immunoblots of HeLa cell and rat liver nuclear proteins. This apparent discrepancy in mass is also observed when p54 mRNA is translated in vitro. Indirect immunofluorescence studies in HeLa cells show that p54 is distributed throughout the nucleus in a speckled pattern, with an additional diffuse labeling of the nucleus excluding the nucleoli. Double immunofluorescence experiments indicate that these punctate regions are coincident with the speckles seen in cells stained with antibodies against several constituents of the pre-mRNA splicing machinery. Sedimentation analysis of HeLa cell extracts on sucrose gradients showed that p54 migrates at 4-6 S, indicating that the protein is not a tightly associated component of snRNPs. Although the function of p54 is not yet known, our structure and immunolocalization data suggest that this protein may have a role in pre-mRNA processing.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Biochemical fractionation and assembly of the membrane components that mediate nascent chain targeting and translocation.

Fractionation of a microsomal detergent extract with ammonium sulfate allows separation of the signal recognition particle receptor (SR alpha), which is required for targeting of the nascent chain, from other microsomal proteins, such as signal peptidase, whose activity is displayed during subsequent translocation. The reconstituted SR alpha-enriched fraction is functional in assays of precursor targeting and elongation arrest release but lacks translocation activity. This defect can be complemented by addition, prior to reconstitution, of a separate protein subfraction. In addition, protein components necessary for translocation can be reversibly depleted from the complementary fraction, under conditions where precursor targeting is retained, by sulfhydryl-directed chromatography. Thus, precursor binding and translocation can be biochemically uncoupled, indicating that they are sequential reactions mediated by distinct components.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Binding of lamin A to polynucleosomes.

Morphological observations suggest a close association between heterochromatin and the nuclear lamina. To investigate the molecular aspects of this association, we have established a simple sedimentation assay employing purified lamin proteins, or their 125I-labeled derivatives, and polynucleosomal particles isolated from avian erythrocytes. We report here that purified, unlabeled lamin A and 125I-lamin A, but not 125I-lamin B or 125I-bovine serum albumin, bind to polynucleosomes in a saturable and specific fashion. The specific binding of 125I-lamin A is of high affinity (Kd = approximately 1 x 10(-9) M) and is distinctly temperature-dependent. This interaction is not affected by exogenous polyionic agents such as polylysine and DNA, but it can be abolished by protease digestion of the polynucleosomes. These data suggest that nuclear lamin A maintains a direct association with a proteinaceous constituent of interphase chromatin.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1991

A protein-conducting channel in the endoplasmic reticulum.

The existence of a protein-conducting channel in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane was demonstrated by electrophysiological techniques. Pancreatic rough microsome (RM) vesicles were fused to one side (cis) of a planar lipid bilayer separating two aqueous compartments of 50 mM salt. This exposed the cytoplasmic surface of the RMs, with its attached ribosomes, to the cis chamber. Addition of 100 microM puromycin to the cis side caused a large increase in membrane conductance, presumably the result of puromycin-induced clearance of nascent protein chains from the lumen of protein-conducting channels. When puromycin was added at low concentrations (0.33 microM), single channels of 220 pS were observed. These closed when the salt concentration was raised to levels at which ribosomes detach from the membrane (150-400 mM), indicating that the attached ribosome keeps the channel in an open conformation. A mechanism for a complete cycle of opening and closing of the protein-conducting channel is suggested.

Edetic Acid↗
PubMed1991

Signal peptide analogs derived from two chloroplast precursors interact with the signal recognition system of the chloroplast envelope.

We have used synthetic peptides representing segments of the signal sequences of preferredoxin (pFd) and the precursor of the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (pS) to study interactions with the signal sequence recognition system at the chloroplast surface. Peptides representing the COOH-terminal 30 amino acids of the pFd and pS signal peptides were able to completely and reversibly inhibit the import of their homologous precursors into isolated chloroplasts at a 2.5 microM concentration. Import was blocked at the level of precursor binding to the chloroplast. This inhibition of precursor binding and import was not due to disruption of chloroplast integrity as incubation of isolated chloroplasts with the peptides did not cause measurable perturbation of the envelope membranes. The peptides also were able to block the import of the heterologous precursor protein, suggesting that pS and pFd share a common signal sequence recognition system. Visualization of the bound peptides at the chloroplast surface by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using antipeptide antibodies gave a marked punctate staining pattern. This pattern is consistent with the localization of chloroplast import receptor(s) at contact zones between the inner and outer envelope membranes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

cDNA cloning and sequencing of human fibrillarin, a conserved nucleolar protein recognized by autoimmune antisera.

We have isolated a 1.1-kilobase cDNA clone that encodes human fibrillarin by screening a hepatoma library in parallel with DNA probes derived from the fibrillarin genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NOP1) and Xenopus laevis. RNA blot analysis indicates that the corresponding mRNA is approximately 1300 nucleotides in length. Human fibrillarin expressed in vitro migrates on SDS gels as a 36-kDa protein that is specifically immunoprecipitated by antisera from humans with scleroderma autoimmune disease. Human fibrillarin contains an amino-terminal repetitive domain approximately 75-80 amino acids in length that is rich in glycine and arginine residues and is similar to amino-terminal domains in the yeast and Xenopus fibrillarins. The occurrence of a putative RNA-binding domain and an RNP consensus sequence within the protein is consistent with the association of fibrillarin with small nucleolar RNAs. Protein sequence alignments show that 67% of amino acids from human fibrillarin are identical to those in yeast fibrillarin and that 81% are identical to those in Xenopus fibrillarin. This identity suggests the evolutionary conservation of an important function early in the pathway for ribosome biosynthesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Yeast signal peptidase contains a glycoprotein and the Sec11 gene product.

Partially purified yeast microsomal signal peptidase appears to be a complex of four polypeptides of 13, 18, 20, and 25 kDa. The 18-kDa chain is the product of the Sec11 gene, which is necessary for signal peptidase activity. The 25-kDa subunit is a glycoprotein that binds Con A. Two related methods for purification of the enzyme are presented; the first includes removal of peripheral membrane proteins from microsomes by alkali extraction, solubilization of the enzyme by nonionic detergent and high salt, and four different chromatographic procedures. An alternative method was developed based on lectin-affinity chromatography.

Chromatography↗
PubMed1991

Network antibodies identify nuclear lamin B as a physiological attachment site for peripherin intermediate filaments.

We studied the molecular associations between peripherin (a neuronal, type III intermediate filament subunit) and nuclear lamins. We show here that isolated peripherin binds selectively to mammalian lamin B under in vitro conditions. We further demonstrate that a synthetic peptide, representing the proximal part of peripherin's tail domain (P1), also associates with mammalian lamin B in a saturable, cooperative, and specific fashion. Laboratory animals immunized with P1 spontaneously develop idiotypic and anti-idiotypic antibodies recognizing peripherin and lamin B, respectively. These data provide essentially in vivo evidence that lamin B represents a constitutive nuclear "receptor" site for the tail domains of peripherin intermediate filaments.

Amino Acid Sequence↗