Biomedical subjects

Jean de Gunzburg

Publications and source records attributed to Jean de Gunzburg.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Biochemical and structural characterization of the gem GTPase.

RGK proteins, encompassing Rad, Gem, Rem1, and Rem2, constitute an intriguing branch of the Ras superfamily; their expression is regulated at the transcription level, they exhibit atypical nucleotide binding motifs, and they carry both large N- and C-terminal extensions. Biochemical and structural studies are required to better understand how such proteins function. Here, we report the first structure for a RGK protein: the crystal structure of a truncated form of the human Gem protein (G domain plus the first part of the C-terminal extension) in complex with Mg.GDP at 2.1 A resolution. It reveals that the G-domain fold and Mg.GDP binding site of Gem are similar to those found for other Ras family GTPases. The first part of the C-terminal extension adopts an alpha-helical conformation that extends along the alpha5 helix and interacts with the tip of the interswitch. Biochemical studies show that the affinities of Gem for GDP and GTP are considerably lower (micromolar range) compared with H-Ras, independent of the presence or absence of N- and C-terminal extensions, whereas its GTPase activity is higher than that of H-Ras and regulated by both extensions. We show how the bulky DXWEX motif, characteristic of the switch II of RGK proteins, affects the conformation of switch I and the phosphate-binding site. Altogether, our data reveal that Gem is a bona fide GTPase that exhibits striking structural and biochemical features that should impact its regulation and cellular activities.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

PubMed2005

Novel Rap1 dominant-negative mutants interfere selectively with C3G and Epac.

Rap1 is a Ras-related GTPase that is principally involved in integrin- and E-cadherin-mediated adhesion. Rap1 is transiently activated in response to many incoming signals via a large family of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). The lack of potent Rap1 dominant-negative mutants has limited our ability to decipher Rap1-dependent pathways; we have therefore developed a procedure to generate such mutants consisting in the oligonucleotide-mediated mutagenesis of residues 14-19, selection of mutants presenting an enhanced interaction with Epac2 by yeast two-hybrid screening and counter-screening for mutants still interacting with Rap effectors. In detail analysis of their interaction capacity with various Rap-GEFs in the yeast two-hybrid system revealed that mutants of residues 15 and 16 interacted with Epacs, C3G and CalDAG-GEFI, whereas mutants of position 17 had selectively lost their ability to bind CalDAG-GEFI as well as, for some, C3G. In cellular models where Rap1 is activated via endogenous GEFs, the Rap1[S17A] mutant inhibits both the cAMP-Epac and EGF-C3G pathways, whereas Rap1[G15D] selectively interferes with the latter. Finally, Rap1[S17A] is able to act as a bona fide dominant-negative mutant in vivo since it phenocopies the eye-reducing and lethal effects of D-Rap1 deficiency in Drosophila, effects that are overcome by the overexpression of D-Epac or D-Rap1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Protein interaction mapping: a Drosophila case study.

The Drosophila (fruit fly) model system has been instrumental in our current understanding of human biology, development, and diseases. Here, we used a high-throughput yeast two-hybrid (Y2H)-based technology to screen 102 bait proteins from Drosophila melanogaster, most of them orthologous to human cancer-related and/or signaling proteins, against high-complexity fly cDNA libraries. More than 2300 protein-protein interactions (PPI) were identified, of which 710 are of high confidence. The computation of a reliability score for each protein-protein interaction and the systematic identification of the interacting domain combined with a prediction of structural/functional motifs allow the elaboration of known complexes and the identification of new ones. The full data set can be visualized using a graphical Web interface, the PIMRider (http://pim.hybrigenics.com), and is also accessible in the PSI standard Molecular Interaction data format. Our fly Protein Interaction Map (PIM) is surprisingly different from the one recently proposed by Giot et al. with little overlap between the two data sets. Analysis of the differences in data sets and methods suggests alternative strategies to enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the post-genomic generation of broad-scale protein interaction maps.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

A novel Rho GTPase-activating-protein interacts with Gem, a member of the Ras superfamily of GTPases.

Gem is a Ras-related protein whose expression is induced in several cell types upon activation by extracellular stimuli. With the aim of isolating the cellular partners of Gem that mediate its biological activity we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen and identified a novel protein of 970 amino acids, Gmip, that interacts with Gem through its N-terminal half, and presents a cysteine-rich domain followed by a Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) domain in its C-terminal half. The RhoGAP domain of Gmip stimulates in vitro the GTPase activity of RhoA, but is inactive towards other Rho family proteins such as Rac1 and Cdc42; it is also specific for RhoA in vivo. The same is true for the full-length protein, which is furthermore able to down-regulate RhoA-dependent stress fibres in Ref-52 rat fibroblasts. These findings suggest that the signalling pathways controlled by two proteins of the Ras superfamily, RhoA and Gem, are linked via the action of the RhoGAP protein Gmip (Gem-interacting protein).

Actins↗

PubMed2002

Xenopus H-RasV12 promotes entry into meiotic M phase and cdc2 activation independently of Mos and p42(MAPK).

In the Xenopus oocyte, progesterone triggers M phase Promoting Factor (MPF) activation in a protein synthesis dependent manner. Although the synthesis of the p42(MAPK) activator Mos appears to be required for MPF activation, p42(MAPK) activity has been shown to be dispensable. To clarify this paradox, we attempted to activate the p42(MAPK) pathway independently of Mos synthesis by cloning and using Xenopus H-Ras in the oocyte. We demonstrate that the injection of the constitutively active Xe H-RasV12 mutant induces p42(MAPK) and MPF activation through two independent pathways. Xe H-RasV12 induces only a partial activation of p42(MAPK) when protein synthesis and MPF activation are prevented. A full level of p42(MAPK) activation is reached when MPF is activated and Mos is present. In contrast, MPF activation induced by Xe H-RasV12 is achieved independently of Mos synthesis and p42(MAPK) activation but still depends on protein synthesis. Therefore, the amphibian oocyte represents a new model system to analyse an original H-Ras pathway ending to MPF activation and distinct from the p42(MAPK) pathway. The identification of the proteins synthesized in response to Xe H-RasV12 and required for MPF activation, represents an important clue in understanding the mechanism of progesterone action.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗

PubMed2002

Human immune associated nucleotide 1: a member of a new guanosine triphosphatase family expressed in resting T and B cells.

TAL-1 is a basic helix-loop-helix oncoprotein that is expressed in up to 30% of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias but not in the T lineage. We have cloned a complementary DNA, called Human Immune Associated Nucleotide 1 (hIAN1), whose messenger RNA (mRNA) level expression is inversely correlated to the TAL-1 mRNA level in human leukemic T-cell lines. The hIAN1 encodes a 38-kd protein that belongs to a novel family of proteins conserved from plants to humans and characterized by motifs related to, but highly divergent from, the consensus motifs found in guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins. Despite these divergent amino acids at positions involved in GTP/guanosine diphosphate (GDP) binding and guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) activities, we found that hIAN1 specifically binds GDP (K(d) = 0.47 microM) and GTP (K(d) = 6 microM) and exhibits intrinsic GTPase activity. Among mature hematopoietic cells, hIAN1 is specifically expressed in resting T and B lymphocytes, and its expression level tremendously decreased at the protein but not the mRNA level during B- or T-lymphocyte activation, suggesting a specific role for this new type of GTPase during the immune response.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

The delta subunit of retinal rod cGMP phosphodiesterase regulates the membrane association of Ras and Rap GTPases.

Post-translational modifications of GTPases from the Ras superfamily enable them to associate with membrane compartments where they exert their biological activities. However, no protein acting like Rho and Rab dissociation inhibitor (GDI) that regulate the membrane association of Rho and Rab GTPases has been described for Ras and closely related proteins. We report here that the delta subunit of retinal rod phosphodiesterase (PDEdelta) is able to interact with prenylated Ras and Rap proteins, and to solubilize them from membranes, independently of their nucleotide-bound (GDP or GTP) state. We show that PDEdelta exhibits striking structural similarities with RhoGDI, namely conservation of the Ig-like fold and presence of a series of hydrophobic residues which could act as in RhoGDI to sequester the prenyl group of its target proteins, thereby providing structural support for the biochemical activity of PDEdelta. We observe that the overexpression of PDEdelta interferes with Ras trafficking and propose that it may play a role in the process that delivers prenylated proteins from endomembranes, once they have undergone proteolysis and carboxymethylation, to the structures that ensure trafficking to their respective resident compartments.

3',5'-Cyclic-GMP Phosphodiesterases↗