![]()
|
|
||||||||
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 31, 32839-32847, July 30, 2004
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

¶

¶||
**
From the
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing 100083, the
National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, and the ¶Chinese National Human Genome Center, Beijing 100176, China
Received for publication, March 5, 2004 , and in revised form, May 6, 2004.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Pre-mRNA splicing is an essential step in the expression of most metazoan protein-coding genes, often regulated in a cell-type specific or developmental specific manner. Members of the highly conserved SR (arginine/serine) protein family of splicing regulators, including SRp20/X16/RBp1, SF2/ASF (SRp30a), SC35 (SRp30b), and B52/SRp55, possess modular structures featuring one or two RNA recognition motifs and a carboxyl-terminal arginine/serine-rich domain. In addition to the SR proteins, there are other non-SR proteins that are also critical players in pre-mRNA splicing. Interestingly, these proteins appear also to be required for cell cycle progression. For example, Prp4, by virtue of its kinase activity, is required for pre-mRNA splicing by promoting the formation of active spliceosomes through activating non-SR components (7). However, the phenotypic manifestations of loss of the kinase activity of Prp4 included impairments of G1-S and G2-M progression of the cell cycle (7). Loss of the function of another non-SR protein, Prp6, led not only to the accumulation of pre-mRNA, but also to a cell cycle arrest phenotype (8).
An essential step of pre-mRNA spliceosome assembly is the interaction between the snRNPs U4/U6 and U5 to form the U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP. The tri-snRNP protein, Prp6, plays a key role in this process, at least in yeast (9). Prp6, containing multiple tetratrico peptide repeats that are typically involved in multiple protein-protein interaction, is a 102-kDa protein that interacts within the tri-snRNP with both the U5 and U4/U6 snRNPs and bridges the two particles. The U5 small ribonucleoprotein particle contains various proteins with catalytic activities involved in conformational rearrangements of the spliceosome. Among these proteins, the human U5-15-kDa protein (also known as hDim1) is an evolutionarily conserved U5 snRNP-specific protein, and its ortholog in Saccharomyces cerevisiae named Dim1p was identified as a factor essential for cell cycle progression and pre-mRNA splicing in yeast (10). Dim1 proteins associate with multiple proteins known or strongly predicted to be associated with pre-mRNA processing, with interactions of hDim1 with hnRNPF, hnRNPH, and NP/PQ (11, 12).
Over the years, more protein components implicated in pre-mRNA splicing have been cloned and identified. Recently, Zhou et al. (13) identified
145 distinct spliceosomal proteins. Of these, 88 were known splicing factors/snRNP proteins/-spliceosomal proteins, including U5-102-kDa/Prp6 protein and U5-15-kDa/Dib1 protein. They also found 58 proteins that had not been previously identified as spliceosomal proteins.
In this report, we show that a novel Dim1-like protein, DLP, is involved in cell cycle progression. We demonstrate that DLP interacts with splicing factor Prp6 and affects pre-mRNA splicing when its activity was blocked. These results indicate that DLP is implicated in both general cellular functions as well as more specific molecular processes.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Plasmid ConstructionThe coding region of DLP was amplified in multiple tissue cDNA panels (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA) by RT-PCR with primers 5'-ATGAGC TTC CTA CTGCCC AAG-3' (forward) and 5'-GCTCTAGATGTGCCTTCTTCTTCATC-3' (reverse) and cloned into the pcDNA3.1 vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) to generate plasmid named pcDNA3.1-DLP. The sequence of human DLP is available in the GenBankTM data base under accession AY566808 [GenBank] . Plasmids pcDNA3.1-U5-102, pcDNA3.1-PQBP, pcDNA3.1-hnRNPF, and pcDNA3.1-APC4 were constructed by cloning the cDNAs of these genes using AdvantangeTM-cDNA PCR kit (Clontech) from the human cDNA panel followed by inserting these PCR products into pcDNA3.1 vector. The primers used for cloning the cDNAs were: Prp6, 5'-ATAAGAATGCGGCCGCTAAACTATACTTTGCTACGGAGTGCAT-3' (forward) and 5'-CCGGAATTCCGGCTGACACGAGACATAAAAACT-3' (reverse); PQBP, 5'-ATAAGAATGCGGCCGCTAAACTATGGGAGAGGAACAGGGCCCT-3' (forward) and 5'-CCGGAATTCCGGGGTGGGCAGGATCACCAGAA-3' (reverse); hnRNPF, 5'-ATAAGAATGCGGCCGCTAAACTATTCTGGCCATTTCTCTTGAAAC-3' (forward) and 5'-CCGGAATTCCGGTCAAGTTGAAAAACAAACAAATCT-3' (reverse); and APC4, 5'-ATAAGAATGCGGCCGCTAAACTATATGTTGCGTTTTCCGACCTG-3' (forward) and 5'-CCGGAATTCCGGTTAGGAGTCTAGCTCAGGGTC-3' (reverse). To generate pcDNA3.1-FLAG-prp6, the cDNA of Prp6 was amplified using primer 5'-ATAAGAATGCGGCCGCGCCACCATGGACTACAAGGACGACGATGACAAGGAATTCACTTTGCTACGGAGTGCAT-3' (forward) and 5'-CCGGAATTCCGGCTGACACGAGACATAAAAACT-3' (reverse). The PCR product was digested and cloned into pcDNA3.1 vector. To generate green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion construct, the entire coding region of DLP was amplified by PCR from pcDNA3.1-DLP using primer: 5'-GGAATTCATGAGCTTCCTACTGCCCAAG-3' (forward) and 5'-CGGGATCCAATGTCTTGATAGCGAAGGTCATATTTG-3' (reverse). The PCR products were subcloned into the pEGFP-N1 expression vector (Clontech). The resultant construct was named pEGFP-DLP. For GST fusion protein construction, the entire coding region of the DLP was amplified by PCR using primers 5'-GGAATTCCATGAGCTTCCTACTGCCCAAG-3' (forward) and 5'-AAGGAAAAAAGCGGCCGCAAAAGGAAAACTAAATGTCTTGATAGAGAAGGTCA-3' (reverse). The PCR product was digested and cloned into the pGEX-4T-3 vector (Amersham Biosciences). For the construction of GST-fused DLP deletion mutants, the following primers were used: deletion1 (1-128), 5'-GGAATTCCATGAGCTTCCTACTGCCCAAG-3' (forward) and 5'-AAGGAAAAAAGCGGCCGCAAAAGGAAAATTAAAGCTTCCCCCTCATTGC-3' (reverse); deletion2 (21-126), 5'-GGAATTCCATGAGCTTCCTACTGCCCAAG-3' (forward) and 5'-AAGGAAAAAAGCGGCCGCAAAAGGAAAAAAAGCTTCCCCCTCATTGC-3' (reverse); deletion3 (33-149), 5'-GGAATTCCATGGAAGATCCTGTCTGTCTGC-3' (forward) and 5'-AAGGAAAAAAGCGGCCGCAAAAGGAAAACTAAATGTCTTGATAGAGAAGGTCA-3' (reverse). To generate red fluorescent protein fusion construct, the full-length cDNA of Prp6 was amplified by PCR with primer 5'-GGAATTCCACTTTGCTACGGAGTGCAT-3' (forward) and 5'-GGGGTACCCTGACACGAGACATAAAAACT-3' (reverse) and inserted into the pDsRed-C1 expression vector (Clontech). The resultant construct was named pDsRed-Prp6. For yeast two-hybrid assay, a yeast expression vector for DLP fusion protein, named pGBKT7-DLP, was made as follow: the entire coding region of the DLP was amplified by PCR using primers 5'-GGAATTCATGAGCTTCCTACTGCCCAAG-3' (forward) and 5'-ACGCGTCGACGCTAAATGTCTTGATAGAGAAGG-3' (reverse) from pSUPER-DLP plasmid. The PCR product were digested with EcoRI and SalI and then ligated into the vector pGBKT7 (Clontech). Yeast expression vector for Prp6 fusion protein, named pGADT7-Prp6, was made as follow: the entire coding region of the Prp6 was amplified by PCR using primers 5'-GGAATTCACTTTGCTACGGAGTGCAT-3' (forward) and 5'-CATCGATCTGACACGAGACATAAAAACT-3' (reverse) from pcDNA3.1-Prp6 plasmid. The PCR product were digested with EcoRI and ClaI and then ligated into the vector pGADT7 (Clontech).
RT-PCR and Northern BlottingTotal cellular RNA was isolated using the TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen), and first strand cDNA was prepared using the ProtoScriptTM first strand cDNA synthesis kit with a dT23 VN Primer (New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA). cDNA synthesis was checked by PCR with human glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase primers as a positive control. Human adult multiple tissue Northern blots (Clontech) were used to detect human DLP mRNA expression profile. A 447-bp fragment spanning 287-736 bp of human DLP cDNA was prepared as a probe and labeled by random priming with [
-32P]dCTP (Amersham Biosciences). Hybridization was performed in ExpressHyb hybridization solution (Clontech) according to the manufacturer's instruction. After stringent washing the filters were exposed for autoradiography at -80 °C.
GST Pull-down Assays and Generation of Polyclonal Antibodies against DLPGST fusion constructs were expressed in BL21 Escherichia coli cells, and crude bacterial lysates were prepared by sonication in TEDGN (50 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.4, 1.5 mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 10% (v/v) glycerol, 0.4 M NaCl) in the presence of the Complete® protease inhibitor mixture (Roche Applied Science). The in vitro transcription and translation experiments were done with rabbit reticulocyte lysate (TNT systems, Promega, Madison, WL) and L-[35S]methionine (Amersham Biosciences) according to the manufacturer's recommendations. In GST pull-down assays, about 10 µg of the appropriate GST fusion proteins was mixed with 5-8 µl of the in vitro transcribed/translated products and incubated in binding buffer (75 mM NaCl, 50 mM HEPES, pH 7.9) at room temperature for 30 min in the presence of the Complete® protease inhibitor mixture (Roche Applied Science). The binding reaction was then added to 30 µl of glutathione-Sepharose beads and mixed at 4 °C for 2 h. The beads were washed three times with binding buffer, resuspended in 30 µl of 2x SDS-PAGE loading buffer, and resolved on 10-12% of gels. The gels were then fixed in 50% methanol, 10% acetic acid for 30 min and dried. Protein bands were detected by autoradiography at -80 °C for 4-16 h. Antibodies to recombinant human DLP (anti-DLP) was raised in rabbits against purified GST-DLP fusion protein.
Co-immunoprecipitation AssayMCF-7 cells were grown in dishes of 100-mm diameter seeded with 106 cells and transfected with expression plasmid pCDNA3.1-FLAG-Prp6. Forty hours after transfections, cells were washed twice with ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing protease inhibitor mixture (Roche Applied Science), collected using a rubber policeman, and then resuspended in ice-cold PBS. Cells were pelleted at 2,000 x g and incubated for 10 min in lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 100 mM NaCl, 10% (v/v) glycerol, 0.1% (v/v) Nonidet P-40, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM EDTA, protease inhibitor mixture). Cells were then sonicated twice for 10 s at one-third of full power at 4 °C using a Sanyo Gallenkamp sonicator. The lysate was pre-cleared using protein-A-Sepharose at 4 °C for 2 h. Following centrifugation at 14,000 x g for 10 min, the supernatant was used for immunoprecipitation with pre-immune serum or anti-FLAG antibody (Invitrogen) for 16 h at 4 °C; immune complexes were then captured using protein A-Sepharose. Following centrifugation at 6,000 x g for 10 min, the protein-A-Sepharose was washed four times in NETN buffer (20 mM Tris (pH 8.0), 1 mM EDTA, 900 mM NaCl, 0.5% (v/v) Nonidet P-40, and protease inhibitor mixture). Complexes were released from the protein-A-Sepharose by boiling for 5 min in 2x SDS loading buffer. The immunoprecipitated material was separated on 12% SDS-PAGE and blotted onto nitrocellulose; the membrane was probed using anti-DLP antibody.
Yeast Two-hybrid ScreeningThe Matchmaker GAL4 Two-hybrid System 3 (Clontech protocol PT3247-1) was used to screen for proteins interacted with DLP from a human mammary gland library (Clontech). pGBKT7-DLP was transformed into yeast strain AH109 as a bait. Approximately 5 x 106 transformants were screened. Plasmids were recovered from yeast and retransformed into native AH109 yeast with the bait construct or nonspecific control bait. The transformants were assayed for MEL1 activation by selecting on high stringency plates: SD/-Ade/-His/-Leu/-Trp/X-
-galactosidase. Yeast colonies were assayed for
-galactosidase activity using a colony-lift filter as follows: colonies were transferred to 3 MM filter paper, permeabilized by brief immersion in liquid nitrogen, and incubated on a filter paper saturated with Z-buffer containing 1 mg/ml X-gal at 30 °C for 0.5-8 h. Positive clones were then subjected to sequencing.
Yeast Two-hybrid Interaction AssayThe Matchmaker GAL4 Two-hybrid system 3 (Clontech protocol PT3247-1) was used to confirm the interactions between with DLP and Prp6. pGBKT7-DLP and pGADT7-Prp6 were co-transformants into strain Y187 or AH109. We then assayed the transformants for MEL1 activation by selecting for transformants on high stringency plates: SD/-Ade/-His/-Leu/-Trp/X-
-galactosidase. Positive and negative controls in parallel were performed. Yeast colonies were assayed for
-galactosidase activity using colony-lift filter as following: colonies were transferred to 3 MM filter paper, permeabilized by brief immersion in liquid nitrogen, and incubated on a filter paper saturated with Z-buffer containing 1 mg/ml X-gal at 30 °C for 0.5-8 h.
RNA Interference and Western BlottingVector-based RNAi was utilized. Plasmids were constructed by inserting a synthesized 64-mer oligonucleotide containing a specific sequence for a 197- to 215-bp region of DLP open reading frame into pSUPER vector (15). The sequences synthesized were: oligonucleotide 1, 5'-GATCCCCCTGCAGTTTATACACAGTATTCAAGAGATACTGTGTATAAACTGCAGTTTTTGGAAA-3' and oligonucleotide 2, 5'-AGCTTTTCCAAAAACTGCAGTTTATACACAGTATCTCTTGAATACTGTGTATAAATGCAGGGG-3'. The oligonucleotides were resuspended in annealing buffer (100 mM potassium acetate, 30 mM HEPES-KOH, pH 7.4, 2 mM acetate) and heated to 95 °C for 4 min, 70 °C for 10 min, and then cooled to room temperature to generate double-stranded DNA. The double-stranded DNA was then phosphorylated and cloned into the BglII/Hind III site of the pSUPER vector. The vector was then transfected into cells with the LipofectAMINE 2000 Reagent (Invitrogen). Total proteins were extracted after 48 h of transfection. Transfection efficiency was monitored by co-transfection with an E. coli lacZ construct (pcDNA4/His/Max/lacZ; Invitrogen). For Western blotting, 48 h after the transfection, cell culture media were collected and cellular total protein was extracted. Extracts were fractionated on 12% SDS-PAGE gels, transferred to Immobilon P polyvinylidene difluoride membrane (Millipore), and probed with anti-c-Myc monoclonal antibodies (Invitrogen) or anti-GSTDLP polyclonal antibody.
Fluorescence Confocal MicroscopyMCF-7 cells were plated into six-well chamber slides and transfected with pEGFP or pEGFP-DLP by LipofectAMINE 2000 reagent (Invitrogen). Twenty-four hours after the transfection, cells were washed with PBS, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, and permeabilized with 1% Triton X-100. Cells were washed for four times and a final concentration of 0.1 µg/ml 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride (Sigma) was included in the final washing to stain nuclei. Images were visualized with an Olympus 1X70 inverted microscope equipped with a charge-coupled camera. The resulting images were deconvolved with Deltavision software. For co-localization analysis, pDsRed-Prp6 and pEGFP-DLP were co-transfected into MCF-7 cells. Twenty-four hours after transfection, cells were washed in PBS, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and visualized under Nilcon confocal microscope (Nikon, Bio-Rad).
Cell Cycle AnalysisTo prepare cells for fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis, 105
106 MCF-7 cells were fixed in 70% ethanol for overnight at 4 °C. After washing with PBS, cells were incubated with 10 µl (10 mg/ml) of RNase A (Sigma) in PBS/0.25% Triton X-100 for 30 min at room temperature and then stained with 50 µg/ml propidium iodide in 50 mM sodium citrate for 20 min at room temperature in the dark. Cell cycle data were collected with a FACScan (BD Biosciences immunocytochemistry system) and analyzed with CELLUEST software.
Cell Proliferation AnalysisCell proliferation of transiently transfected 293T, HeLa, C2C12, and MCF-7 cells was measured by MTT dye reduction assay (16). Briefly, cells were seeded into 96-well plates, and on the day of harvest, 100 µl of medium was replaced with an equal volume of fresh medium containing 10% MTT 5 mg/ml stock. Plates were incubated at 37 °C for 4 h before addition of 100 µl of dimethyl sulfoxide to each well, and the plates were shaken at room temperature for 10 min. Cellular viability was determined by measuring the absorbance of converted dye at a wavelength of 570 nm.
In Vitro Pre-mRNA Splicing AssaysThe plasmids used to transcribe the adenoviral major late-M3 pre-mRNA (pAdml-M3) were kindly provided by Dr. Robin Reed (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA). They were linearized and transcribed in vitro in the presence of 20 units of T7 RNA polymerase (Promega), 1 µg of the linearized plasmids, and 5 µM [
-32p]dCTP (Amersham Biosciences) in a 1 mM monomethyl cap (New England Biolabs) in 25 µl of reaction buffer. The radiolabeled RNAs were resolved on 6% denaturing polyacrylamide gels. The gels were briefly exposed to films, and the band corresponding to the full-length RNA was excised. RNAs were eluted from the gel slice in elution buffer (0.75 M ammonium acetate, 10 mM magnesium acetate, 0.1% (w/v) SDS, 0.1 mM EDTA) overnight at 37 °C. The eluted RNAs were separated from the gel pieces by a Millipore Ultrafree-MC filter unit (0.45 µm), ethanol-precipitated, dissolved in nuclease-free water, and stored at -80 °C. Splicing reaction mixture, in a total volume of 25 µl, contained NE (6
8 µl), [32P]pAdml-M3, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 1.5 mM ATP, 20 mM creatine phosphate, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, and 20 µl of RNasin (Promega). Splicing reactions were incubated at 30 °C for 1 h. The assay was stopped by addition of proteinase K and SDS to final concentrations of 4 µg/ml and 0.1%, respectively. The samples were incubated at 37 °C for 20 min and diluted to 100 µl with 125 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 1 mM EDTA, 0.3 M sodium acetate. RNAs were extracted with 200 µl of phenol/chloroform (50:50, v/v) followed by 200 µl of chloroform and precipitated with 300 µl of ethanol at -80 °C. The extracted RNAs were subjected to electrophoresis on 15% polyacrylamide/7 M urea gels. The radioactive RNA bands were revealed by autoradiography.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
107), five casein kinase II phosphorylation sites (residues 10-13, 20-23, 48-51, 108-111, and 132-135), and two N-myristoylation sites (residues 104-109 and 122-127) (Fig. 1B). Structural analysis revealed that DLP contains only one putative functional domain, i.e. a Dim1 domain, from 4 to 126 amino acids. Amino acid sequence alignment indicated that DLP shares 97% identity with its mouse homolog, NP_079575
[GenBank]
. The similarity of the amino acid sequence of DLP with a homolog in other organisms was 55% in Arabidopsis thaliana, 40% in Oryza, 38% in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Drosophila melanogaster, and 35% in S. cerevisiae (Fig. 1C). Phylogenetic analysis also indicated that DLP is a well conserved protein, and there is an evolutionary relationship between DLP and Dim1 protein (Fig. 1D).
|
2.5 kb in eight normal tissues assayed (Fig. 2A). Highest expression was seen in skeletal muscle, liver, heart, and pancreas, whereas the expression of DLP was modest in kidney, brain, and placenta, and low in lung tissue (Fig. 2A). RT-PCR experiments indicated that DLP was also expressed in cancer cell lines such as MCF-7, HepG2, and Ishikawa (Fig. 2B). To confirm the predicted molecular weight of the DLP protein, a c-Myc-tagged DLP expression construct was transfected into 293T cells. Forty-eight hours after the transfection, cells were lysed and total proteins were subjected to Western blotting analysis with a monoclonal antibody against c-Myc. As shown in Fig. 2C, Western blotting indicated that the DLP was expressed as a protein of
17 kDa in DLP-transfected 293T cells, confirming its predicted molecular weight.
|
|
|
Physical Interaction of DLP with Proteins Implicated in Pre-mRNA SplicingAs mentioned early, Dim1 protein is mainly implicated in pre-mRNA splicing. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that DLP is also functionally involved in this process. To test the hypothesis that DLP is also implicated in pre-mRNA splicing, we first investigated the potential interaction of DLP with pre-mRNA splicing-related factor U5-102 kDa, PQBP, hnRNPF, or APC4 by GST pull-down experiments. In these experiments, DLP was fused to GST, and U5-102 kDa, PQBP, hnRNPF, and APC4 were in vitro transcribed/translated in the presence of [35S]methionine from pcDNA3.1-Prp6, pcDNA3.1-PQBP, pcDNA3.1-hnRNPF, and pcDNA3.1-APC4 constructs, respectively. GST pull-downs were performed, and the results indicated that DLP indeed interacted with Prp6 (U5-102 kDa) but not PQBP, hnRNPF, or APC4 (Fig. 5A). In addition, GST pull-down experiments with Prp6 and a series deletion of DLP mapped the interaction domain in DLP was within 1-33 amino acids (Fig. 5B).
|
The interaction between DLP and Prp6 was further solidified by yeast two-hybrid assays. In an attempt for screening for DLP-interacting proteins, a plasmid expressing a GAL-DLP fusion protein was used to screen a human breast library in yeast strain AH109. Seven positive clones were obtained from screening 1 x 106 clones. Sequencing analysis indicated that these clones included Prp6 along with Homo sapiens nuclear receptor coactivator 7,
-2-glycoprotein 1, calmodulin 1, and several other proteins with unknown function. Meanwhile we confirmed the interaction between DLP and Prp6 using the yeast two-hybrid system (Fig. 6A).
|
Functional Analysis of DLP in Pre-mRNA SplicingTo establish the role of DLP in pre-mRNA splicing, in vitro splicing experiments were performed. In these experiments, 32P-labeled Adml-M3 pre-mRNA was synthesized and incubated with HeLa cell nuclear extracts in standard splicing condition (4). Also included in these experiments was addition of anti-DLP polyclonal sera as a convenient means of ablating DLP function in HeLa cell nuclear extracts. As shown in Fig. 7, whereas addition of nonspecific sera did not affect the Adml-M3 pre-mRNA splicing, addition of anti-DLP sera severely inhibited the splicing activity of HeLa cell nuclear extract, and addition of GST-DLP again could restore the splicing activity, suggesting that DLP is required for ADML-M3 pre-mRNA splicing.
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
In addition to the general cellular role, Dim1/hDim1 (U5-15KD)/Dib1p/DML-1 protein has also been implicated in more specific molecular processes. For example, Dib1p was identified as a component of the U4/U6.U5 tri-snRNP required for pre-mRNA splicing (11, 12); genetic studies have shown that Dim1 is essential for pre-mRNA splicing in yeast (17); and hDim1 was identified as an essential component of the nuclear pre-mRNA splicing machinery (19). We showed that DLP was capable of interacting with Prp6, the U5-102-kDa protein, by yeast two-hybrid interaction assays, an in vitro binding assay, in vivo co-IP and co-localization. This result was consistent with a previous observation that Dib1, the homolog of hDim1, interacted with Prp6 in yeast (31). Moreover, our experiments indicated that DLP interacted with Prp6 with its amino-terminal, which encompasses the amino short stretch of the non-Dim1 domain as well as the amino-terminal of the Dim1 domain. In vitro pre-mRNA splicing assay indicated that DLP indeed was able to affect the pre-mRNA splicing as addition DLP antibodies to cell nuclear extracts led to an insufficient pre-mRNA splicing and splicing activity was recovered with the addition of GST-DLP.
In our effort to screen for DLP-interacting proteins, positive clones were identified to include, along with Prp6, H. sapiens nuclear receptor coactivator 7 (32),
-2-glycoprotein 1, calmodulin 1, and several other proteins with unknown function. Our experiments could provide clues for delineating the biological activities of these proteins.
In summary, we described in this report the cloning and functional analysis of a novel Dim1 family member, DLP. Our experiments indicated that DLP is required for S-G2/M transition and is implicated in pre-mRNA splicing. It remains unclear whether the cell cycle effects caused by a splicing factor are indirect, due to inefficient pre-mRNA splicing of factors directly involved in cell cycle regulation, or direct, due to a bifunctionality of the protein. However, our results will be helpful in further understanding the pre-mRNA splicing machinery, cell cycle progression, and the link between pre-mRNA processing and cellular functions. Further experiments are required to elucidate the roles of the novel molecule, DLP, in pre-mRNA splicing and cell cycle regulation, and the related mechanisms.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
** To whom correspondence may be addressed. Tel.: 86-10-8280-5118; Fax: 86-10-8280-1355; E-mail: jason{at}bjmu.edu.cn. ![]()
|| To whom correspondence may be addressed. Tel.: 86-10-6529-6486; Fax: 86-10-6526-3392; E-mail: sheny{at}ms.imicams.ac.cn.
1 The abbreviations used are: snRNP, small nuclear ribonucleoprotein; hnRNP, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein; DLP, Dim1-like protein; RT, reverse transcriptase; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; GST, glutathione S-transferase; X-gal, 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-
-D-galactopyranoside; GFP, green fluorescence protein; EGFP, enhanced GFP; RNAi, RNA interference; FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting; MTT, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide. ![]()
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
M. Shimada, C. Namikawa-Yamada, M. Nakanishi, and H. Murakami Regulation of Cdc2p and Cdc13p Is Required for Cell Cycle Arrest Induced by Defective RNA Splicing in Fission Yeast J. Biol. Chem., September 23, 2005; 280(38): 32640 - 32648. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||