![]()
|
|
||||||||
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 26, 24498-24505, July 1, 2005
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||








From the
Program in Biology and Biomedical Sciences and the ¶Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, the ||Department of Clinical Oncology, Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer and Tohoku University Hospital, Tohoku University, Sendai 9808575, Japan, and the **Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Received for publication, December 14, 2004 , and in revised form, May 4, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
BRCA1 and BARD1 are associated with the messenger RNA-synthesizing polymerase in a complex known as the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme (holo-pol)1 (57). One function for BRCA1 in this holo-pol complex appears to be as a coactivator of transcription, because it has been shown that BRCA1 stimulates the activation signal of p53, NF-
B, and others (813). Previously, we modeled that the BRCA1 and BARD1 in the holo-pol complex may ubiquitinate the transcribing RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) when it encounters DNA damage, and we also suggested that this ubiquitination event would stimulate the repair process (14, 15).
Rpb1 is the largest subunit of RNAPII, and its carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) is highly conserved, consisting of multiple repeats (27 in budding yeast, 52 in humans) of the heptapeptide YSPTSPS. Serines 2 (Ser-2) and 5 (Ser-5) of multiple repeats are phosphorylated co-transcriptionally, Ser5*p pre-dominating at the promoter and Ser2*p in the coding sequence (16, 17). In response to DNA damage Rpb1 is also ubiquitinated, an event associated with changes in concentration of both the hypophosphorylated and the hyperphosphorylated Rpb1 (18). In budding yeast, the Rsp5 E3 ligase ubiquitinates Rpb1 independent of its phosphorylation state (19, 20). In higher eukaryotes the ubiquitin ligase(s) that mediate this modification of RNAPII are unknown, and it is possible that multiple factors mediate the reaction. Because BRCA1 and BARD1 are associated with RNAPII in the holo-pol complex (6), BRCA1 is a reasonable candidate for the RNAPII ubiquitin ligase. In addition, after DNA damage BRCA1 and BARD1 also associate with the polyadenylation cleavage factor CstF (21), known to interact with RNAPII via Rpb1 hyperphosphorylated on Ser-2 (Ser2*p) of the YSPTSPS heptapeptide repeats (22, 23). These results led us to speculate that a substrate for BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination could be the Ser2*p form of Rpb1.
In these experiments we tested whether BRCA1 in association with BARD1 could ubiquitinate RNAPII. We found that hyperphosphorylated RNAPII serves as a substrate for the BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination activity, and we found that overexpression of BRCA1 in cells stimulates the DNA damage-induced ubiquitination of hyperphosphorylated RNAPII. Strikingly, the ubiquitination reaction, when tested both in vitro and in vivo, was enhanced not by Ser2*p of the heptapeptide repeat but rather by Ser5*p. These results thus identify a substrate for ubiquitination by BRCA1/BARD1 that is correlated with the cellular response to DNA damage.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The yeast Kin28, Ctk1, and Srb10 kinases were each expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as HA-tagged fusion proteins. Active kinases were purified by immunoprecipitation using the 12CA5 monoclonal antibody specific for the HA tag (27, 28).
Human TFIIH was purified from HEK-293 cells as described (29). In brief,
1012 cells were collected over a period of several months, and a whole cell extract was prepared for each. The whole cell extracts were bound to a Biorex70 matrix at 0.15 M KOAc in buffer A (20 mM Hepes, pH 7.9, 1 mM EDTA, 5% glycerol, 3 mM dithiothreitol), washed at 0.3 M KOAc, 0.6 M KOAc, and the peak was collected at 1.5 M KOAc. At each column step, TFIIH-containing fractions were identified by Western blotting using antibodies specific to the 89-kDa ERCC-3 subunit of TFIIH. The 1.5 M KOAc peak fraction was dialyzed to 0.1 M KCl in buffer A, bound to a DEAE fast flow matrix, and the protein peak at 0.3 M KCl was collected and dialyzed to 0.1 M KCl. The protein was bound to a 2-ml BioScale-Q column (Bio-Rad Laboratories), and protein was eluted in a gradient from 0.1 to 1.0 M KCl. TFIIH-containing fractions were subjected to gel filtration using a Superdex-200 (HR16/60; Amersham Biosciences) column in 0.3 M KCl in buffer A. The TFIIH migrated at a volume consistent with a 700-kDa complex, and samples were dialyzed in 0.1 M KCl in buffer A.
In Vitro Ubiquitination AssayPurified RNAPII (10 ng) or 300 ng of GST·CTD/reaction were phosphorylated using purified human TFIIH or 12CA5 resin-bound HA-Ctk1, HA-Srb10, or HA-Kin28 kinase complexes using the following reaction conditions: 10 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 0.5 mM EDTA, 5% glycerol, 60 mM KCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 5 mM NaF, 10 µCi of [
-32P]ATP. 32P-labeled RNAPII was then added to ubiquitination reactions that contained 100 ng of FLAG-BRCA1/BARD1 (25 nM) or truncations of BRCA1 co-purified with BARD1 (24), 100 ng of His6-E1 ubiquitin ligase (40 nM), 1.5 µg of His6-UbcH5c (4 µM), and 2 µg of ubiquitin (12 µM) in the following reaction conditions: 10 mM HEPES, pH 7.9, 5% glycerol, 60 mM KCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 5 mM NaF, 2 mM ATP. All reactions were incubated at 37 °C for 30 min. The reactions were stopped by addition of sample buffer and resolved by SDS-PAGE.
Plasmid ConstructionpcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292)-C61G was constructed as follows. The plasmid pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292) has been described previously (30). A fragment containing the mutation C61G was amplified from an adenovirus shuttle vector that expresses full-length HA-BRCA1-C61G (31). PCR from this template used the primers 5'-ACCCCAAGCTTACCATGGCC-3' that contains the HindIII site and 5'-TCTGTTATGTTGGCTCCTTG-3' that is located in 3'-side of the EcoRI site of BRCA1. The PCR product was subcloned into the HindIII and EcoRI sites of pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292).
pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292) was constructed as follows. A fragment was PCR amplified from the template pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1 using the mutagenic primer 5'-GCCCTTCACCAACAGGCCCACAGATC-3' and a downstream, vector-encoded primer 5'-TGACACTATAGAATAGGGCC-3'. The PCR product was used as a megaprimer with 5'-GGAAACAAAATGTTCTGCTAGCTTG-3' to amplify a fragment encoding BRCA1 amino acids 12931863 containing the M1775R substitution. The second PCR product was subcloned into the NheI and EcoRV sites of pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292), thus replacing the wild-type sequence.
pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292,
15271863) was constructed as follows. The fragment containing HA-BRCA1 sequences up to residue 1526 was generated by digestion of pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292) with HindIII and SacI and then inserted into the HindIII and EcoRV sites of the vector backbone for pcDNA3-HA-BRCA1(
7751292).
pCMV-Myc-ubiquitin was constructed as follows. Ubiquitin was amplified from cDNA of HeLa cells as a template using the primers 5'-GCCGAATTCGGATGCAGATCTTCGTGAAAAC-3' and 5'-CCGCTCGAGCTAACCACCTCTCAGACGCAGG-3' that contain 5'-EcoRI site and 3'-XhoI site. The PCR product was then subcloned into the pCMV-Myc vector (Clontech). All constructs were verified by DNA sequence.
In Vivo Ubiquitination AssayHEK-293T cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 µg/ml penicillin and streptomycin and transfected with expression vector to express HA-BRCA1, HA-BRCA1(
7751292), HA-BRCA1(
7751292)-C61G, HA-BRCA1(
7751292)-M1775R, and HA-BRCA1(
7751292,
15271863). Two days post-transfection, cells were exposed to 20 J/m2 of ultraviolet light and incubated with 50 µM MG132 (Sigma) in Me2SO or Me2SO alone for 2 h. Cell lysates were prepared in 1 ml of wash buffer (10 mM Hepes, pH 7.6, 250 mM NaCl, 0.1% Nonidet P-40, 5 mM EDTA, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride). For immunoprecipitation, 2.5 µl of anti-HA monoclonal antibody (HA.11; Covance), 3 µl of anti-Myc monoclonal antibody (9E10; Covance), or 7 µl of monoclonal antibody H14 and 20 µl of protein G-Sepharose beads (Amersham Biosciences) were added to each lysate. Mixtures were incubated at 4 °C overnight with rotation, the supernatant was removed, and protein beads were washed three times using 0.4 µl of wash buffer. For Western blot analysis, samples were subjected to electrophoresis in 5 or 5.5% SDS-polyacrylamide gels and immunoblotted using the monoclonal antibodies H14 or H5 (Covance), which recognize the Rpb1 CTD phosphorylated on Ser-5 or Ser-2, respectively, the anti-HA antibody HA.11, or the anti-Myc antibody 9E10.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
To test this hypothesis, we utilized purified RNAPII core enzyme that had been phosphorylated in vitro by TFIIH as a substrate in ubiquitination reactions. Purified RNAPII exists in two forms, the IIA form, in which the Rpb1 CTD has a low level of phosphorylation, and the IIO form, in which this domain is hyperphosphorylated and has significantly shifted migration on SDS-PAGE. Phosphorylation of this RNAPII preparation by TFIIH results in the labeling of both of these forms of Rpb1 (Fig. 1A, lanes 1 and 2). This labeled RNAPII was tested in ubiquitination reactions that contained purified E1, E2 UbcH5c, E3 BRCA1/BARD1, and ubiquitin. In the complete reaction, the RNAPIIO band disappeared and a slower migrating diffuse band was observed. Under these conditions, the hypophosphorylated RNAPIIA was not modified (Fig. 1A, lane 3). These results suggest that the hyperphosphorylated RNAPII is a substrate for the BRCA1/BARD1 ubiquitin ligase.
The appearance of the slowly migrating RNAPIIO band was dependent upon the inclusion of each ubiquitination factor. Single omission of the substrate, E1, E2, E3, or ubiquitin failed to produce the slowly migrating RNAPIIO band (Fig. 1B). The appearance of the slowly migrating RNAPIIO band was thus consistent with modification by ubiquitination because only when all ubiquitination factors were included in reactions did this species appear (lane 1).
We tested whether the full 12-subunit RNAPII complex was required for ubiquitination by BRCA1/BARD1 or whether the phosphorylated CTD would suffice. The experiment of Fig. 1B was repeated using only the Rpb1 CTD fused to GST. This substrate was phosphorylated by purified TFIIH and [
-32P]ATP. When labeled GST·CTD was incubated with the complete reaction containing E1, E2 UbcH5c, ubiquitin and BRCA1/BARD1, the GST·CTD protein had markedly slowed migration. In this portion of the gel (>85 kDa), the resolution was imperfect, and we interpret the diffuse band with slowed migration to be consistent with the multiple additions of 8-kDa ubiquitin moieties (Fig. 1C, lane 1). The CTD of this substrate protein had no lysines to be modified by ubiquitination. We suggest that the CTD recruits the BRCA1/BARD1 E3 ligase for the ubiquitination of a separate domain of the polypeptide. These results indicate that both the 12-subunit RNAPII complex and the GST·CTD were substrates for the BRCA1/BARD1 E3 ubiquitin ligase.
|
|
BRCA1 Truncated from the Carboxyl Terminus Ubiquitinated Phosphorylated RNAPII in VitroThe carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 (amino acids 16501863) associates with RNAPII via interactions with Rpb2, Rpb12, and phospho-Rpb1 subunits (7, 32). To determine whether the carboxyl terminus is required to mediate ubiquitination of RNAPII in vitro, we purified carboxyl-terminal truncations of BRCA1 in heterodimeric complex with full-length BARD1 (24). In addition to full-length FLAG-tagged BRCA1 (11863), FLAG-tagged BRCA1(11852), BRCA1(11527), BRCA1(11000), and BRCA1 (1500) were coexpressed with untagged BARD1 and purified. A
N-BRCA1 construct (3011863) lacking the amino-terminal RING domain was also purified, as was a full-length BRCA1 lacking BARD1. These constructs were balanced for BRCA1 content (Fig. 3A) and tested for activity in ubiquitination assays as before.
|
N construct, which had no detectable activity. Thus, BARD1 and the BRCA1 RING domain were each required for ubiquitination of RNAPII (Fig. 3B). The absence of activity seen with BRCA1 lacking BARD1 is consistent with previously published results. BARD1 is required for a high level of ubiquitination activity of BRCA1, and the isolated RING domains of each protein have been shown to have low levels of ubiquitination activity in vitro (3, 33, 34). However, the ubiquitination activity of BRCA1 is significantly potentiated by its interaction with BARD1 (3, 4), and structural studies of the amino terminus of BRCA1 and BARD1 reveal extensive interaction between these domains (35). The
N construct lacks a RING domain and was thus expected to lack ubiquitination activity. All of the active truncations of BRCA1 specifically ubiquitinated the hyperphosphorylated form of RNAPII, whereas the hypophosphorylated form was relatively unmodified (Fig. 3B). We had previously hypothesized that the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 mediates the specificity of its association with RNAPII because this domain of BRCA1 activates transcription (3638) and because it binds to two RNAPII subunits (32). Efficient ubiquitination of RNAPII, however, was observed even when the ubiquitin ligase was a BRCA1 truncation that lacked the carboxyl terminus, suggesting that the function of the BRCA1 carboxyl-terminal transcription activation domain is unrelated to its ubiquitination of phosphorylated RNAPII by BRCA1.
The RNAPII ubiquitination assay yields a qualitative result, indicating that hyperphosphorylated Rpb1 is a substrate for the ubiquitination activity of BRCA1/BARD1. We repeated the experiment using TFIIH-phosphorylated CTD (Ser5*p) as a substrate, and we found that there were no differences in the degree of ubiquitination obtained with the BRCA1 carboxyl-terminal truncations (Fig. 3C). Under these more sensitive conditions, weak ubiquitination was evident when BRCA1 lacking BARD1 was included in reactions (Fig. 3C, lane 3), whereas the
N construct had no ubiquitination activity (Fig. 3C, lane 8). Therefore, in vitro, the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 is not required for ubiquitination of hyperphosphorylated RNAPII or Ser5*p-phosphorylated CTD.
BRCA1 Ubiquitinated Phosphorylated RNAPII in VivoWe next asked whether BRCA1 could ubiquitinate hyperphosphorylated RNAPII in vivo. We transfected HEK-293T cells with plasmids encoding HA epitope-tagged BRCA1 and Myc epitopetagged ubiquitin. Transfected cell lysates were immunoprecipitated using antibody specific to the Myc epitope, thus purifying ubiquitinated proteins, and then immunoblots were probed using antibodies specific to RNAPII. The immunoblot was stained with the monoclonal antibody H14, which specifically binds to RNAPII phosphorylated on Ser-5 of the heptapeptide repeat in the CTD (18). The lysate (input) contained a phosphorylated RNAPII large subunit that migrated at a position consistent with 240 kDa (Fig. 4B, lane 1). Background levels of ubiquitinated phospho-RNAPII were detected in cells transfected with vector alone (lane 2). It is established that hyperphosphorylated RNAPII becomes ubiquitinated following ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of cells (18, 3941), and we detected the UV-dependent ubiquitination of RNAPII (Fig. 4B, lane 5). Most of the ubiquitinated species migrated on protein gels with a very small shift relative to the unmodified species (compare lanes 5 and 1), and this would be expected for a low number of ubiquitin moieties (about 8 kDa each) bound to a 240-kDa polypeptide. The resolution of these species was poor by SDS-PAGE, but we consistently observed stimulated recovery of the hyperphosphorylated Rpb1 band due to ubiquitination after UV irradiation. In addition, a diffuse band of ubiquitinated species was observed shifted at slower migration that we interpret to be multiply ubiquitinated RNAPIIO.
Transfection of full-length BRCA1 had minimal effect on RNAPII ubiquitination status (Fig. 4B, lanes 3 and 6). We had previously observed that overexpression of full-length BRCA1 dysregulated normal BRCA1 complex formation, presumably by altering the cell cycle (30). In those experiments, expression of a BRCA1 with an internal deletion, HA-BRCA1(
7751292), allowed us to overexpress BRCA1 and observe all of the protein complexes seen with the endogenous protein (30). This internal deletion, here called HA-BRCA1(
M), strongly stimulated the ubiquitination of Ser5*p-hyperphosphorylated RNAPII independent of DNA damage (Fig. 4B, lane 4, top panel).
UV irradiation of the cells stimulated ubiquitination of phospho-RNAPII (Fig. 4B, lanes 5 and 6), and in UV-irradiated HA-BRCA1(
M)-expressing cells a significant increase in the intensity of the slowly migrating band was observed (lane 7) that we interpret to be multiply ubiquitinated RNAPIIO. These results indicate that overexpression of BRCA1(
M) stimulated ubiquitination of Ser5*p-Rpb1 independent of, but qualitatively modified by, DNA damage. When we tested the H5 monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to Ser2*p RNAPII or the 8WG16 monoclonal antibody that specifically recognizes hypophosphorylated RNAPII on immunoblots, ubiquitinated RNAPII was not detected (data not shown). These results were consistent with the in vitro experiments (Fig. 2) in which Ser-5 phosphorylation of the RNAPII CTD specifically stimulated its ubiquitination by BRCA1/BARD1. These results were also consistent with the previously established ubiquitination of Ser-5-phosphorylated RNAPIIO after UV-induced DNA damage (18, 40).
|
|
Repeating the experiment, but using the H14 antibody to immunoprecipitate the RNAPIIO and the anti-Myc antibody on immunoblots to detect the ubiquitin, revealed that HA-BRCA1(
M) expression stimulated the appearance of ubiquitinated RNAPIIO (Fig. 4D, lane 2). As in panel B, expression of HA-BRCA1(
M) in UV-irradiated cells resulted in the recovery of higher levels of ubiquitinated RNAPIIO (Fig. 4D, lane 4). Compared with anti-Myc ubiquitin immunoprecipitation, use of the H14 antibody reproducibly yielded lower amounts of ubiquitinated RNAPIIO, even after UV irradiation. We interpret this lower level to be due to less effective immunoprecipitation reactions with the latter antibody.
We have previously shown that BRCA1 is a component of RNAPII holo-pol, and the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 is important for this association (5, 6). In the in vitro assays in this study (Fig. 3), the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 was not required for ubiquitination of the polymerase. However, in the complicated environment of a cell, the carboxyl-terminal-mutated BRCA1 might not associate with the polymerase and thus not ubiquitinate it. We examined whether the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 affected ubiquitination of phospho-RNAPII in tissue culture cells. We found that overexpression of BRCA1 lacking its carboxyl terminus resulted in only background levels of ubiquitinated RNAPIIO (Fig. 5B, compare lanes 14). We thus conclude that in cells the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 is important for the UV damage-induced ubiquitination of RNAPIIO.
We also tested whether a specific missense mutation associated with breast cancer affects the ubiquitination of RNAPIIO. The disease-associated missense mutation M1775R in the BRCT domain of the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 ablates the double strand break repair and transcription activation function of BRCA1 (43). BRCA1 proteins containing the M1775R mutation do not bind to histone deacetylases (44), BACH1 (45), and the transcriptional co-repressor CtIP (46, 47). As shown in Fig. 5B, expression of BRCA1 with M1775R did not stimulate the ubiquitination of phosphorylated RNAPII (Fig. 5B, lane 5, top panel). Although the mutation of BRCA1 at residue M1775R decreases the stability of the protein (48), the expression level of the HA-BRCA1(
M-M1775R) was equal to that of HA-BRCA1(
M) (Fig. 5B, middle panel). Furthermore, the M1775R mutation disrupted BRCA1 binding to RNAPIIO (Fig. 6). In transfected cells, immunopurification of HA-BRCA1(
M) also purified Ser5*p Rpb1 (Fig. 6, lane 2). Deletion of the carboxyl terminus of BRCA1 or the BRCA1 protein containing a missense mutation resulted in significantly decreased binding to RNAPIIO (Fig. 6, lanes 3 and 4). Thus, an intact carboxyl terminus was required for BRCA1 to bind to RNAPIIO. These data suggest that ubiquitination of phosphorylated RNAPII by BRCA1 in response to DNA damage requires an intact BRCT domain.
|
M) containing the C61G missense mutation did not stimulate the ubiquitination of phosphorylated RNAPII (Fig. 5C, top panel).
The experiment in Fig. 5C was repeated, but the immunoprecipitating antibody was the Ser5*p-specific H14, and ubiquitinated species were detected using the Myc-specific antibody on immunoblots. As before, we observed that HA-BRCA1(
M) expression stimulated the recovery of ubiquitinated RNAPIIO (Fig. 5D, lane 3). Further, expression of BRCA1 variants containing the missense mutation C61G (lane 4) or a carboxylterminal truncation (lane 5) failed to stimulate the ubiquitination of RNAPIIO. As in Fig. 4D, this immunoprecipitation reaction was weaker than when the Myc antibody was used, and we only detected the ubiquitinated species when HA-BRCA1(
M) was expressed. Taken together, the data in Figs. 4 and 5 indicate that BRCA1 stimulates the ubiquitination of Ser5*p RNAPII after UV irradiation.
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-tubulin (24, 5154). Among these, only the modification of
-tubulin by BRCA1/BARD1 has been shown to affect the biology of breast cells. It has been shown that failure to ubiquitinate
-tubulin results in centrosome amplification (24). The BRCA1/BARD1 proteins are known to regulate multiple processes in the cell, including transcription, DNA repair, and centrosome dynamics (5, 5559). Although the ubiquitination of
-tubulin may in part explain the BRCA1-dependent regulation of centrosome dynamics, it was unclear whether the BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination activity also regulates the transcription and DNA repair function of BRCA1. We had proposed that the BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination activity may function in DNA repair by modification of RNAPII that transcribes DNA near a lesion (14, 15). This proposed role for BRCA1 in transcription-coupled repair could be important following UV damage or double strand breaks. One prediction of this model was that BRCA1/BARD1 ubiquitination activity would be targeted to the elongating, hyperphosphorylated form of RNAPII. Actively transcribing RNAPII is phosphorylated on Ser-5 proximal to the promoter and on Ser-2 further down-stream (23). Thus, the principal form of RNAPII that elongates through a gene is the Ser2*p form, which we now show is not a substrate for BRCA1/BARD1. The model that BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination directly links transcription elongation to repair is thus not supported. Instead, we found that Ser-5 phosphorylation of RNAPII is a generalized response to UV irradiation, and BRCA1-dependent ubiquitination modifies the RNAPIIO. It has been observed that transcriptionally engaged RNAPII does become phosphorylated on Ser-5 by the action of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (60). The data are most consistent with a model whereby DNA damage causes phosphorylation of a subpopulation of RNAPII, followed by ubiquitination by BRCA1/BARD1 and subsequent degradation at the proteasome.
In these experiments we found that overexpression of BRCA1 in cells could stimulate the damage-induced ubiquitination of RNAPII. When we inhibited BRCA1 expression by transfection of short interfering RNA specific for BRCA1, we did not observe a decrease in ubiquitination of RNAPII.2 We interpret these results to indicate that one or more other ubiquitin ligases can execute this function. Several other factors have been implicated in the ubiquitination of RNAPII, including Cockayne syndrome proteins CSA and CSB (60, 61). Even though other factors can also ubiquitinate RNAPII, our results overexpressing BRCA1 clearly indicate that it participates in this process.
In summary, we found in this study that BRCA1/BARD1 ubiquitinate RNAPII hyperphosphorylated via Ser-5 of the heptapeptide repeat. Rpb1 was multiply ubiquitinated. In experiments using highly purified factors in vitro, only the amino terminus of BRCA1, containing the catalytic RING domain, was required for ubiquitination of phospho-RNAPII. The BARD1 protein was not essential, but it was highly stimulatory. In cells, overexpression of BRCA1 could stimulate the ubiquitination of hyperphosphorylated RNAPII. In contrast to the in vitro reactions using purified factors, in the cell the carboxyl-terminal domain was important for the DNA damage-stimulated ubiquitination of phosphorylated RNAPII by BRCA1. These results are consistent with our observations that both the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains of BRCA1 are required for BRCA1 association with the polymerase complex.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
Both authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()

To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: jparvin{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu. 
To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: nchiba{at}idac.tohoku.ac.jp.
1 The abbreviations used are: holo-pol, RNA polymerase II holoenzyme; BRCA1, breast cancer gene 1; BARD1, BRCA1-associated RING domain protein 1; CTD, Rpb1 carboxyl-terminal domain; GST, glutathione S-transferase; RNAPII, RNA polymerase II; Rpb1, RNA polymerase II subunit 1; Ser2*p, phosphorylated serine 2 of YSPTSPS; Ser5*p, phosphorylated serine 5 of YSPTSPS; HEK, human embryonic kidney; E1, ubiquitin-activating enzyme; E2, ubiquitin carrier protein; E3, ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase; HA, hemagglutinin. ![]()
2 L. M. Starita, unpublished observations. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
G. F. Heine, A. A. Horwitz, and J. D. Parvin Multiple Mechanisms Contribute to Inhibit Transcription in Response to DNA Damage J. Biol. Chem., April 11, 2008; 283(15): 9555 - 9561. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
|