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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 18, 12260-12269, May 5, 2006
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1
From the
Veterinary Molecular Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717 and the
Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164
Received for publication, October 4, 2005 , and in revised form, March 2, 2006.
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Recruitment of TBP to the core promoter is regulated by both positive and negative factors (3). Some activators of transcription bind TBP or the TBP-associated factor components of the TFIID complex and direct TFIID to the promoter (6, 7). TBP function can also be up- or down-regulated through interactions with BTAF1/MOT1 and the NC2
/
subunits of the NC2 complex (8, 9). Recently, ZNF76, the human ortholog of mouse zinc finger protein 523 (ZFP523) and of frog Staf (10), was shown to function via direct interaction with TBP (11). The interaction of ZNF76 with TBP is blocked by PIAS1-dependent sumoylation of ZNF76 (11).
PIAS proteins are found in all eukaryotes. The human and mouse family of PIAS proteins consists of PIAS1, PIAS3, PIASx, and PIASy proteins (12). The piasx gene encodes two splice variants, PIASx
/ARIP3 (androgen receptor-interacting protein-3) (13, 14) and PIASx
/Miz1 (Msx-interacting zinc finger-1) (15), the difference being in their C termini. pias3 and piasy also each encode two isoforms, PIAS3/PIAS3
and PIASy/PIASyE6, as a result of alternative splicing. The PIAS3
isoform contains an insertion of 39 amino acids in its N-terminal region and PIASyE6 lacks exon 6 (16). In total, seven different PIAS proteins are expressed in mammals, each of which likely differs in which cell types and conditions favor its expression.
PIAS proteins regulate the activities of transcription factors including the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of proteins (12, 1720). PIAS proteins have SUMO E3-ligase activity and interaction of PIAS proteins with transcription factors often results in sumoylation of that protein. Ligation of SUMO-1 to most transcription factors represses activity, although the mechanisms that underlie regulation differ (21, 22). In addition to sumoylation, PIAS proteins can regulate gene expression by blocking the interaction of a transcription factor with its target DNA, by recruiting co-repressors and co-activators of transcription, and by targeting proteins to nuclear bodies (23).
The conserved N-terminal region of PIAS proteins contains several well characterized domains (16). The SAF-A/B, acinus, PIAS (SAP) domain binds A/T-rich DNA and may be involved in targeting PIAS proteins to the nuclear scaffold (24). The SAP domain encompasses an LXXLL motif that is required for transcriptional repression (19). The RING finger-like zinc-binding domain mediates the SUMO-E3-ligase activity of PIAS proteins (18) and binds directly to Ubc9, the SUMO E2 enzyme (25). Most PIAS proteins also contain a PINIT motif, which plays a role in nuclear retention (26).
The C termini of PIAS proteins are more diverse; however, all contain an acidic domain preceded by several serines (Ser/Ac). Within the acidic domain, a SUMO-1 interaction motif (SIM) exists, although deletion of SIM does not abolish PIAS-mediated sumoylation of interacting proteins (18, 27). Also, a serine- and threonine-rich region (S/T) is present in the C termini of all PIAS proteins except PIAS
. The function of this region is unknown (16).
Here, we show that mouse TBP interacts with ZFP523, the mouse ortholog of human ZNF76. In addition, we report the novel interaction of TBP with PIAS1, PIAS3, PIASx, and PIASy proteins. The TBP/PIAS interaction is shown to occur between in vitro translated proteins, suggesting the interaction is direct, and it is detected between endogenous proteins in nuclear extracts, suggesting it occurs in vivo. Our results suggest that PIAS proteins might modulate transcriptional signaling at the TBP interface.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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NotI. A linker containing internal SalI and NotI sites and 5' BamHI and 3' XhoI overhangs was ligated into BamHI/XhoI-cut pGADT7
NotI. The modified prey plasmid was named pGADT7SN.
Oligo-(dT)-primed cDNA prey libraries were constructed and inserted into the pGADT7SN vector as follows. Total RNA was extracted and CsCl-purified (30) from embryonic day 10.5 (E10.5) wild-type C57Bl/6J whole pregnant uteri or placentas.3 In each case, either whole pregnant uteri or placentas were obtained from four pregnant dams to generate a pool of RNA. Poly(A+) mRNA from these samples was purified using Oligo-(dT)25 Dynabeads (Dynal Biotech ASA, Oslo, Norway) following the manufacturer's protocols. Each cDNA library was constructed using 2.5 µg of poly(A+) mRNA and the Superscript plasmid system for cDNA synthesis and cloning (Invitrogen), which yields cDNAs containing 5' SalI and 3' NotI overhangs. cDNAs were ligated into SalI/NotI-digested pGADT7SN. The whole pregnant uteri library contained
3.0 x 106 independent recombinants with 82% bearing inserts; the placental library contained
2.6 x 106 independent recombinants with 95% bearing inserts. The average insert size in both libraries exceeded 1 kb (Fig. 1B). Both libraries and all plasmids are freely available on request.
Yeast Two-hybrid SystemAll interactions were tested in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain AH109 (BD Bioscience), which contains the Ade2, His3, and LacZ reporters, each under the control of a different promoter. For library transformations, a culture of AH109 containing the TBP bait construct was grown at 30 °C for 48 h in liquid synthetic complete medium (SC) lacking tryptophan (SC-W) (Q-BIOgene, Irvine, CA). This culture was used to seed 300 ml of 2x yeast extract/peptone/adenine/dextrose at 5 x 106 yeast/ml, which was determined by counting on a hemacytometer. The culture was grown at 30 °C for
5 h to a density of 2 x 107 yeast/ml. Yeast were collected by centrifugation, washed once with water, and once with 100 mM LiAc and transformed with 14.4 ml of 50% PEG (average Mr 3350), 2.16 ml of 1.0 M LiAc, 0.3 ml of 10 mg/ml sheared denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 120 µg of the cDNA library in pGADT7SN. Single- or two-component transformations of bait and/or prey plasmids into yeast used a standard PEG/LiAc protocol (31).
Two-hybrid screens were performed on SC medium lacking leucine, tryptophan, and histidine (SC-L-W-H). Both two-hybrid screens used TBP-FL as bait to screen either the whole pregnant uteri (screen 1) or placental (screen 2) cDNA prey libraries. Primary transformants were transferred onto a new SC-L-W-H plate and clones that grew well on these plates were transferred to a SC-L-W plate, grown for 48 h at 30 °C, and replica plated to higher stringency selection medium, such as SC-L-W-H + 2.5 mM 3-aminotriazole, a competitive inhibitor of the His3 gene product (32) or SC-L-W-H also lacking adenine (SC-L-W-H-A). Yeast were also replica-plated to SC-L-W plates containing X-
-gal (Glycosynth, Cheshire, United Kingdom) to identify clones that activated the LacZ reporter gene. Prey plasmids from those clones that grew under higher stringency selection and showed strong LacZ expression were isolated from yeast by glass bead lysis (33). Recovered plasmids were transformed into bacteria, clones were selected, and inserts were sequenced to determine the cDNA identity. Isolated prey plasmids were re-transformed into AH109 with the bait and grown on SC-L-W-H, SC-L-W-H + 2.5 mM 3-AT, and SC-L-W-H-A plates to verify the interaction.
To identify the domain of TBP that interacted with prey proteins, TBP bait constructs in combination with the empty pGADT7 prey plasmid (autoactivation test) or with a prey plasmid containing novel or known TBP interactors were co-transformed into AH109 and plated onto SC-L-W. Individual colonies that grew on SC-L-W plates (containing both the bait and prey plasmid) were grown overnight in yeast extract/peptone/adenine/dextrose at 30 °C, pelleted, and washed three times in sterile water. Yeast pellets were resuspended in 0.5 ml of water and their concentration determined by counting on a hemacytometer. Standard amounts of yeast were plated on SC-L-W-H to verify that bait plasmids were not autoactive or to test interactions of TBP subdomain baits with each prey. Prey plasmids were also tested for autoactivation by co-transforming yeast with prey plasmids and empty bait plasmid.
Clone Isolation and Interaction TestsPCR primers were designed to allow in-frame insertion of cDNAs into either pGBKT7+1 bait plasmid (for TBP deletions) or pGADT7SN prey plasmid (for full-length PIASx
, PIASy, and truncated PIAS1 mutants). Reverse transcriptase-PCR amplification-based cloning of PIASx
and PIASy used oligo-(dT)-primed first-strand cDNA from either adult C57Bl/6J testis or E10.5 C57Bl/6J placentas, respectively, for PIASy and PIASx and the following primer sets: PIASx
, PIASx
-forward primer, and PIASx
-reverse primer; PIASy, PIASy-forward primer and PIASy-reverse primer (Table 1).
The longest clone of PIAS1 isolated from the two-hybrid screen began at amino acid 6 of the open reading frame. To generate a clone encoding the full-length PIAS1 protein (PIAS11651), primers PIAS1-N1-forward and pGADT7-reverse were used (Table 1) with the pGADT7SN-PIAS16651 plasmid clone from the library as template. Construction of truncated TBP-C and PIAS1 cDNAs used plasmid DNA containing either a TBP-FL or pGADT7SN-PIAS16651, respectively, as the template for PCR amplification. PCR primer sets for amplification of each truncated cDNA were: TBP-C135263, TBP-C-start primer and TBP-C263-reverse primer; TBP-C135210, TBP-C-start primer and TBP-C210-reverse primer; TBP-C201316, TBP-C201-forward primer and TBP-C-end primer; TBP-C251316, TBP-C251-forward primer and TBP-C-end primer; TBP-C160263, TBP-C160-forward primer and TBP-C263-reverse primer; PIAS16452, T7 primer and PIAS1-C452 reverse primer; PIAS16491, T7 primer and PIAS1-C491-reverse primer; PIAS16562, T7 and PIAS1-C562-reverse primer; PIAS16605, T7 and PIAS1-C605-reverse primer; PIAS1598651, PIAS1-N598-forward primer and pGADT7-reverse primer; PIAS1555651, PIAS1-N555-forward primer and pGADT7-reverse primer; PIAS1484651, PIAS1-N484-forward primer and pGADT7-reverse primer (Table 1). PCR products were digested with SalI/NotI and were inserted into the bait or prey vectors. Four clones of each truncated protein were isolated and separately co-transformed with either TBP-FL (for PIASx
, PIASy, and PIAS1 mutants) or PIAS16651 (for TBP-C mutants) into yeast as above. Yeast were plated onto SC-L-W agar plates and grown at 30 °C. Resultant colonies were suspended in water and streaked onto SC-L-W-H and SC-L-W-H-A to test each protein interaction pair.
Antibodies, Animals, and Nuclear Extract PreparationMouse anti-c-Myc monoclonal antibody was purchased from Amersham Biosciences; mouse anti-FLAG M2 monoclonal antibody was purchased from Sigma; goat anti-PIAS 1 (C-20) and goat anti-PIAS 1/3 (N-18) were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA); horseradish peroxidase-conjugated donkey anti-rabbit antibodies were purchased from Pierce; horseradish peroxidase-conjugated sheep anti-mouse was purchased from Amersham Biosciences; horseradish peroxidase-conjugated rabbit anti-goat antibody was purchased from Invitrogen. Rabbit-anti-TBP NC antiserum was raised against recombinant His6-tagged mouse TBP amino acids 72135. For this later antiserum, specificity was verified by Western blots using recombinant TBP, wildtype mouse nuclear extracts, and nuclear extracts from mouse cells homozygous for the tbp
N mutation (34, 35) (described below, mutation eliminates antibody-reactive domain, not shown).
For nuclear extract preparation, young adult male wild-type and tbp
N/+ mice were used. The tbp
N/+ mice are heterozygous for a targeted mutation that exchanged the endogenous tbp gene for a version that replaced 111 amino acids within the vertebrate-specific N terminus of TBP with two copies of the FLAG epitope tag (34, 35). The mutant protein contains the entire TBPCORE region of the protein and Western blots confirm that this FLAG-tagged TBP accumulates to wild-type levels in all tissues (34, 35). Heterozygous animals are healthy and fertile (34). Survival of animals homozygous for this mutation to E9.5 (100%), birth (9%), and adulthood (
1%) indicates that the FLAG-tagged protein is a functional replacement for most TBP activities (34).
Nuclear extracts were prepared to procedures described previously (36, 37). Briefly, liver and spleen were harvested into ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline, blotted, weighed, minced, and homogenized ice-cold under final conditions of 7.5% (w/v) tissue, 0.5% (w/v) nonfat dry milk, in 1.85 M sucrose, 8.4% (v/v) glycerol, 8.4 mM HEPES, pH 7.6, 12.6 mM KCl, 0.13 mM spermine, 0.42 mM spermidine, 1.7 mM EDTA, 100 µM PMSF, 1x protease inhibitors (Sigma), 5 mM DTT using a motor-driven Teflon/glass Dounce homogenizer. Homogenate was layered onto 10-ml cushions of 2.0 M sucrose, 10% glycerol, 10 mM HEPES, pH 7.6, 15 mM KCl, 0.15 mM spermine, 0.5 mM spermidine, 2 mM EDTA, 100 µM PMSF, 1x protease inhibitors, 5 mM DTT, and centrifuged in an SW28 rotor at 24,000 rpm for 1 h at 4°C. Pelleted nuclei were resuspended in 10 mM HEPES, pH 7.6, 100 mM KCl, 10% glycerol, 0.1 mM EDTA, 3 mM MgCl2, 10 µM PMSF, 0.1x protease inhibitors, 5 mM DTT. Nuclei were adjusted to 0.3 mg of nucleic acid/ml with dialysis buffer (25 mM HEPES, pH 7.6, 10% glycerol, 40 mM KCl, 0.1 mM EDTA) containing 10 µM PMSF, 0.1x protease inhibitors, 1 mM DTT. While gently mixing, 1/10th volume of 4.0 M (NH4)2SO4 was added and tubes were incubated on ice for 1 h. Chromatin was pelleted by centrifugation for 1 h at 40,000 x g at 4 °C, in a Ti50 or Ti60 rotor. Supernatant was collected and proteins were precipitated by adding 0.3 g/ml dry (NH4)2SO4 and incubating with gentle mixing for 1 h after solid dissolved. Proteins were collected by centrifugation for 1 h at 40,000 x g at 4 °C, in a Ti50 or Ti60 rotor, and were resuspended in dialysis buffer containing 10 µM PMSF, 0.1x protease inhibitors, 1 mM DTT. Nuclear extracts were dialyzed two times for 2 h against dialysis buffer containing 0.2 mM DTT (reduced DTT to preserve antibody disulfides during immunoprecipitations), insoluble material was removed by brief centrifugation, protein concentrations were determined, and aliquots were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen. Nuclear extracts were verified by electrophoretic mobility shift assays for NF-Y and Oct proteins (data not shown) prior to use in immunoprecipitations.
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For transient transfection/co-immunoprecipitation assays, TBP-FL was inserted into pCMV-HA (BD Bioscience), which fused the HA epitope tag to the N terminus of TBP. PIAS11691, PIAS11452, PIAS16691, PIAS3325628, BRF1264676, or ZFP523202568 were inserted into pCMV-Myc (BD Bioscience), which fused the c-Myc epitope tag to the N terminus of each protein. Human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK293) were plated onto 60-mm dishes at
30% confluence. The next day, cells were washed once with serum-free, drug-free Dulbecco's modification of Eagle's medium (DMEM) (Mediatech, Herndon, VA). Transfection mixes contained 300 µl of serum-free drug-free DMEM, 1 µg of each plasmid, and 10 µg of Novafector (Venn Nova, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL). Transfection mixes were added to washed cells in dishes containing 2 ml of serum-free drug-free DMEM and incubated for 5 h at 37°C, 7.5% CO2. After incubation, 2 ml of DMEM containing 20% newborn calf serum (Invitrogen), 4% fetal bovine serum (HyClone, Logan, UT), and 2x antibiotic-antimycotic solution (Mediatech) was added to each plate. Approximately 14 h later, the medium was replaced. At 48 h post-transfection, cells were washed 2 times in ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline and 500 µl of lysis buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 0.1% SDS, 0.8% deoxycholic acid, 10% glycerol, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM PMSF, 5 µg/ml leupeptin-pepstatin-aprotinin, 0.15 mM NaVO3, and 1 mM DTT) was added to each plate. Plates were rocked for 15 min at 4 °C to allow cells to detach from the plate. The contents of each plate were transferred to a 1.5-ml tube and placed on ice for 30 min with brief mixing at 5-min intervals. Lysates were clarified at 10,000 x g for 20 min at 4 °C. Lysates from each set of plates were pooled and a portion of each lysate (
50 µl) was stored at 80 °C for use as transfection controls. The remaining 950 µl of each lysate was pre-cleared with 20 µl of protein G plus/protein A-agarose (Calbiochem, San Diego, CA) and 5 µl of nonspecific antibody or antiserum for 2 h at 4°C on a rotator. Samples were centrifuged to pellet the agarose and 450 µl of each supernatant was used for immunoprecipitations.
For co-immunoprecipitations, protein samples (either 450 µl of pre-cleared transfected cell lysate, 100 µl of nuclear extract diluted to 1.0 ml with 1x TBS (50 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl), or 50 µl of TNT lysates from in vitro co-translation reactions diluted to 500 µl with binding buffer (20 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 0.1 M NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 10% glycerol, 1 mM PMSF, 5 µg/ml inhibitors) were transferred to tubes containing specific or nonspecific monoclonal antibody (2 µg), specific or nonspecific goat polyclonal antiserum (5 µl), or anti-FLAG M2 resin (40 µl, Sigma), as indicated in the figure legends. Binding reactions were incubated overnight at 4 °C on a rotator and 3040 µl of protein G plus/protein A-agarose was added to each tube (except those containing anti-FLAG m2 resin) and rotated for an additional hour at 4 °C. For transfected cell lysates, the agarose was pelleted at 750 x g for 1 min, washed once with ice-cold lysis buffer, four times with the first wash buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 0.3 M NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 10% glycerol, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM PMSF, and 0.15 mM NaVO3), and one time with a final wash buffer that contained the same components as the first wash buffer, except that the NaCl concentration was lowered to 0.1 M. For in vitro translation immunoprecipitations, washes were performed with binding buffer containing 0.1% IgePAL-CA-630 detergent (Sigma) in place of Triton X-100, and for FLAG immunoprecipitations, washes were performed with 1x TBS containing 0.1% Triton X-100. Pellets were resuspended in 1x loading buffer (38), boiled 5 min, and separated by electrophoresis through a 12% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. Proteins were transferred to supported nitrocellulose, probed with the indicated primary and secondary antibodies, and visualized using Supersignal-West chemiluminescence (Pierce) and x-ray film.
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| RESULTS |
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In screen 1 (placenta library),
2.5 x 106 primary transformants (yeast containing both bait and prey plasmids) (Fig. 1C) were plated onto SC-L-W-H medium. Fifty-eight colonies grew and all were transferred to a SC-L-W-H plate containing X-
-gal. Thirty-seven clones grew well and expressed LacZ. These were transferred to a SC-L-W plate, grown for 48 h, and replica plated to SC-L-W-H-A medium to test for combined expression of both the HIS3 and ADE2 reporter genes. In this round of selection, nine clones grew well. After isolating the prey plasmid from each, we re-tested the interactions by co-transforming new yeast with the cDNA-containing prey plasmid and TBP-FL bait plasmid. All nine clones re-grew on SC-L-W-H + X-
-gal medium and all expressed LacZ (not shown).
In screen 2 (whole pregnant uteri library; Fig. 1C), of
0.6 x 106 primary transformants,
100 colonies grew on SC-L-W-H plates, of which 41 were selected for further analysis. These were transferred to SC-L-W-H-A medium containing X-
-gal. Thirteen clones grew well and expressed LacZ following retransformation.
Sequence analysis of the prey cDNAs from screen 1 revealed that seven of the nine clones encoded PIAS1, one clone encoded PIAS3, and one encoded the
-subunit of transcription factor IIA (TFIIA), a known TBP-interacting protein (3941). Analysis of TBP-interacting prey cDNAs from screen 2 identified three more PIAS1 clones. We also obtained three clones encoding B'-related factor 1 (BRF1), another known TBP interactor (3942). Additionally, we identified ZFP523, the mouse homologue of a recently identified novel TBP interacting protein, hZNF76 (11). The remaining six clones were all unique, although no obvious physiological connection to TBP was evident. The interactions of TBP with TFIIA, ZFP523, PIAS1, and PIAS3 in the yeast two-hybrid system is shown in Fig. 2.
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In Vitro Co-translated PIAS1 and TBP Co-immunoprecipitateThe PIAS/TBP interaction was identified using yeast, which contain homologues of most mammalian transcription machinery components. Verification used transfected human cells, which contain the mammalian machinery. It was possible that, in both systems, PIAS and TBP did not interact directly, but rather, PIAS proteins assembled into a stable TBP-containing complex via interactions with other endogenous TBP-interacting proteins. To distinguish these possibilities, we co-translated the two proteins in vitro using a reticulocyte-based system and tested whether PIAS1 and TBP co-immunopreciptated. Immunoprecipitation of either protein pulled-down the other; however, nonspecific antibody did not pull-down either (Fig. 3C). Thus, the PIAS/TBP interaction does not require other nuclear proteins, but rather, is very likely the result of direct PIAS/TBP contacts.
Identification of the TBP-interacting Domain on PIAS1Sequence analysis of the 10 TBP-interacting PIAS1 clones isolated in the two-hybrid screens revealed that six were of differing lengths. The longest clone encoded amino acids 6 to 651 (PIAS16651); the shortest encoded amino acids 453 to 651 (PIAS1453651) (Figs. 2 and 4). Other clones encoded amino acids 135651, 359651, 430651, and 439651 of PIAS1 (Fig. 4B). The single PIAS3 clone encoded PIAS3 amino acids 325628. Because libraries were oligo-(dT)-primed, all clones used their natural stop codon.
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PIAS1 and PIAS3 Interact with the TBPCORETo determine whether the PIAS clones that were isolated in two-hybrid screens interacted with the conserved C-terminal TBPCORE or the vertebrate-specific N terminus (43), we co-transformed yeast with the following baits and preys: TBP-N/PIAS1453651, TBP-C/PIAS1453651, TBP-N/PIAS16651, TBP-C/PIAS16651, TBP-N/PIAS3325628, and TBP-C/PIAS3325628. Growth of all clones on SC-L-W verified the presence of both the bait and the prey plasmid. As controls, we tested the interactions of TBP-N or TBP-C with TFIIA
(Fig. 5A) (40, 41). Neither the TBP bait clones nor the PIAS and TFIIA prey clones were autoactive (Fig. 5A), confirming the validity of the assay. We found that all PIAS clones and the TFIIA clone interacted with the TBPCORE (indicated by growth on SC-L-W-H in Fig. 5A, right panels), but not with the TBP N terminus (Fig. 5A).
We also constructed truncated TBPCORE mutants to further define the domain of TBP that interacted with PIAS1. Only one of our mutants, TBP-C135263, encoding approximately the first two-thirds of the TBP-CORE, allowed growth with PIAS16651 (Fig. 5B, sector 1).
Association of Endogenous PIAS1 and TBP in Mouse Nuclear ExtractsOur results indicated that PIAS1 could interact with the TBPCORE both in vivo under conditions of overexpression (two-hybrid and transient transfection) and in reticulocyte extracts. To gain insights into whether endogenous PIAS1 and TBP proteins in normal cells might also interact, we tested whether we could detect physical association of the endogenous proteins in mouse nuclear extracts. Mice bearing a targeted mutation at the tbp locus that replaces most of the vertebrate-specific N-terminal domain with two copies of the FLAG tag (tbp
N mice) provided a unique resource in which a functional TBPCORE expressed at wild-type levels is epitope-tagged (34, 35).
Nuclear extracts were prepared from livers and spleens of adult wild-type and heterozygous (tbp
N/+) mice. Immunoprecipitation using anti-PIAS1 antibody brought down TBP
N protein from heterozygous nuclear extracts; absence of an anti-FLAG antibody-reactive band in wild-type extracts confirmed the specificity of the FLAG antibody/tag combination (Fig. 6A). Nuclear extracts were then immunoprecipitated with the anti-FLAG antibody or a negative control antibody and Western blots were probed with anti-PIAS1 antibody (Fig. 6B). The anti-FLAG antibody, but not the control antibody, brought down PIAS1 protein from heterozygous but not wild-type extracts. These results indicated that a portion of the endogenous PIAS1 in mouse liver and spleen nuclear extracts was complexed with TBP
N.
TBP Interacts with PIASx and PIASyAmino acid alignment of all known isoforms of PIAS proteins from all four pias genes (16) revealed that all shared the TBP interaction domain (Fig. 7 and data not shown) identified here (Fig. 4, A and B). The remainder of the C-terminal region shows little identity between family members. In fact, PIASy does not contain
100 amino acids that are found in the other PIAS family members. Based on the amino acid conservation in the TBP interaction domain between all PIAS proteins, we wished to determine whether proteins from the piasx and piasy genes also functionally interacted with TBP. Full-length cDNAs for PIASx
and PIASy were isolated by reverse transcriptase-PCR and were inserted into the two-hybrid prey vector (pGADT7SN) to test for interaction with either MP34-TBP-FL or the empty bait plasmid in two-component two-hybrid assays. Both proteins interacted strongly with TBP-FL; neither prey was autoactive when tested with empty bait (MP34) vector (Fig. 8).
In conclusion, our data suggest that TBP interacts with ZFP523 and with all members of the PIAS family of proteins through the conserved TBPCORE. Using PIAS1 as a family representative, we show that that PIAS/TBP interaction involves a conserved 39-amino acid region within the PIAS C-terminal region and very likely occurs through direct contacts between PIAS and TBP proteins. Moreover, using nuclear extracts from mice bearing an epitope-tagged TBPCORE, we present evidence suggesting that the endogenous proteins interact as well. These results lend insights into the gene-regulatory interplay between TBP, ZNF523, PIAS proteins, and other transcriptional regulators, as discussed below.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Most of the TBP-interacting clones isolated in our two-hybrid screens encoded PIAS1 or PIAS3 proteins (Fig. 2). Previously, regulation of gene transcription by the PIAS family proteins has been shown to occur via interactions with factors that are upstream of TBP in the transcriptional initiation process, some of which have also been shown to directly interact with TBP. These include the general co-activator CBP/p300 (44), the transcriptional factors MSX2 (15), p53 (25, 45), p73 (46), and others. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a direct interaction between PIAS proteins and a component of the basal transcription machinery.
The interaction between TBP and PIAS proteins involves the conserved C-terminal core of TBP and a C-terminal 39-amino acid region found in common between PIAS1, PIAS3, PIASx, and PIASy proteins. Although the functions of the more highly conserved N-terminal region of PIAS proteins, including its SUMO E3-ligase activity, are well characterized, the C-terminal region is less well understood (21). The C-terminal regions of individual PIAS proteins have been shown to mediate protein-protein interactions with some regulators (21). However, alignment shows that only a region within the TBP-interacting domain described here (Fig. 4B) is shared among all seven PIAS proteins (Fig. 7). Our interpretation is that all PIAS proteins share the property of interacting directly with TBP; the remainder of the PIAS C-terminal domains determine the interactions that distinguish the activities of each family member from the others.
Another activity shared by all PIAS proteins is that they function as SUMO E3-ligases through amino acids in the conserved N terminus (12, 18, 24, 27). PIAS1-dependent sumoylation of the ZNF76 prevents ZNF76 from interacting with TBP (11). Our data suggest that the interaction of the PIAS1 C terminus with TBP could also influence the interaction of ZNF76 with TBP. The localization of SUMO E3-ligase activity and TBP-binding activity to opposite ends of PIAS proteins suggests that PIAS proteins might "dock" at TBP and sumoylate transcription factors at the promoter. Further investigation of the interactions between TBP, PIAS proteins, and transcription factors like ZNF76 will be required to determine which interactions are cooperative, which are antagonistic, and how these proteins interact at the TBP interface to regulate the expression of specific target genes.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Molecular Biosciences Bldg., Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717. Tel.: 406-994-6375; Fax: 406-994-4303; E-mail: eschmidt{at}montana.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: TBP, TATA-binding protein; AD, activation domain; DTT, dithiothreitol; PMSF, phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride; PIAS, protein inhibitor of activated signal transducers and activators of transcription proteins; SC, synthetic complete media; Ser/Ac, acidic serine-rich domain; X-
-gal, 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl
-D-galactopyranoside; ZFP523, mouse zinc finger protein 523; ZNF76, human zinc finger protein 76; DMEM, Dulbecco's modification of Eagle's medium; STAT, signal transducer and activator of transcription; TBP-FL, TATA-binding protein full-length; TBP-N, TATA-binding protein N terminus; TBP-C, TATA-binding protein C terminus; TF, transcription factor; BRF1, B'-related factor 1; RNAP, RNA polymerase; SC-L-W-H, synthetic complete medium lacking leucine, tryptophan, and histidine. ![]()
3 Animal protocols were approved by the Montana State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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