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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 26, 17718-17726, June 30, 2006
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From the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University Medical School, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
Received for publication, November 29, 2005 , and in revised form, April 18, 2006.
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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The phagocyte NADPH-oxidase provides a paradigm for regulation of ROS generation by Rac (12). The catalytic subunit gp91phox contains one FAD, two hemes, and an NADPH binding site (13) and is associated in the membrane with p22phox, which provides both stabilization and a docking site for regulatory subunits. Together, gp91phox and p22phox constitute flavocytochrome b558, which functions catalytically in neutrophils and monocytes in conjunction with the regulatory subunits p47phox, p67phox, p40phox and the small GTPase Rac2. In vitro, both Rac1 and Rac2 support NADPH-oxidase activity (14, 15), but in phagocytes from Rac1 or Rac2 knock-out animals, the system shows greater specificity for Rac2 (16, 17), which is selectively expressed in phagocytic cells. In naive neutrophils not exposed to bacteria or inflammatory mediators, flavocytochrome b558 is catalytically inactive, and its regulatory subunits p47phox and p67phox are located in the cytosol. Similarly, Rac in resting cells is complexed to GDP and is associated in the cytosol with the inhibitor protein RhoGDI (18). Upon exposure of cells to chemical activators or bacteria, p47phox (and possibly other subunits) becomes phosphorylated, triggering conformational changes that result in its translocation to the membrane and assembly with the flavocytochrome. Similarly, cell activation results in activation of one or more guanine nucleotide exchange factors, causing exchange of GDP for GTP on Rac, dissociation from RhoGDI, and translocation to the membrane where Rac binds to the flavocytochrome. Both Rac and p47phox contain binding sites for different regions of p67phox, which also translocates to the membrane, where it is oriented and held in place with the assistance of Rac and p47phox. The "activation domain" of p67phox (19, 20) is essential for activating electron flow within the flavocytochrome, thereby turning on NADPH-oxidase activity. The net result of cell activation, then, is to induce subunit assembly and activation of the enzyme.
Nox1 is the first member to be described of a family of homologs of gp91phox (21) that now numbers seven members in humans (22). Nox1-dependent ROS generation can be reconstituted in cells by co-transfection with the regulatory subunits NOXO1 and NOXA1 (2326). NOXO1 is a homolog of p47phox, and NOXA1 is a homolog of p67phox. Unlike p47phox and p67phox, NOXO1 and NOXA1 are co-localized with Nox1 in membranes in unstimulated cells (23) and therefore do not require cell activation for assembly at the membrane. This is consistent with the structure of NOXO1, which lacks an autoinhibitory region (AIR) that is present in p47phox and is the target of regulatory phosphorylations. In naive phagocytes, the AIR binds internally to the tandem Src homology 3 region (bis-Src homology 3) of p47phox, blocking its interaction with p22phox. Phosphorylation of AIR upon phagocyte activation relieves this inhibition, permitting association and assembly to occur. Therefore, the absence of the AIR in NOXO1 probably accounts in part for the ability of NOXO1 to assemble with Nox1 in resting cells (23). In addition, the PX domain of NOXO1 binds to phospholipids that are present in naive cells, allowing localization of NOXO1 to the membrane (23). Whereas less is known about NOXA1, this protein has an activation domain that is highly homologous to that present in p67phox. NOXA1 also contains a TPR domain that associates with Rac1 in yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays (26). However, whether the NOXA1-Rac1 complex is functional in Nox1-dependent ROS production has not been demonstrated.
Interestingly, in reconstitution studies using transfected cells (23, 24, 26), co-expression of Nox1, NOXO1, and NOXA1 results in the production of relatively high levels of reactive oxygen in several cell types without the need to co-express a small GTPase such as Rac1. In contrast, when gp91phox is expressed in HEK293 cells along with its regulatory subunits, there is an absolute requirement for co-expression of activated Rac in order to observe reactive oxygen generation (27). The above results call into question whether a small GTPase is indeed required for Nox1-dependent activity. Whereas it is possible that Nox1 can function in the absence of a small GTPase, another hypothesis is that very low levels of endogenous activated small GTPases are sufficient for Nox1 activity, making it unnecessary to co-transfect an activated GTPase. The present studies were therefore designed to investigate whether Nox1 activity requires the small GTPase Rac1 for optimal ROS generation.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Vectors Encoding Nox Enzymes and Regulatory ProteinsCloning and subcloning of Nox1, Nox2 (gp91phox), NOXO1, NOXA1, p47phox, and p67phox were previously described (23, 27). (Myc)2-Rac1(G12V), Myc-Rac1 wild-type, and (HA)3-CDC42(G12V), in pcDNA3.1 were from the University of Missouri-Rolla cDNA Resource Center (Rolla, MO). (HA)3-Rac1(G12V) was constructed by amplifying HA and Rac1(G12V) separately and inserting these PCR products into pcDNA3.1. (HA)3-NOXA1 was constructed by inserting the NOXA1 PCR product into pCMV5-(HA)3. Myc-NOXO1 was constructed by inserting the PCR product of NOXO1 into the vector, pRK5(Myc). pRK5-Myc-PAK1 WT was kindly provided by Dr. Gary Bokoch (Scripps Research Institute). NOXA1(D68A) in pCMV-Sport6 was constructed by amplifying NOXA1 in pCMV-Sport6 using an SP6 primer and primer 1 (5'-AAG TTG GCC ACT CCT CGC TGG AAG AAG CCA ACC GCC ATG CAG GTGGCC TTG GTC ACG GCT TG-3'). Primer 1 introduces an MscI site (underlined) and changes (italics) codon 68 in NOXA1 from aspartic acid (D) to alanine (A). The PCR product was digested with XhoI and MscI. The digested fragment was inserted into XhoI and MscI sites of pCMV-Sport6/NOXA1 to replace the wild-type region. NOXA1(R103E) and NOXA1(D109A) in pCMV-Sport6 were made using an analogous strategy. NOXA1(D109A) also has a E100G mutation accidentally introduced by PCR.
Transient TransfectionsHEK293H cells were plated at 4 x 105 cells/well in 6-well plates and grown overnight in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 units/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin to reach to 4050% confluence. Cells were transfected with pcDNA3.1 or vectors harboring the insert gene using Fugene 6 according to the manufacturer's instructions. After 48 h, cells were removed from the well and washed twice with cold Hanks' balanced salt solution containing calcium and magnesium. The cells were then pelleted at 1000 x g for 5 min and resuspended in Hanks' balanced salt solution.
Measurement of Reactive Oxygen SpeciesReactive oxygen was measured using luminol chemiluminescence as previously described (27).
Mammalian Two-hybrid AssayThe pM cloning vector (Clontech) contains a GAL4 DNA binding domain, and the vector of pVP16 (Clontech) encodes an activation domain from Herpes simplex virus V16 protein. Both pM and pVP16 were modified by adding KpnI sites in the multiple cloning sites upstream of their BamHI site. pG5CAT expresses a fusion protein consisting of five consensus GAL4 binding sites fused to chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT). pM3-VP16 is a positive control vector that expresses a fusion of the GAL4-BD and the VP16-AD. Full-length NOXA1 and its mutants, including NOXA1(D68A), NOXA1(R103E), and NOXA1(E100G/D109A), were subcloned into KpnI and BamHI sites of pM, whereas Rac1(G12V) and CDC42(G12V) were subcloned into KpnI and BamHI sites of pVP16. For detecting protein-protein interactions, HEK293H cells were co-transfected with 0.2 µg of pG5CAT along with 0.5 µg of pM (or its derivatives) plus 0.5 µg of pVP16 (or its derivatives) as indicated. Cells were harvested after 48 h and stored at 80 °C. CAT activity was assayed using the Fast CAT (deoxy)chloramphenicol acetyltransferase assay kit (Molecular Probes, Inc.). Briefly, frozen cells were resuspended in 100 µl of 0.25 M Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, and lysed with three freeze-thaw cycles and centrifuged at 12,000 rpm for 5 min at 4 °C. 60 µl of supernatant was mixed with 10 µl of FAST CAT substrate solution and preincubated at 37 °C for 5 min. Then 10 µl of freshly prepared 9 mM acetyl-CoA was added and incubated at 37 °C for 23 h. The reaction was stopped by adding 1 ml of ice-cold ethyl acetate. The liquid phases were separated by centrifugation at 12,000 rpm for 3 min. 900 µl of ethyl acetate containing the reaction product was dried under vacuum, and the residue was redissolved in 20µl of ethyl acetate. A 5-µl aliquot was applied to a silica gel-60 thin layer chromatography plate (Merck), and separated using 85:15 (v/v) chloroform/methanol. The separated substrate and product were visualized under UV light and photographed using an AlphaimagerTM (Alpha Innotech Corp.).
ImmunoprecipitationHEK293H cells grown to
50% confluence on 10-cm plates were transfected with 5 µg of each plasmid indicated (Fig. 5), using FuGene 6. After 48 h, the cells were harvested by washing twice with Hanks' balanced salt solution. The cells were lysed in 600 µl of RIPA buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Nonidet P-40, 0.25% sodium deoxycholate, 1 mM EDTA) with protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma). MgCl2 (60 mM) was included in the RIPA buffer for those experiments where Rac1 WT or endogenous Rac1 binding was examined. The lysate was centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 15 min at 4 °C, and 1.5 mg protein of cleared lysate was used for each immunoprecipitation. The lysates were incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibodies with end-over-end rotation. The next morning, either 15 µl of protein G-Sepharose beads (1:1 slurry; Sigma) or 20 µl of streptavidinagarose beads (Molecular Probes) was added to the mixtures and rotated for an additional 2.5 h at 4 °C. Beads were pelleted by centrifuging at 1,500 x g for 2 min and washed three times with cold RIPA buffer. The pellets were resuspended in 25 µl of RIPA buffer or RIPA buffer with 20 mM biotin. The immunocomplexes were analyzed by Western blotting and visualized by chemiluminescence (SuperSignal West Pico Chemiluminescent Substrate; Pierce).
Antibodies3 mg each of chicken anti-NOXO1 and anti-NOXA1 antibodies (23, 27) were separately biotinylated using the DSB-X Biotin Protein Labeling Kit (Molecular Probes) according to the manufacturer's instructions and were used to immunoprecipitate untagged NOXO1 and NOXA1, respectively. Anti-Nox1 E39.1 monoclonal antibody was previously described (23) and was the kind gift of Jackie Papkoff at diaDexus (S. San Francisco, CA). Anti-green fluorescent protein polyclonal antibody was purchased from ANASPEC, Inc. (San Jose, CA). Anti-Myc and anti-HA monoclonal antibodies were from Cell Signaling Technologies, Inc. (Beverly, MA). Anti-Rac1 and anti-CDC42 antibodies were from Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. (Charlottesville, VA).
Rac Activation AssayThe endogenous GTP-associated form of Rac1 was detected using Rac/CDC42 Assay kit (Upstate Biotechnology), following the manufacturer's protocol. Similar to the above immunoprecipitation, HEK293H cells grown to confluence on 10-cm plates were harvested by washing twice with Hanks' balanced salt solution. The cells were lysed in 1x Mg2+ lysis buffer supplied by the manufacturer and supplemented with protease inhibitor mixture. The lysate was centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 15 min at 4 °C. A total of four samples were prepared for each condition described in the legend to Fig. 1A. Two equal aliquots of the lysate were preloaded with either GTP
Sor GDP as controls. A third equal aliquot was not preloaded. All three aliquots were then shaken with glutathione S-transferase-PAK1-(67150) bound to glutathione-agarose beads at 4 °C for 1 h. The fourth sample was composed of one-twenty-fifth of the volume of lysate that was used in the other three samples for the pull-down and was used directly for Western blotting. Beads were pelleted by centrifuging at 1,500 x g for 2 min and washed three times with cold Mg2+ lysis buffer provided by the kit. The pellets were resuspended in 40 µl of SDS-PAGE loading buffer and subjected to Western blotting. Rac1-GTP was visualized using an anti-Rac1 monoclonal antibody supplied with the kit (Upstate Biotechnology).
Western Blot AnalysisCells were lysed in RIPA buffer with protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma). Lysate (60 µg of protein) was resolved by 12% SDS-PAGE and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane using a semidry electrophoretic transfer cell (Bio-Rad) at 15 V for 1 h. In some experiments, 40 µg of cell lysate was resolved by SDS-PAGE and transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane using the Tank Transfer System (Bio-Rad). The proteins were detected using standard Western blotting and visualized by chemiluminescence as described above. Blots were stripped and reprobed as necessary.
RNA Interference of Rac1 and CDC42Nonspecific randomized control siRNA and Rac1 siRNA were purchased from Upstate USA, Inc. (catalog no. M-003560), whereas siRNA of CDC42 from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (Santa Cruz, CA) (catalog no. sc-29256). 200 pmol of control siRNA, Rac1 siRNA, and/or CDC42 siRNA were co-transfected into HEK293H cells in a 6-well plate with 0.5 µg each of Nox1, NOXO1, and NOXA1 using X-tremeGENE siRNA transfection reagent (Roche Applied Science) according to the manufacturer's instruction. After 72 h, the cells were harvested as described above. An aliquot of the cells was subject to luminol assay, and the remainder was used for Western blotting.
| RESULTS |
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To test whether there may have been endogenous Rac1-GTP present in these cells that might account for partial activation of Nox1 in the absence of Rac1(G12V), the content of endogenous Rac1GTP was evaluated using the Rac binding domain of PAK (PAK-(67150)). This binding domain interacts exclusively with the GTP form of Rac1 and CDC42. As shown in the Western blot in Fig. 1B (top), Rac1 was seen in both the total cell lysate (lane 1) and in the PAK1 pull-down complex from lysates of untreated cells (lane 3). Because the pull-down complex was concentrated 25-fold compared with lysate and gave about 5% of the staining on the Western blot, compared with the band seen in the lysate, one can estimate that
0.2% of endogenous Rac1 is in the GTP-bound form. This was not affected by co-expression of Nox1, NOXA1, and NOXO1 (Fig. 1B, second panel). Co-transfection of Myc-tagged wild-type Rac1 WT along with Nox1, NOXA1, and NOXO1 did not result in an increase in the level of activated endogenous Rac1, but some activated Myc-tagged Rac1 WT was seen (Fig. 1B, third panel from the top). Finally, when Myc-Rac1(G12V) was co-expressed along with Nox1, NOXA1, and NOXO1, the PAK1 pull-down revealed both Rac1(G12V) and an increased level of endogenous activated Rac1 (Fig. 1B, bottom). For unknown reasons, Rac1(T17N) failed to inhibit ROS generation when co-expressed with Nox1, NOXO1, and NOXA1, perhaps because this cell type may utilize a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that is insensitive to inhibition by Rac1(T17N).
The concentration dependence for Rac1(G12V) activation of Nox1 with and without PMA stimulation is shown in Fig. 1C. Without PMA, Nox1-dependent ROS generation was stimulated by Rac1(G12V) by
3-fold at the highest concentrations tested (1,000 ng). Rac2, which is expressed exclusively in phagocytic cells (28), produced a similar -fold activation and dose dependence (data not shown). PMA caused up to 2-fold increase in basal activity in the absence of Rac1(G12V), and activity increased by a roughly constant amount throughout the Rac1(G12V) concentration range.
We previously showed that Nox2, when co-expressed with p47phox, p67phox, and Rac1(G12V), can be activated by PMA (27). As a control, we tested the dose dependence for activation of Nox2 by Rac1(G12V), as is shown in Fig. 1D. Nox2 activation absolutely required stimulation by PMA, and no basal activity was seen in the absence of Rac1(G12V). Thus, the quantity of endogenous Rac1-GTP in unstimulated cells is not sufficient to activate Nox2. The absolute requirement of PMA for Nox2, but not Nox1, activation is not surprising, since PMA-dependent phosphorylation of the AIR of p47phox and perhaps other components is well known (29, 30), whereas the AIR is absent in NOXO1. Interestingly, in a transgenic COS7 cell line stably expressing gp91phox, p22phox, p47phox, and p67phox, stimulus-independent ROS production was induced by transfection of Rac1(G12V) (31). In these COSphox cells, transfection of Rac1(GV12) drove translocation of p47phox to the membrane, suggesting that Rac1 acts not only as a participant in the NADPH oxidase complex but also as a regulator of oxidase assembly.
We were not able to compare the protein expression levels of Nox1 versus Nox2 in Fig. 1D due to the lack of an antibody that recognizes the same epitope on both proteins. Apart from the differential dependence on PMA, the most striking difference between Fig. 1, C and D, is that the curve for Nox2 activation by Rac1(G12V) shows typical saturation kinetics, whereas Nox1 does not. Differences in localization of NOXA1/NOXO1 versus p67phox/p47phox could be one reason for the difference in kinetics. Since p67phox/p47phox is cytosolic and translocates to the membrane during PMA stimulation, a limiting amount of translocated p67phox/p47phox could limit the amount of Rac1 required and account for the apparent saturation observed in Fig. 1D. NOXA1/NOXO1, on the other hand, is localized at the membrane, as we have previously shown, and this might account for the nonsaturable kinetics displayed in Fig. 1C. Alternatively, Rac1 might regulate Nox1 by mechanisms in addition to direct complex formation, such as affecting localization, cytoskeletal structures, etc.
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Mutation of the TPR Domain of NOXA1 Prevents Activation of Nox1The above studies implicate Rac1 in the activation of Nox1 but do not demonstrate whether the effect is direct or indirect (e.g. an effect on upstream signaling). The structure of the TPR domain of p67phox in a complex with Rac has been determined by x-ray crystallography (32), revealing key residues in p67phox that are involved in direct binding to Rac, including Asp67, Arg102, and Asp108. Alignment and sequence comparison of the TPR domain in p67phox with that in NOXA1 shows that these contact residues are conserved in the two proteins and correspond to Asp68, Arg103, and Asp109 in NOXA1. These residues were mutated to alanine residues in codons 68 and 109 (the Arg109 mutation also contained an additional PCR-introduced mutation at codon 100 converting glutamate to glycine) and to glutamate at codon 103. The NOXA1 mutants were tested for their ability to reconstitute ROS generation when co-expressed with Nox1 and NOXO1. As shown in Fig. 3, each of these NOXA1 mutants showed markedly decreased or absent ability to support Nox1-dependent ROS generation. The Western blot in Fig. 3 shows that the NOXA1 mutants were expressed in amounts similar to or higher than wild-type NOXA1.
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Association of Rac1 in a Multimeric Complex with Nox1, NOXA1, and NOXO1To investigate further the interactions between Nox1, NOXA1, NOXO1, and Rac1, immunoprecipitation studies were conducted in transiently transfected HEK293H cells. We first examined the complexes formed between NOXA1, NOXO1, and Rac1(G12V) in cells co-transfected with Nox1, NOXO1, and NOXA1, either with or without Rac1(G12V). As shown in Fig. 5A, the protein complex immunoprecipitated using an anti-Myc antibody directed against (Myc)2-Rac1(G12V) contained NOXA1 as well as a small amount of NOXO1, indicating an association among these three proteins. Confirming this result, immunoprecipitation of NOXA1 yielded a complex in which both Rac1(G12V) and NOXO1 were detected, and immunoprecipitation of NOXO1 showed an association with NOXA1 and Rac1(G12V).
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The top panel of Fig. 5C investigates the interaction between Rac1(G12V) and Nox1. Using an anti-Myc antibody directed against (Myc)2-Rac1(G12V), we detected EGFP-Nox1 in the immunoprecipitate when EGFP-Nox1, (HA)3-NOXA1, NOXO1, and (Myc)2-Rac1(G12V) were co-expressed (lane 2). EGFP-Nox1 was still detected in the immunoprecipitate when NOXA1 was omitted from the transfection protocol (lane 4) or when NOXO1 was absent (lane 5), consistent with a direct binding of Rac1(G12V) and Nox1. For the analogous gp91phox, Rac1 (34) and Rac2 (35) have been reported to interact directly with gp91phox. A low amount of EGFP-Nox1 was detected when (Myc)-Rac1 WT was used in place of (Myc)2-Rac1(G12V) (lane 7), consistent with the activation of a fraction of the overexpressed Rac1 WT (Fig. 1B). We could not detect an interaction between endogenous Rac1 and EGFP-Nox1 (lane 6) due to the small amount of endogenous Rac 1-GTP that is in these cells (Fig. 1B).
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Fig. 5D shows that CDC42(G12V) does not form a complex with the complex of Nox1, NOXA1, and NOXO1. An anti-HA antibody was used to immunoprecipitate either (HA)3-CDC42(G12V) (lanes 2 and 3) or (HA)3-Rac1(G12V) (lane 4). In the presence of NOXA1 and NOXO1, EGFP-Nox1 was detected only in the immunoprecipitate containing Rac1(G12V) and not that containing CDC42(G12V) (lane 4 versus lane 2), in agreement with the mammalian two-hybrid assay (Fig. 4). To demonstrate that CDC42(G12V) was in the active conformation, Myc-PAK1 was co-transfected with (HA)3-CDC42(G12V) in the same experiment. The third panel shows that Myc-PAK1 co-precipitated with (HA)3-CDC42(G12V).
Fig. 5E investigates interactions of NOXO1 with Nox1 and NOXA1. An anti-Myc antibody was used to immunoprecipitate Myc-NOXO1. Nox1 co-immunoprecipitated with NOXO1 when NOXA1 and Rac1(G12V) were present (Fig. 5E, top, lane 2). In the absence of NOXA1 (top panel, lane 4) or in the absence of Rac1(G12V) (lane 6), Nox1 still co-immunoprecipitated with NOXO1. This indicates that NOXO1 interacts with Nox1 independently of NOXA1 and Rac1(G12V). Since p22phox is expressed constitutively in these cells, this interaction is likely to be mediated in part by this protein. In addition, it was recently reported (36) that NOXO1 binds to the C terminus of Nox1 in the vicinity of the NADPH binding site. Panel 2 of Fig. 5E shows that NOXO1 immunoprecipitated with NOXA1 whether or not Nox1 or Rac1G12V were present (compare lanes 2, 3, and 6).
Fig. 5F summarizes the results from our immunoprecipitation experiments. The solid line between two proteins indicates an independent interaction, whereas a dotted line indicates a cooperative interaction as follows: 1) Nox1 and NOXA1 interact in the absence of Rac1 (Fig. 5B); 2) Rac1 interacts with Nox1 in the absence of NOXA1 or in the absence of NOXO1 (Fig. 5C, top); 3) Rac1(G12V) interacts with NOXA1 only when Nox1 and NOXO1 are in the complex. (Fig. 5C, second panel); 4) NOXO1 interacts with Nox1 in the absence of NOXA1 or in the absence of Rac1(G12V) (Fig. 5E, top); 5) NOXO1 interacts with NOXA1 in the absence of Nox1 or in the absence of Rac1 (Fig. 5E, second panel).
| DISCUSSION |
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Whereas small GTPases also act on a variety of targets, such as cytoskeleton, PAK, JNK, etc., and hence might act on ROS generation indirectly, the present studies provide evidence that Rac1 activates the Nox1 system as a member of a multimeric Nox1 complex. The mammalian two-hybrid system demonstrates direct binding of Rac1 (but not CDC42) to the NOXA1 via the TPR region, since mutations in this region disrupted binding. This is in agreement with an earlier study that showed direct binding of Rac1 to NOXA1 using the yeast two-hybrid method and by a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein pull-down method (26). However, the present immunoprecipitation studies demonstrated NOXA1-Rac1 interactions only when Nox1 and NOXO1 were also both present, and no interaction was seen when either of these proteins was omitted. This indicates that the interaction between NOXA1 and Rac1 is strongest when Nox1 and NOXO1 are also present. Such a result is consistent with cooperative binding due to multisite interactions among protein components, since both Rac1 and NOXA1 bind to two or more other proteins.
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50%. We cannot exclude the possibility that Nox1 can function in the absence of Rac1, since endogenous Rac1 was not completely eliminated by siRNA treatment. However, the correlation of residual Nox1 activity with the residual Rac1 level (both about 50%) suggests that if Rac1-independent activity exists, it is very low and probably negligible. Future studies using isolated components or using Rac1 knock-out cell lines will be able to address this question directly. The present studies in combination with earlier studies suggest that activation of Rac1 by GTP loading may function as a major trigger for activating the Nox1 system, as shown in Fig. 6 (right). Whereas both the Nox1 system and the gp91phox system depend upon Rac activation, the "kinetics" of activation with respect to Rac1 appear to be quite different. In the gp91phox system, at least three downstream triggering events induce assembly and activation. These include guanine nucleotide exchange on Rac, phosphorylation of p47phox (and probably other components), and lipid phosphorylation to form 3'-phosphorylated phosphatidylinositol lipids to which the PX domain of p47phox binds. As shown previously, in HEK293 cells transfected with NOXO1, NOXA1, and Nox1, all of these subunits co-localize at the membrane and do not require cell stimulation for assembly. Whereas this might differ in other cell types, the structure and binding properties of NOXO1 support the interpretation that the system is "designed" to bypass some of the activation triggers that are present in phagocytes. Specifically, NOXO1 lacks the autoinhibitory region containing regulatory phosphorylation sites, and its PX domain binds to phosphatidylinositol 4-monophosphate, which is present in membranes in unstimulated cells. This structure probably accounts for the assembly of NOXO1 with Nox1 at membranes. Thus, the Nox1 system in unstimulated cells is partially assembled, and GTP loading of Rac may be sufficient to complete the assembly process and induce activation of the enzyme (Fig. 6, right). The more complex regulation in phagocytes may represent a "fail-safe" system wherein multiple triggers must be simultaneously activated in order to "launch" the very robust and potentially tissue-damaging barrage of ROS. Since ROS levels generated by endogenous Nox1 are typically far lower than those produced by activated phagocytes, accidental activation of Nox1 is less likely to be catastrophic, and the mechanism of Nox1 regulation may be less complex. Although Rac1 activation is a major regulator of Nox1, we cannot rule out the contribution of other signaling events, such as phosphorylation.
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| FOOTNOTES |
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* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants CA84138 and CA105116 and American Heart Association Grant 0535081N. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. ![]()
1 These authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 615 Michael St., Atlanta, GA 30322. Tel.: 404-727-5875; Fax: 404-712-2979; E-mail: noxdoc{at}mac.com.
3 The abbreviations used are: ROS, reactive oxygen species; JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; HA, hemagglutinin; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase; RIPA, radioimmune precipitation; GTP
S, guanosine 5'-3-O-(thio)triphosphate; siRNA, small interfering RNA; PMA, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; EGFP, enhanced green fluorescent protein; WT, wild type. ![]()
4 T. Kawahara, D. Ritsick, G. Cheng, and J. D. Lambeth, unpublished observations. ![]()
5 G. Cheng, B. A. Diebold, Y. Hughes, and J. D. Lambeth, unpublished observations. ![]()
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