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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 11, 7185-7195, March 14, 2008
A Conserved SET Domain Methyltransferase, Set11, Modifies Ribosomal Protein Rpl12 in Fission Yeast*
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| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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The methylation of ribosomal protein has been identified in a diverse range of species, including bacteria, yeast, and humans. Escherichia coli L11, one of the most well characterized ribosomal proteins, is
-N-trimethylated at Ala1 and
-N-trimethylated at Lys3 and Lys39 (10). These methyl groups are added by a single methyltransferase called PrmA (11). The methylation positions and PrmA are highly conserved among bacterial clades, suggesting an important function, although PrmA is dispensable for normal growth (12, 13). In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, direct mass spectrometric analysis of the large ribosomal proteins revealed that six of them, Rpl1, Rpl3, Rpl12, Rpl23, Rpl42, and Rpl43, are post-translationally modified by the addition of methyl groups (14). Rpl23 is specifically
-N-dimethylated at two residues, Lys105 and Lys109, and these modifications are catalyzed by the SET domain-containing methyltransferase Rkm1 (15, 16). S. cerevisiae Rpl12, the counterpart of bacterial L11, is also modified,: by
-N-dimethylated at Lys3,
-N-trimethylation at Lys10, and
-N-monomethylation at Arg66 (17, 18). Rkm2, another SET domain-containing protein, and Rmt2, a protein arginine methyltransferase, catalyze the methylation at Lys10 and Arg66 of Rpl12, respectively (17, 18). The enzyme(s) responsible for the
-N-dimethylation of Lys3 in Rpl12 has yet to be identified. In mammals, several mass spectrometric studies have identified methyl modifications on ribosomal proteins (19-22). In most cases, however, the precise methylation sites and responsible enzyme(s) have yet to be explored. Currently, only one mammalian ribosomal methyltransferase (Prmt3) has been shown to modify a ribosomal protein, S2 (23). Although ribosomal protein methylation appears to be conserved among different organisms, the physiological role(s) of the methyl modification is poorly understood.
In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, at least 13 SET domain-containing proteins have been identified in the genome. Our previous studies showed that the fission yeast Clr4, a homolog of Su(var)3-9, is a histone H3 Lys9-specific methyltransferase that is required for heterochromatin assembly (24). Although several other SET domain-containing proteins in fission yeast add methyl groups to specific lysine residues of histone tails (25-27), the roles played by other SET domain proteins in cellular processes and their physiological substrates remain unresolved. Furthermore, although S. pombe Rmt3, a protein-arginine methyltransferase, has been shown to modify the small ribosomal protein S2 (Rps2) and to be involved in stability of the small subunit (28, 29), little attention has been paid to the involvement of SET domain-containing proteins in ribosomal biogenesis.
In this study, we analyzed S. pombe Set11 and found that it is responsible for the methylation of ribosomal protein L12 (Rpl12). Interestingly, although S. pombe Set11 shows a higher sequence similarity to S. cerevisiae Rkm2, which is responsible for modifying Rpl12 at Lys10 (18), it preferentially catalyzed
-N-trimethylation at Lys3 of Rpl12. We further confirmed the methylation site modified by Set11 by mass spectrometric analysis, which led us to identify other unique methylation sites of Rpl12. Finally, we showed that Set11 predominantly localized to the nucleolus in S. pombe, suggesting that it functions specifically in ribosome assembly.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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NHSP189-192 and
GEQIFLCY216-224), the set11+-coding sequence was first cloned into the pCR2.1-TOPO plasmid (Invitrogen), and each deletion was introduced by in vitro site-directed mutagenesis (31). After insertion of a ura4+ marker gene, the resultant plasmid was digested with NruI and introduced into the original set11+ locus of the SPYB109 strain by isolating ura4+-expressing cells. To replace the wild-type SET domain with the mutated domain, strains that lost the ura4+ gene by internal homologous recombination were isolated using counter-selective medium containing 5-fluoroorotic acid. The deletions of the set11+ coding region were confirmed by PCR. All other strains were constructed using standard genetic crosses.
Expression and Purification of Recombinant Proteins—Expression vectors for N-terminal His-tagged Set11 (His-Set11) and C-terminal His-tagged wild-type and mutant Rpl12 (Rpl12-His, Rpl12
C-His, Rpl12
C-HisK3A, Rpl12
C-HisK10A, Rpl12
C-HisK3,10A, Rpl12
C-HisK39,40A, Rpl12
C-HisK3,10,82,85,92,93,95A, and Rpl12
C-HisK39,40,82,85,92,93,95A) were introduced into E. coli strain BL21(DE3) or BL21(DE3)-pLysS. Protein expression was induced by adding 0.5-1.0 mM isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside. The culture was incubated for 2 h more at 25 °C (for His-Set11) or 37 °C (for Rpl12-His and its derivatives) before harvesting, and the cells were then lysed by sonication (for His-Set11) or with buffer containing guanidine hydrochloride (for Rpl12-His). The His-tagged proteins were purified using TALON metal affinity resin, according to the manufacturer's instructions (Invitrogen). The eluted materials were dialyzed against phosphate-buffered saline alone or phosphate-buffered saline with 10% glycerol, divided into aliquots, and stored at -80 °C before use.
Antibodies—To obtain anti-Set11 antibodies, recombinant His-Set11 was used to immunize rabbits. Antibodies in crude antisera were used for Western blot analysis. Other antibodies used in this study were: anti-GFP (clones 7.1 and 13.1; Roche Applied Science, 11814460001) and anti-RPL19 (clone 3H4; Abnova, H00006143-M01).
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80-90% confluence in 100-mm dishes were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline and then lysed in 1 ml (per dish) of nuclear lysis buffer (100 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 0.65% Nonidet P-40, 10 mM butyrate, pH 8.0, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) supplemented with proteinase inhibitor mixture (CompleteTM EDTA-free; Roche Applied Science). The nuclei were harvested by scraping into a 1.5-ml microcentrifuge tube and collected by centrifugation at 500 x g for 5 min at 4 °C. After removal of the supernatant, the nuclei were resuspended in 200 µl of 0.4 N H2SO4, and the suspension was further incubated with rotation for 2 h at 4 °C. The insoluble fraction was removed by centrifugation at 5,500 x g for 5 min at 4 °C. The acid-soluble supernatant was collected into a new centrifuge tube, and the proteins were precipitated with 50 µl of 100% trichloroacetic acid (final concentration, 20%). The suspension was placed on ice for 1 h and spun at 22,000 x g for 15 min at 4 °C. The protein pellet was washed once with acidified acetone (0.1-0.3% HCl) and twice with acetone, air-dried, and resuspended in 100 µl of deionized H2Oby vortexing. After the recovery was estimated, the extracted proteins were stored at -80 °C until use. S. pombe nuclear extracts of the wild-type or
set11 mutant cells were prepared as described previously (32). In Vitro Methyltransferase Assay—Several micrograms of HeLa or S. pombe nuclear extract were incubated with 1 µCi of S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-3H]methionine ([3H]AdoMet; 85 Ci/mmol) and 2 µg of recombinant His-Set11 or His-Clr4 protein in 25 µl of MTase buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 10% (v/v) glycerol) for 1 h at 30 °C. The reaction was terminated by adding 6x SDS loading buffer (300 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 12% SDS, 30% (v/v) glycerol, 600 mM 2-mercaptoetanol, 0.3% bromphenol blue), and the proteins were resolved on 15% SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) gels. After fixation with fixing solution (50% methanol, 10% acetic acid) for 30 min, the gels were soaked with gentle shaking in radio-sensitizing reagent (Amplify fluorographic reagent; GE Healthcare) for 30 min, dried, and exposed to x-ray film (Hyperfilm MP; GE Healthcare).
Two-dimensional Electrophoretic Analysis of Proteins—The two-dimensional gel analysis of methylated proteins was performed as described previously (33).
Chromatographic Fractionation of Proteins—S. pombe cell extracts prepared as described above were loaded onto a SOURCE 15RPC ST 4.6/100 column (GE Healthcare) that had been equilibrated with Eluent A (0.065% trifluoroacetic acid in water) using a liquid chromatography system (AKTAexplore 10S; GE Healthcare). The bound proteins were eluted with a 2-100% linear gradient of Eluent B (0.055% trifluoroacetic acid in acetonitrile). The proteins in each fraction were dried under a vacuum, dissolved in deionized H2O, and subjected to the in vitro methyltransferase assay.
Analysis of Methylated Peptide by Nano-liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)—The proteins in each gel slice were subjected to reduction with 10 mM dithiothreitol, alkylation with 55 mM iodoacetamide, and digestion with 10 µg/ml modified trypsin (Promega), 20 µg/ml ArgC (Sigma), or 20 µg/ml GluC (Sigma) at 37 °C for 16 h. After the in-gel digestion, the peptides were extracted with 5% formic acid and 50% acetonitrile, dried under a vacuum, and dissolved in 2% acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid. The multiple digested peptides were then fractionated by C18 reverse-phase chromatography (Paradigm MS4; Microm BioResources) and applied directly into a quadrapole ion trap mass spectrometer (Finnigan LTQ; Thermo Fisher Scientific) with a Fortis tip mounted on a three-dimensional stage (AMR, Tokyo, Japan). The ion trap was programmed to carry out three successive scans consisting of, first, a full-scan MS over the range 450
2000 m/z, and second and third, data-dependent scans of the top two abundant ion obtained in the first scan. Automatic MS/MS spectra were obtained from the highest peak in each scan by setting a relative collision energy of 35% and exclusion time of 15 min for molecules of the same m/z value range. The molecular masses of the resulting peptides were searched against the nonredundant NCBI data base using the MASCOT program.
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set11 mutant S. pombe strains was performed as described previously (34).
Microscopy Analysis—To analyze the localization of EGFP-fused Set11, wild-type and
set11 mutant S. pombe cells were transformed with the pREP1-EGFP-set11+ plasmid. The transformed cells were cultured on plates with minimal medium lacking leucine (AA-leu). Single colonies were picked and patched onto new plates. The cells were grown to early log phase in liquid medium and washed twice with deionized H2O, and the DNA was visualized by incubation with 1 µg/ml Hoechst 33342. Microscopic images were captured on a Zeiss Axioplan 2 imaging microscope and an ORCA-ER camera (Hamamatsu).
Spotting Assay—Wild-type and mutant (
set11 and
rpl1202) cells were grown in YEA medium. 5-fold serial dilutions were made (1 x 107
1.6 x 104 cells/ml), and 5-10 µl was spotted on plates with YEA alone or YEA containing 10-30 µg/ml cycloheximide. The plates were then incubated at 30 °C for 2.5-4 days. For cells harboring the pREP1-set11+ plasmid, minimal medium lacking leucine (AA-leu) was used for the culture and spotting.
| RESULTS |
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17 kDa on SDS-PAGE (Fig. 1B, p17me). Because no methylated band was detected in the mock experiments (Fig. 1B, mock), it is unlikely that the methylation of p17 was catalyzed by endogenous methyltransferases. These results led us to focus on the physiological roles and substrate(s) of the Set11 methyltransferase.
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set11 mutant S. pombe strains. Although specific methylation signals were not detected in the assay using wild-type cellular extract, a strongly methylated band with a similar molecular mass as in the HeLa nuclear extract (
17 kDa) was observed in the assay using the
set11 cellular extract (Fig. 1C, p17me). These results suggested that p17 is a physiological target of Set11 methyltransferase, and that its methylation site(s) may have been modified already by endogenous Set11 in the wild-type cells. In addition, these results imply that p17 and its target site(s) are evolutionarily conserved from fission yeast to humans.
Set11 Modifies the Ribosomal Protein Rpl12 in S. pombe—To identify the target protein(s) of the Set11 methyltransferase, we first fractionated the methylated product(s) by two-dimensional acetic acid-urea-Triton X-100 (AUT) and acetic acid-urea-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (AUC) gel analysis, which is generally used to analyze histone species (33). After separation on the first (AUT) and second (AUC) gels, two discrete signals were detected in the autoradiograph (Fig. 2A). These two protein species migrated to almost the same level in the first AUT gel but showed a different migration pattern in the second AUC gel. The difference might be attributable to the presence or absence of modification(s) other than the methylation by Set11. The protein spots corresponding to these signals were excised from the two-dimensional gel and subjected to LC-MS/MS analysis. In parallel with this two-dimensional gel analysis, we also used chromatographic approaches to separate the substrate(s) of Set11 protein. Nuclear extracts prepared from
set11 mutant strains were fractionated by reverse-phase chromatography, and the eluted proteins were tested in the in vitro methyltransferase assay. As shown in Fig. 2B, the target protein(s) was eluted in several fractions with a peak at fraction 22. The protein band showing the same elution profile in the chromatography was excised and subjected to LC-MS/MS analysis. From both the two-dimensional gel and chromatographic approaches, we obtained a series of peptides that matched perfectly with the deduced amino acid sequence of S. pombe ribosomal protein L12 (Rpl12) (Fig. 2C). Rpl12, a counterpart of bacterial L11 protein, is a highly conserved protein from yeast to humans (Fig. 2C). It was recently shown that Rpl12 in S. cerevisiae is methylated at Lys10 by a SET domain-containing protein, Rkm2 (18).
Recombinant Rpl12 Is Methylated in Vitro by Set11—To confirm that Rpl12 is a physiological substrate for Set11, an in vitro methyltransferase assay was performed using recombinant full-length and C-terminal-deleted Rpl12 proteins (Fig. 3A, Rpl12-His and Rpl12
C-His). We found that full-length Rpl12-His was clearly methylated by Set11 and that Rpl12
C-His was a better substrate for the Set11 methyltransferase activity (Fig. 3B). These results indicated that Rpl12 is a physiological substrate for Set11 and demonstrated that the methylated residue(s) resides in the N-terminal 1-106 residues of Rpl12. The role played by the C-terminal region of Rpl12 in the methyltransferase reaction is currently unclear, although it is possible that steric interactions between the N- and C-terminal domains of Rpl12 affect the ability of Set11 to methylate its target site. Because we failed to produce an N-terminally deleted recombinant Rpl12 mutant in E. coli, we cannot exclude the possibility that a target residue(s) of Set11 is also present in the C-terminal region of Rpl12. However, previous studies on E. coli L11 (10) and S. cerevisiae L12 (18) and our mass spectrometric analysis support the idea that a specific lysine residue in the N-terminal region of Rpl12 is the preferred target site of Set11 (see below).
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C-His (Fig. 3A, indicated by red) and used these mutant proteins in the in vitro methyltransferase assay (Fig. 3C). We found that several combinations of the Ala substitution greatly affected the Set11 methyltransferase activity (see Rpl12
C-HisK3, 10,82,85,92,93,95A and Rpl12
C-HisK39,40,82,85,92,93,95A). Further detailed mapping revealed that the Ala substitution of Lys3 completely abolished the Set11 methylation activity (Rpl12
C-HisK3A). In addition, the combined Ala substitution of Lys39 and Lys40 severely reduced the Set11 methyltransferase activity (Rpl12
C-HisK39,40A). These results suggested that the three residues Lys3, Lys39, and Lys40 of Rpl12 are critical to the in vitro methyltransferase activity of Set11. It has been reported that Lys10 of Rpl12 is the target of S. cerevisiae Rkm2 (18), which is closely related to S. pombe Set11 (Table 1). However, this site does not appear to be an exclusive target of Set11, because the mutant Rpl12
C-His with an Ala substitution at Lys10 (Rpl12
C-HisK10A) was clearly methylated by Set11 (Fig. 3C). Taken together, these results suggest that Rpl12 is a physiological substrate of Set11 and that the Lys3, and potentially Lys39 and Lys40, of Rpl12 are the candidate target residues for Set11 activity.
Determination of the Methylation Sites of Rpl12 by MS/MS—To determine the in vivo methylation sites of Rpl12, the endogenous Rpl12 in wild-type (set11+) or
set11 mutant cells was isolated by reverse-phase chromatography (as shown in Fig. 2B). The corresponding band was excised from an SDS-PAGE gel and digested with ArgC or GluC peptidase, which cleaves preferentially on the C-terminal side of arginine or glutamate residues. The digested peptide fragments were then analyzed using LC-MS/MS. The overall elution profiles of ArgC-digested Rpl12 peptides in the nano-LC spectra were superimposed, and the masses of representative peaks were matched between the wild-type and
set11 mutant cells (Fig. 4, A and D). However, a relatively abundant peptide was eluted in a prominent peak at 13.20 min in the
set11 mutant (Fig. 4D, asterisk) that was not observed in the wild-type cells. MS/MS analysis revealed that the amino acid sequence of this fragment matched the N-terminal residues 1-15 of Rpl12 with the initial Met removed (Fig. 4F). The experimental mass of this peptide calculated from the mean m/z of MH3+ was 1848.59 ± 0.32 (MH+) (Table 2). The corresponding 1-15 peptide for Rpl12 in wild-type cells was eluted at 13.34 min (Fig. 4, A, asterisk, and C), and its experimental mass was 1890.37 ± 0.49 (MH+) (Table 2). Of particular interest was that the mass difference between these wild-type and
set11 mutant peptides was
41.78 Da, which corresponds to the mass of three methyl groups. Although there are two potentially methylated lysine residues in this peptide at Lys3 and Lys10, the MS/MS results (Fig. 4, C and F) and parallel experiments using GluC, in which a similar
42-Da difference was observed for the N-terminal 1-8 peptide (supplemental Fig. S1 and Table 2), strongly suggest that that the Rpl12 in wild-type cells is trimethylated at Lys3, and this methylation is absent in the
set11 mutant cells. This is quite consistent with our observation obtained from the in vitro methyltransferase assay (Fig. 3C).
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set11 mutant was still 28-29 Da larger than that of the theoretical mass of the corresponding peptide (Table 2; experimental mass, 972.04 (MH+) and theoretical mass, 943.45). Although the margin of mass error needs to be considered, the additional mass appears to correspond to that of two methyl groups. In addition, MS/MS results using ArgC or GluC suggested that the additional mass could be localized to the first three amino acids, aside from the
-N-trimethylation at Lys3. These observations support the idea that the N-terminal Proline 1 (Pro1) is modified by
-N-dimethylation after removal of the initial Met, as previously reported for S. cerevisiae Rpl25 (37). By analyzing the MS/MS results, we were also able to identify a monomethylation at Arg66 (supplemental Fig. S1C) and a methylation and/or another modification(s) at Lys39 and Lys40 (Table 2). The most frequently observed mass for the latter region was a dimethylation at Lys39 (supplemental Table S2). We found that these modifications were the same in the
set11 mutant cells. We could not obtain clear evidence for the methyl modification at Lys10, which is observed in S. cerevisiae Rpl12 and is the exclusive target of Rkm2 (18).
Functional Analysis of Set11 in S. pombe—To investigate the enzymatic function of Set11 in vivo, we introduced short internal deletions (
NHSP189-192;
NHSP and
GEQIFLCY 216-224;
GE-Y) into the two conserved regions of the core SET domain in Set11 (2). Nuclear extracts prepared from wild-type or mutant strains (
set11,
set11NHSP, and
set11GE-Y) were then subjected to the in vitro methyltransferase assay (Fig. 5A). Rpl12 from the
set11NHSP and
set11GE-Y strains was clearly methylated by recombinant His-Set11 to the same extent as that from
set11, indicating that these deletions abolished the in vivo enzymatic activity of the endogenous Set11 proteins. These results demonstrate that the two conserved regions of the SET domain core are important for the catalytic site for Set11 methyltransferase activity.
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set11 mutant cells. Although the previous study described a nuclear localization of Set11 (36), EGFP-Set11 predominantly localized to the nucleolus, which coincides with the nuclear hemisphere that stained weakly with Hoechst 33342, in both wild-type and
set11 mutant cells (Fig. 5B). These results suggest that the Lys3 methylation of Rpl12 occurs during the ribosome assembly process in the nucleolus and support the idea that, if Set11 has substrates other than Rpl12, they are probably also involved in ribosomal assembly or function.
S. pombe cells in which the set11 gene was completely deleted or that expressed catalytically inactivated Set11 protein were viable and showed no growth defects under a variety of conditions (data not shown). Bacterial ribosomal protein L11, the counterpart of eukaryotic Rpl12, binds a highly conserved domain of 23 S rRNA and is thought to be involved in the ribosomal GTPase activity of the dynamic decoding process (38). Although little is known about the roles played by L11 methylation in this process, the methyl modifications of Rpl12 could play a role in its association with the ribosome or in ribosomal function. To test these possibilities, we first examined whether the Rpl12 methylation affects its association with the ribosome. Mature ribosomes were isolated from wild-type and
set11 mutant cells by sucrose density centrifugation, and the level of Rpl12 associated with the ribosomes was assayed by immunoblotting. We found, however, that the level of Rpl12 was not affected by the
set11 mutation (Fig. 5C).
Next, to examine the potential role of Rpl12 methylation in ribosomal function, we analyzed the sensitivity to cycloheximide of
set11 mutant cells. Cycloheximide is a widely used compound that inhibits protein synthesis by blocking translational elongation via interference with the peptidyl transferase activity of the 60 S ribosome. In S. pombe, two paralogous genes (rpl1201 and rpl1202) encode Rpl12, and mutant cells in which one of these genes was deleted (
rpl1202) showed higher cycloheximide sensitivity, suggesting that the dosage of Rpl12 is critical to ribosomal function (Fig. 5D). However,
set11 cells showed no increased sensitivity to cycloheximide, suggesting that the Rpl12 methylation has little, if any, effect on the ribosomal function. In previous studies, it was shown that the loss of S. pombe Rmt3, the arginine methyltransferase for ribosomal protein S2 disrupts the balance of small 40 S and large 60 S subunits because of a deficit in the small subunit level (28, 29). In line with this, we also examined the stability of the 40 S and 60 S subunits by polysome analysis. We observed, however, no clear difference between the wild-type and
set11 mutant strains (data not shown), suggesting that Rpl12 methylation at Lys3 is not directly involved in ribosomal subunit stability or that it has overlapping functions with other methyl modification(s).
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| DISCUSSION |
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Although our results demonstrate that Rpl12 is a physiological substrate of Set11 methyltransferase, it is also possible that Set11 has other substrate proteins. We have searched for potential target proteins by using different fractions of cellular lysate. However, we have yet to identify any other target proteins for Set11 (data not shown). Considering the nucleolar localization of Set11, it is likely that its other substrate proteins would also be involved in ribosomal biogenesis. Our results indicate that Rpl12 is methylated at five residues:
-N-dimethylation at Pro1,
-N-trimethylation at Lys3,
-N-dimethylation at Lys39 and/or Lys40, and
-N-monomethylation at Arg66 and thus underscore the evolutionary conservation of Rpl12 methylation (Fig. 6). Although we showed that Set11 modifies Lys3, and it is likely that an Rmt2 homolog (SPAC26A3.17c) catalyzes Arg66 methylation, the responsible enzymes for the other methyl modifications remain unclear. Detailed mass spectrometric analyses of Rpl12 treated with candidate SET methyltransferases and their mutants will help identify the responsible enzyme(s) for the Lys39/Lys40 methylation.
N-terminal methylation has been described for only a small number of proteins (41). Of ribosomal proteins, S. cerevisiae Rps25 was recently shown to be dimethylated at the
-N-terminal proline after cleavage of the initial methionine (37). Interestingly, in the N-terminal sequence of S. cerevisiae Rps25, [M]PPKQQ-, the first three residues are the same as those of Rpl12 ([M]PPKFD-). In addition, human RCC1 has also been shown to have
-N-terminal methylation (42). Although the methylating enzyme has yet to be determined, mutational analysis of human RCC1 revealed that [M]-(S/P/A)-P-K serves as a substrate recognition motif for N-terminal methylation, which is consistent with yeast Rpl12 and Rps25, implying that there are conserved mechanisms for N-terminal methylation. In most cases, the physiological function of N-terminal methylation is unclear. However, intriguingly, methylation-defective mutants of RCC1 bind less effectively to chromatin during mitosis, which causes a spindle pole defect (42). Therefore, it is possible that the N-terminal methylation of Rpl12 regulates its interaction with ribosomal RNA.
The physiological function of the Set11 methyltransferase is unclear. Yeast cells lacking the enzyme are viable, and no particular defect in ribosomal function was observed in
set11 cells. The same is true for the
rkm2 mutant budding yeast cells (18) and
prmA mutant E. coli cells (12). Because Rpl12 possesses multiple methyl modifications, it is possible that these modifications act cooperatively, and the roles played by the methyl modifications may become clear when set11 is combined with other mutations in the relevant SET domain methyltransferases. We have shown that Set11 predominantly localizes to the nucleolus, suggesting that the methylation of Rpl12 at Lys3 occurs during the ribosome assembly processes. The dynamics and stability of this methyl modification are not known. Because Rpl12 prepared from wild-type cells was not a good substrate for recombinant Set11 in vitro, it is likely that Rpl12 is predominantly methylated at Lys3 in wild-type cells. Interestingly, we found that the overproduction of Set11 caused a severe growth defect (Fig. 5E). In Caenorhabditis elegans, Rpl12 regulates its own splicing, and the overproduction of Rpl12 increases the proportion of unproductively spliced mRNAs (43). A similar alternative splicing mechanism has been suggested for the production of mammalian Rpl12 (44). Although the molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of Set11 overproduction are currently unclear, it is possible that Rpl12 or another Set11 target protein(s) is involved in controlling the levels of ribosomal proteins through its RNA binding properties, and methyl modification may modulate this regulatory function. It is also possible that the autoregulation system of ribosomal biogenesis as observed for C. elegans Rpl12 may suppress the effect of the
set11 mutation. These hypotheses will be tested in future studies that take ribosome homeostasis into consideration.
| FOOTNOTES |
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Tables S1 and S2 and Fig. S1. ![]()
1 Supported by a Special Postdoctoral Researchers Program of RIKEN. ![]()
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed: RIKEN, 2-2-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan. Tel.: 81-78-306-3205; Fax: 81-78-306-3208; E-mail: jnakayam{at}cdb.riken.jp.
3 The abbreviations used are: EGFP, enhanced green fluorescent protein; [3H]AdoMet, S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-3H]methionine; PAGE, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; LC, nano-liquid chromatography; MS/MS, tandem mass spectrometry; AUT, acetic acid-urea-Triton X-100; AUC, acetic acid-urea-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. ![]()
4 M. Sadaie, unpublished observation. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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