Advertisement
JBC

HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M709275200 on December 26, 2007

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 8, 4658-4664, February 22, 2008
This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
283/8/4658    most recent
M709275200v1
Right arrow Submit a Letter to Editor
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Guo, C.
Right arrow Articles by Friedberg, E. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Guo, C.
Right arrow Articles by Friedberg, E. C.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Requirements for the Interaction of Mouse Pol{kappa} with Ubiquitin and Its Biological Significance*

Caixia Guo{ddagger}, Tie-Shan Tang§, Marzena Bienko1, Ivan Dikic, and Errol C. Friedberg{ddagger}2

From the {ddagger}Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9072, the §Department of Physiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, and the Institute for Biochemistry II, Goethe University Medical School, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany

Received for publication, November 12, 2007 , and in revised form, December 20, 2007.


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Pol{kappa} protein is a eukaryotic member of the DinB/Pol{kappa} branch of the Y-family DNA polymerases, which are involved in the tolerance of DNA damage by replicative bypass. Despite universal conservation through evolution, the precise role(s) of Pol{kappa} in this process has remained unknown. Here we report that mouse Pol{kappa} can physically interact with ubiquitin by yeast two-hybrid screening, glutathione S-transferase pulldown, and immunoprecipitation methods. The association of Pol{kappa} with ubiquitin requires the ubiquitin-binding motifs located at the C terminus of Pol{kappa}. In addition, Pol{kappa} binds with monoubiquitinated proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) more robustly than with non-ubiquitinated PCNA. The ubiquitin-binding motifs mediate the enhanced association between monoubiquitinated PCNA and Pol{kappa}. The ubiquitin-binding motifs are also required for Pol{kappa} to form nuclear foci after UV radiation. However, the ubiquitin-binding motifs do not affect Pol{kappa} half-life. Finally, we have examined levels of Pol{kappa} expression following the exposure of mouse cells to benzo[a]pyrene-dihydrodiol epoxide or UVB radiation.


    INTRODUCTION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Translesion DNA synthesis (TLS)3 is one of several biochemical mechanisms by which cells can tolerate DNA damage that arrests semiconservative DNA synthesis (1, 2). This process requires the action of specialized DNA polymerases present in bacteria (such as Escherichia coli), lower eukaryotes, and vertebrates. Lower eukaryotes, particularly vertibrates, contain multiple such enzymes, suggesting the ability to bypass many types of DNA damage.

Several specialized DNA polymerases are members of a novel polymerase family, the Y-family (3). These enzymes are devoid of 3' -> 5' proofreading exonuclease activity and replicate undamaged DNA in vitro with low fidelity and weak processivity (4). Members of this family in mammalian cells include Pol{kappa}, Pol{iota}, and Pol{eta}, all of which can extend primers for varying distances past various types of template damage (4). A fourth member of the Y-family, REV1 protein, is able to catalyze the incorporation of only one or two dCMP moieties, regardless of the template base composition (5). Pol{kappa}, Pol{iota}, and Pol{eta} have been shown to interact with REV1 protein via a highly conserved C-terminal domain in REV1 (68). These polymerases also interact with PCNA (9, 10), and recent observations suggest that PCNA plays a key role in promoting the access of specialized polymerases to arrested replication forks (1115).

Disruption of the PolK gene in mouse and chicken cells results in significant sensitivity to killing by benzo[a]pyrene-dihydrodiol epoxide (BPDE) and UV radiation (1618). Pol{kappa}-deficient mouse embryonic stem and fibroblast cells also show moderate sensitivity to methyl methanesulfonate (19). Consistent with these results, primer extension assays have shown that human Pol{kappa} can support TLS across sites of base loss, acetylaminofluorene-G adducts, benzo[a]pyrene-G adducts, and thymine glycol (4). However, the enzyme does not support primer extension past thymine-thymine (T<>T) dimers or [6,4]pyrimidine-pyrimidone photoproducts (4). Similar to DNA polymerase Pol{xi}, Pol{kappa} is also efficient in extending sites of replicative bypass by other specialized polymerases during TLS, at least in vitro (12). Furthermore, overexpression of Pol{kappa} in mammalian cells promotes pleiotropic genetic alterations and tumorigenesis (20, 21).

The relaxed fidelity of Pol{kappa} renders it error prone when copying undamaged DNA. Hence, access of the enzyme to sites of undamaged DNA must be tightly regulated to avoid mutational catastrophes. It has been reported that Pol{kappa} accumulates in microscopically discrete nuclear foci in UV radiation- or BPDE-treated cells (2224). In addition, the C-terminal 97 amino acids of Pol{kappa}, which include a C2HC zinc finger, a bipartite nuclear localization signal, and a putative PCNA binding site, are important for the localization of Pol{kappa} in nuclear foci (22). However, the underlying mechanism of TLS by Pol{kappa} and other specialized DNA polymerases remains unclear.

To further our understanding of the role of Pol{kappa} in TLS and in spontaneous and DNA damage-associated mutagenesis, we searched for proteins that interact with mouse Pol{kappa} by screening a mouse testis cDNA library using the yeast two-hybrid system (6). We report here that ubiquitin binds strongly to Pol{kappa} bait protein. We examined the interaction of ubiquitin with Pol{kappa} and show that this interaction requires two novel zinc fingers, called ubiquitin-binding motifs (UBZs) (25), resident in the C-terminal half of Pol{kappa}. We also demonstrate that Pol{kappa} binds monoubiquitinated PCNA more robustly than nonubiquitinated PCNA. The UBZs are required for Pol{kappa} to form nuclear foci after UV radiation. We measured the half-life of endogenous Pol{kappa} as 5.4 h and show that mutational disruption of the UBZs does not alter the half-life of Pol{kappa} protein. Finally, we examined levels of Pol{kappa} expression following exposure of mouse cells to BPDE or UVB radiation.


    EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Plasmids—For yeast two-hybrid screening, pGBT9/mouse PolK plasmid was cloned as described (6). For binding assays, full-length mouse PolK cDNA was cloned in pCMV-Myc or pCMV-HA (Clontech) to generate Myc or HA fusion proteins. For confocal study, mouse PolK cDNA with the first ATG codon deleted was PCR-amplified and cloned in the SalI site of pEGFP-C3 (Clontech) to generate an EGFP fusion protein. Human POLK cDNA was PCR-amplified and cloned in the BamHI site of pEGFP-C1 (Clontech). Isolated UBZs of mPolK were PCR-amplified and cloned into pCMV-Myc (Clontech) or pGEX4T-2 vectors (Amersham Biosciences). Ubiquitin, PCNA, and PCNA-ubiquitin chimera (25) were subcloned in pGEX4T-2 to produce GST fusion proteins as reported (10, 26). A series of mutant mPolK constructs was generated using the QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene). Ubiquitin was cloned in pcDNA3-HA as described (25).

Yeast Two-hybrid Assay—The pGBT9/mouse PolK plasmid was used to screen a mouse testis cDNA library as described (6).

Cell Culture and Treatments—COS7 cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. For transient transfection experiments COS7 and HEK293T (human embryonic kidney) cells were transfected with the indicated constructs using FuGENE 6 (Roche Applied Science) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Cells were harvested for further analysis 48 h after transfection. The SV40-transformed human fibroblast MRC5 was kindly provided by Dr. Alan R. Lehmann, University of Sussex. MRC5 cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Transfection and UV irradiation were carried out as described previously (10).

Nuclear Protein Extraction and Western Blotting—Wild-type MEFs were prepared and maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum as described (17). Treatments using genotoxic agents were as follows. 1), BPDE (NCI National Institutes of Health carcinogen repository) was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide. 1 mM BPDE was added to exponentially growing cells and incubated for 1 h, and the cells were washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline and incubated with fresh medium. 2), UVB radiation at 25 J/m2 was performed in a UV cross-linker (UV Stratalinker 2400, Stratagene). Nuclear extracts were harvested as described previously (27) at different time points.

Protein Half-life Determination—COS7 cells were transfected with the wild-type and UBZs mutant HA-Pol{kappa} constructs. Twenty-four h later, the transfected cells were aliquoted into 8–10 35-mm dishes to continue to culture for ~16 h. The half-life of Pol{kappa} was determined by treating cells with 25 µg/ml cycloheximide (CHX) (Sigma) for 0–7 h to inhibit protein synthesis and then preparing cell lysates to determine Pol{kappa} levels by Western blotting. For endogenous Pol{kappa}, wild-type MEFs were treated with 25 µg/ml CHX for 0–9 h. The content of Pol{kappa} and β-actin bands was quantified by Photoshop histogram. To calculate the half-life of Pol{kappa} protein, the content of the Pol{kappa} Western blot bands at each time point was normalized to the control (0 h) Pol{kappa} content and also refers to the β-actin content. The normalized data from several independent experiments were averaged together and semi-log plots were generated in Origin 4.1. Linear regression was performed, and the half-life was calculated from the fitted line equation.

Antibodies—Rabbit polyclonal anti-HA and mouse monoclonal anti-HA and anti-Myc were purchased from Covance. Anti-FLAG M2 agarose affinity gel and anti-FLAG M2 monoclonal antibodies were purchased from Sigma. Hamster polyclonal antiserum against mouse Pol{kappa} was made by our laboratory (27). Rabbit polyclonal antiserum against mouse Pol{kappa} was generated with a 14-amino acid peptide (CNYLKIDTPRQEANE) containing an N-terminal cysteine residue conjugated with keyhole limpet hemocyanin as described (28). Anti-PCNA antibodies were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology.

Lysate Preparation, Co-immunoprecipitation, and Western Blotting—COS7 cells were transfected with pCMV-HA-mPol{kappa} and pCMV5-FLAG-Ub. Harvested cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG antibodies. HEK293T cells were transfected with pCMV-Myc-mPol{kappa} and pcDNA3-HA-Ub. Harvested cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-Myc antibodies. Immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting were performed as described (26). MRC cells were transfected with HA-mPol{kappa}, and 40 h later they were UV-irradiated (25 J/m2). They were then incubated for 7 h prior to Triton extraction and cross-linking. Triton-insoluble proteins were solubilized and immunoprecipitated with anti-PCNA as described (10).

GST Pulldown Assay—GST fusion proteins were expressed and purified on glutathione-agarose (Sigma) as described (6). Purified mPol{kappa} was pulled down by GST-Ub as described previously (26). For interaction between truncated/mutant mPol{kappa} and GST-PCNA or GST-Ub constructs, transfected COS7/MRC5 cells were lysed with HEPES buffer and incubated with equal amounts of GST fusion proteins as described previously (10, 26). Samples were separated by SDS-PAGE and detected by immunoblotting with polyclonal antibodies against mPol{kappa} or with monoclonal antibodies against Myc (9E10), HA (16B12), or PCNA.

Immunofluorescence Microscopy—MRC5 cells were transfected using a panel of mutated/truncated EGFP-mPol{kappa} and EGFP-hPol{kappa} constructs and cultured for ~40 h. They were then UV-irradiated and processed for immunofluorescence as described previously (10). Images were acquired using a Nikon Eclipse TE2000-U confocal laser scanning microscope and processed using Adobe Photoshop 7.0. A minimum of 200 nuclei were analyzed for each construct and treatment.


    RESULTS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Mouse Pol{kappa} Interacts with Ubiquitin via Two Ubiquitin-binding Zinc Finger Domains and Undergoes Ubiquitination in Vivo—By screening a mouse testis cDNA library using mouse Pol{kappa} as bait, we identified both ubiquitin B and REV1 as interacting moieties. Because ubiquitin B is a polypeptide containing four tandem ubiquitin moieties, we anticipated that Pol{kappa} would also bind to monoubiquitin. This was confirmed by GST pull-down using purified Pol{kappa} and GST-ubiquitin (Fig. 1A). We observed that mouse Pol{kappa} protein, in addition to binding ubiquitin, undergoes monoubiquitination in vivo. HA-Pol{kappa} and FLAG-ubiquitin were expressed in COS7 cells, and cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG antibodies. Not surprisingly, HA-Pol{kappa} protein was detected in the immunoprecipitate, reflecting its interaction with ubiquitin (Fig. 1B). However, an additional slower migrating band was reproducibly observed, suggesting the presence of monoubiquitinated HA-Pol{kappa} protein (Fig. 1B). This was directly confirmed by immunoprecipitation of Pol{kappa} from cells cotransfected with Myc-Pol{kappa} and HA-Ub followed by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibodies (Fig. 1C).


Figure 1
View larger version (33K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 1.
Interaction between Pol{kappa} and ubiquitin. A, shown is GST-ubiquitin pulldown of purified mouse Pol{kappa} protein as indicated. Lane 1, input containing one-tenth of the Pol{kappa} used in the experiments; lane 2, GST + Pol{kappa}; lane 3, GST-Ub + Pol{kappa}; lane 4, GST-UbB + Pol{kappa}. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblot (IB) analysis with {alpha}-Pol{kappa} antibody. B, anti-FLAG M2 agarose affinity gel was incubated with the COS7 cell lysates expressing HA-Pol{kappa} and FLAG-Ub or FLAG (control) as indicated. The total cell lysates (TCL) lanes (lanes 1 and 2) contain 2% of the lysates used in the experiments. Lanes 3 and 4, immunoprecipitation of lysates with {alpha}-FLAG. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis with {alpha}-HA antibody. C, HEK293T cells were transfected with (+) or without (–) HA-Ub together with Myc-Pol{kappa} constructs. The lysates were immunoprecipitated (IP) with {alpha}-Myc antibody and subjected to immunoblotting with {alpha}-Myc and {alpha}-HA as indicated.

 
Sequence analysis revealed that the duplicated C2HC zinc cluster domains in mouse Pol{kappa} (29) are in fact novel ubiquitin-binding domains called UBZs (25). The mouse UBZs (each ~30 amino acids in length) are located between amino acid residues 608 and 800 (Fig. 2A). To determine whether the UBZs in Pol{kappa} are required for binding ubiquitin, we incubated a fragment of Pol{kappa} bearing just the two UBZs (UBZ1 + UBZ2) with GST-ubiquitin and confirmed the interaction (Fig. 2B). To further document the requirement of the UBZs in Pol{kappa} for its interaction with ubiquitin, we generated a series of mutant constructs that deleted the N-terminal UBZ (UBZ1) (Pol{kappa}-UBZ1{Delta}), the C-terminal UBZ (UBZ2) (Pol{kappa}-UBZ2{Delta}), or both (Pol{kappa}-UBZ{Delta}). Additionally, we generated constructs in which the amino acids Asp-642 and/or Asp-784 were mutated to Ala (D642A in UBZ1*, D784A in UBZ2*, D642A and D784A in UBZ*). Deletion of either UBZ significantly impaired binding to GST-ubiquitin (Fig. 2C), and deletion of both UBZs completely eliminated the interaction (Fig. 2C). Similar results were obtained when selected amino acids in the Pol{kappa} UBZs were mutated to alanine (Fig. 2D). Mutational inactivation of the UBZs in Pol{kappa} also impaired its monoubiquitination (Fig. 2E), and their deletion completely abolished monoubiquitination of Pol{kappa} (Fig. 2E). Collectively, these results suggest that the Polk UBZs are required for interaction between Pol{kappa} and ubiquitin and for monoubiquitination of the polymerase.

The UBZs Are Required for Enhanced Association between Pol{kappa} and Monoubiquitinated PCNA—Recent studies have demonstrated that monoubiquitination of PCNA in cells exposed to UV radiation promotes a more robust interaction of this accessory replication protein with Pol{eta}, Pol{iota}, and REV1 protein (10, 11, 25, 30). To determine whether an enhanced association also exists between Pol{kappa} and monoubiquitinated PCNA, we examined their interaction by GST pulldown experiments (26). Consistent with results shown previously (31), the interaction of purified Pol{kappa} with PCNA-Ub was more robust than with native PCNA (Fig. 3A). To determine whether the enhanced interaction is mediated via the UBZ domains, we incubated cell lysates expressing wild-type Pol{kappa} or those carrying mutations in the UBZ domains with GST-PCNA fusion proteins. As shown in Fig. 3B, the enhanced association with GST-PCNA-Ub was not observed with UBZ mutant preparations. To further support the result, HA-Pol{kappa} and its UBZ deletion derivatives were expressed in cells exposed to UV radiation to generate monoubiquitinated PCNA. The chromatin fraction was then isolated and immunoprecipitated with PCNA antibodies. Consistent with the results shown above, the amount of precipitated wild-type, but not UBZ-deleted, Pol{kappa} was significantly increased after UVC treatment (Fig. 3C). Interestingly, the level of UBZ-deleted Pol{kappa} in chromatin fractions was significantly reduced after UVC treatment (Fig. 3C). We isolated the chromatin fraction from wild-type cells after UVC treatment and immunoprecipitated it with anti-PCNA antibodies. Consistent with the results shown above, the amount of precipitated endogenous Pol{kappa} was significantly increased after UVC treatment (Fig. 3D).

In summary, the results of the experiments reported thus far indicate that mouse Pol{kappa} can interact with ubiquitin in vitro, an interaction that requires functional UBZs, and that Pol{kappa} can itself undergo monoubiquitination. A robust association between monoubiquitinated PCNA and Pol{kappa} also requires functional UBZs.


Figure 2
View larger version (34K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 2.
The UBZs in Pol{kappa} are required for association between Pol{kappa} protein and ubiquitin. A, shown is a schematic representation of mouse Pol{kappa} protein domains and the amino acid sequence of the UBZs. IMS, ImpB/MucB/SamB.B, COS7 cell lysates expressing Myc-Pol{kappa}-UBZ1 and -UBZ2 were pulled down with GST or GST-Ub fusion proteins as indicated. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblot (IB) analysis with {alpha}-Myc antibody. Input contains 2% of the lysates used in the experiment. C and D, shown are COS7 cell lysates expressing full-length Pol{kappa} and Pol{kappa} with the UBZs deleted (C) or Pol{kappa} with the UBZs mutated (D). HA-tagged Pol{kappa} proteins were pulled down with GST or GST-Ub fusion proteins as indicated. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis with {alpha}-HA. The total cell lysates (TCL) lanes contain 2% of the lysates used in the experiments. WT, wild type. E, COS7 cell lysates were transfected with (+) or without (–) FLAG-Ub together with HA-Pol{kappa} constructs. The cell lysates were separated and detected by immunoblot analysis with {alpha}-HA antibody.

 


Figure 3
View larger version (26K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 3.
The UBZs in Pol{kappa} protein mediate increased association between Pol{kappa} and monoubiquitinated PCNA. A, shown is GST pulldown of purified mouse Pol{kappa} protein as indicated. Lane 1, input containing one-tenth of the Pol{kappa} used in the experiments; lane 2, GST + Pol{kappa}; lane 3, GST-PCNA + Pol{kappa}; and lane 4, GST-PCNA-Ub + Pol{kappa}. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblot (IB) analysis with {alpha}-Pol{kappa} antibody. B, lysates of MRC cells expressing wild-type (W) and UBZ* (U*) Pol{kappa} proteins tagged with HA epitopes at their N termini were incubated with GST fusion proteins as indicated. Bound proteins were detected by immunoblotting with {alpha}-HA. The total cell lysates (TCL) lanes contain 2% of the lysates used in the experiments. C, MRC cells were transfected with wild-type and UBZ-deleted Pol{kappa} and were UV-irradiated (25 J/m2) 40 h later. They were then incubated for 7 h prior to Triton extraction and cross-linking. Equal amounts of Triton-insoluble proteins were solubilized and immunoprecipitated with {alpha}-PCNA, and the retained proteins were analyzed by Western blotting with {alpha}-HA (top) or {alpha}-PCNA (bottom). Input lanes contain 4% of the lysates used in the experiments. D, MEFs were UV-irradiated (25 J/m2) and then incubated for 7 h prior to Triton extraction and cross-linking. Immunoprecipitation with {alpha}-PCNA was performed as in C. The retained proteins were analyzed by Western blotting with {alpha}-Pol{kappa} (top) or {alpha}-PCNA (bottom). Input lanes contain 4% of the lysates used in the experiments. Data are representative of three independent experiments.

 
Pol{kappa} UBZs Are Required for Association of Pol{kappa} with Replication Factories in Cells Exposed to UV Radiation—To validate the results described above in living cells, we transfected wild-type and UBZ-deleted EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} constructs into fibroblasts. We observed strict nuclear localization of EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} protein, regardless of the presence or absence of the UBZs (Fig. 4A). As reported previously for human Pol{kappa} (22), in ~4% of cells transfected with wild-type EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} the protein was concentrated in nuclear foci (Fig. 4A). When cells transfected with EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} were exposed to UV radiation and incubated for 8–16 h, the fraction of cells with discrete nuclear foci increased to ~55.3% (Fig. 4B). Interestingly, the number of cells with mouse Pol{kappa} foci was higher than that observed when cells were transfected with human Polk and exposed to UV radiation (Fig. 4B). This observation was confirmed using a different EGFP-human Pol{kappa} construct (22). Furthermore, foci were not detected (with or without UV radiation exposure) in cells transfected with EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} lacking the UBZs (Fig. 4A). Similar results were obtained with EGFP-mouse Pol{kappa} carrying mutations in the UBZs (Fig. 4B). Hence, the UBZ domains are required for association of Pol{kappa} with replication factories in cells exposed to UV radiation.

Mutation of the Pol{kappa} UBZs Does Not Alter the Half-life of the Protein—Given that Pol{kappa} is intrinsically error prone, regulation of Pol{kappa} levels is presumably important for maintenance of genetic integrity. To investigate the stability of Pol{kappa} in vivo, MEFs were treated with CHX for various lengths of time. Endogenous Pol{kappa} was degraded slowly with a half-life of 5.4 h (Fig. 5A). To determine whether the UBZ domains affect the half-life of the protein, COS7 cells were transfected with wild-type and UBZ mutant Pol{kappa} and were treated with CHX for various lengths of time. Although the turnover rate of these exogenous proteins (~3.7–4.2 h) was relatively faster than that of endogenous Pol{kappa}, we observed essentially similar half-lives between wild-type and UBZ mutant Pol{kappa} (Fig. 5, B and C).

Levels of Pol{kappa} Expression Are Increased in Cells Exposed to BPDE or UVB Radiation—Cells from two groups of independently generated Pol{kappa} knock-out mice are abnormally sensitive to BPDE and less so to UV radiation exposure (16, 17). To elucidate the underlying mechanism of this sensitivity, we examined the levels of nuclear Pol{kappa} after UVB and BPDE treatments. Examination of MEFs exposed to UVB radiation at different times revealed a progressive increase in the amount of Pol{kappa} 24–48 h after UVB exposure (Fig. 6A). Similarly, increased steady-state levels of Pol{kappa} were observed 8–30 h after exposure of MEFs to 1 mM BPDE for 1 h (Fig. 6B). To further support this conclusion, whole cell lysates were harvested at different times after exposure of MEFs to 1 mM BPDE for 1 h. Equal amounts of whole cell lysate were immunoprecipitated with rabbit anti-Pol{kappa} antibodies, and bound endogenous Pol{kappa} was detected with hamster anti-Pol{kappa} antibodies. Consistent with the results shown in Fig. 6B, increased levels of Pol{kappa} were observed 8–24 h after BPDE treatment (Fig. 6C).


Figure 4
View larger version (28K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 4.
The UBZs are required for association of Pol{kappa} with replication factories in cells exposed to UV radiation. A, MRC5 cells were transfected with plasmids encoding full-length or deletion mutants of EGFP-Pol{kappa} as indicated. Forty h after transfection, cells were UV-irradiated (10 J/m2)(bottom panel) and incubated for 8 h before fixation with paraformaldehyde. The distribution of Pol{kappa} or deletion mutants (as indicated) was observed directly by autofluorescence of EGFP. The images show unirradiated (top) or UV-irradiated (bottom) transfected cells. B, shown is Pol{kappa} focus formation after UV radiation. MRC5 cells were transfected with a panel of EGFP-Pol{kappa} mutants and incubated for 40 h. Cells were irradiated with 10 J/m2 UVC and further incubated for 8 h. The proportion of EGFP-Pol{kappa}-expressing cells in which the protein was localized in nuclear foci was determined. All experiments were carried out in triplicate. Error bars indicate the standard deviation.

 

    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Persistent arrested DNA replication can threaten the viability of dividing cells. The observation that many eukaryotic cells, in particular those from higher eukaryotes, are endowed with multiple low fidelity specialized DNA polymerases that can catalyze DNA synthesis past sites of base damage in vitro has yielded important insights about DNA damage tolerance (2).


Figure 5
View larger version (63K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 5.
The UBZ domains do not affect the stability of Pol{kappa}. A, MEFs were treated with CHX (25 µg/ml) for the indicated times, and the whole cell extracts were immunoblotted with {alpha}-Pol{kappa} and {alpha}-actin antibodies. B and C, COS7 transfected with wild-type (B) or UBZ mutant (C) HA-Pol{kappa} was treated with CHX (25 µg/ml) for the indicated times, and the whole cell extracts were immunoblotted with {alpha}-HA and {alpha}-actin antibodies.

 
Regardless of the specific types of base damage in DNA handled by TLS, a question of considerable interest is how switching is effected at sites of arrested replication between high fidelity polymerases in the replicative machinery and one or more specialized enzymes that support TLS. Recent observations indicate that PCNA provides the central scaffold to which various TLS polymerases can bind to access the replicative ensemble stalled at a lesion and to execute their roles in lesion bypass (32, 33). However, it remains to be determined how a particular polymerase is selected to carry out TLS past a blocking lesion.

To further our understanding of the biological role of Pol{kappa} during TLS in mammalian cells, we searched for interacting partners and identified ubiquitin. Hence, like the other Y-family polymerases, Pol{eta}, Pol{iota}, and Rev1 (25, 26, 30), Pol{kappa} binds ubiquitin. Although the precise biological function of this interaction remains to be determined, this binding likely reflects an interaction of Pol{kappa} with monoubiquitinated PCNA (31). The present study demonstrates that recently identified ubiquitin-binding motifs in Pol{kappa} (UBZs) are required for its interaction with PCNA, suggesting specific molecular events associated with the Pol{kappa}/PCNA interaction, especially in cells exposed to DNA-damaging agents such as UV radiation. Our studies represent the first demonstration of this phenomenon in living cells. Similar to the UBZs in Pol{eta} and the ubiquitin-binding motif in Pol{iota} (25), the UBZs in Pol{kappa} are critical for the accumulation of the protein in replication foci when cells suffer DNA damage. Unlike the ubiquitin-binding motifs in REV1 (26), deletion/mutation of the UBZs completely abolished the basal level of focus formation by wild-type Pol{kappa} protein, suggesting that the basal level of Pol{kappa} foci may represent a response to spontaneous DNA damage. Surprisingly, the number of cells with visible mouse Pol{kappa} foci (~55.3%) is significantly greater than that observed with human Pol{kappa} (~25%) upon exposure to UV radiation (22).


Figure 6
View larger version (50K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]

 
FIGURE 6.
Time course of nuclear steady-state levels of Pol{kappa} with UVB (25 J/m2)(A) or BPDE (1 mM)(B) treatments as determined by Western blotting. No signal was detected when a Pol{kappa} mutant was used. β-Actin served as a loading control (bottom panel). The intensity of Pol{kappa} and β-actin bands was quantified by Photoshop histogram. The intensity of the Pol{kappa} Western blot bands at each time point was normalized to that of the control (0 h) Pol{kappa} content and compared with theβ-actin content. The normalized data from several independent experiments were averaged and are indicated under each lane. Lane C is an untreated sample. C, shown is the time course of cellular levels of Pol{kappa} with BPDE treatments as determined by immunoprecipitation. Whole cell lysates were harvested at times after exposure of mouse embryo fibroblasts to 1 mM BPDE for 1 h. Equal amounts of whole cell lysate were immunoprecipitated with rabbit anti-Pol{kappa} antibodies, and bound endogenous Pol{kappa} was detected with hamster anti-Pol{kappa} antibodies. The intensity of Pol{kappa} bands at each time point was quantified by Photoshop histogram and normalized to the control (0 h) Pol{kappa} content.

 
The present studies also demonstrate that like other Y-family polymerases, mouse Pol{kappa} protein can be monoubiquitinated and that the UBZs in the protein are required for this modification. The biological significance of monoubiquitination of Y-family polymerases is not understood. However, this post-translational modification may contribute to regulation of Y-family polymerases in or out of replication factories (25, 33).

We reported previously the presence of multiple PolK transcripts in mouse testis (27). Many of the putative Pol{kappa} protein isoforms thus identified lack UBZ domains. It is thus of considerable interest to determine whether the putative Pol{kappa} isoforms are indeed expressed in vivo and what novel biological functions they may have.

In addition to protein-protein interactions, Pol{kappa} activity may be regulated by its cellular levels. Pol{kappa} is apparently a relatively stable protein in vivo, and mutation of the UBZs does not alter the half-life of the protein. Consistent with this observation, the majority of Pol{kappa} in vivo is not monoubiquitinated, and polyubiquitinated Pol{kappa} is apparently absent.

Pol{kappa}-deficient mouse and chicken cells manifest sensitivity to killing by BPDE (16), suggesting a specific requirement for Pol{kappa} to bypass this planar polycyclic lesion in DNA. Conceivably, adducts in DNA with similar planer polycyclic structures generated by cholesterol and cholesterol derivatives, such as steroid hormones and estrogen, generate the same requirement. Consistent with this notion, PolK mRNA is highly expressed in the adrenal cortex early during mouse embryonic development (28).

We and other laboratories reported previously that the mouse PolK gene is transcriptionally up-regulated following exposure to UVB and BPDE treatments (28, 34), suggesting that exposure to these DNA-damaging agents promotes up-regulation of the gene. Consistent with this interpretation, the present studies demonstrate a progressive increase in steady-state levels of Pol{kappa} protein after such treatments. The biological significance of these expression patterns remains to be established.


    FOOTNOTES
 
* This study was supported in part by Grants ES11344 from NIEHS, National Institutes of Health (to E. C. F.), and DI 931/1-1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to I. D.). 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. Back

1 Supported by the Ernst Schering Foundation. Back

2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 214-648-4020; Fax: 214-648-4067; E-mail: friedberg.errol{at}pathology.swmed.edu.

3 The abbreviations used are: TLS, translesion DNA synthesis; UBZ, ubiquitin-binding zinc finger motif; Ub, ubiquitin; CHX, cycloheximide; GST, glutathione S-transferase; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; BPDE, benzo-[a]pyrene-dihydrodiol epoxide; mPol{kappa}, mouse Pol{kappa}; hPol{kappa}, human Pol{kappa}; EGFP, enhanced green fluorescent protein; HA, hemagglutinin; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast. Back


    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
We thank Dr. Alan R. Lehmann for MRC5 cells and EGFP-hPol{kappa} plasmid, Dr. Valerie Gerlach for preparing EGFP-C1-hPol{kappa} construct and rabbit anti-Pol{kappa}, Drs. Tom Gillete and Lisa McDaniel for helpful discussion, and J. Nicole Kosarek for critical reading of the manuscript.



    REFERENCES
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 

  1. Friedberg, E. C. (2005) Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 6, 943–953[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  2. Friedberg, E. C., Lehmann, A. R., and Fuchs, R. P. (2005) Mol. Cell 18, 499–505[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  3. Ohmori, H., Friedberg, E. C., Fuchs, R. P., Goodman, M. F., Hanaoka, F., Hinkle, D., Kunkel, T. A., Lawrence, C. W., Livneh, Z., Nohmi, T., Prakash, L., Prakash, S., Todo, T., Walker, G. C., Wang, Z., and Woodgate, R. (2001) Mol. Cell 8, 7–8[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  4. Bebenek, K., and Kunkel, T. A. (2004) Adv. Protein Chem. 69, 137–165[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  5. Lawrence, C. W. (2004) Adv. Protein Chem. 69, 167–203[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  6. Guo, C., Fischhaber, P. L., Luk-Paszyc, M. J., Masuda, Y., Zhou, J., Kamiya, K., Kisker, C., and Friedberg, E. C. (2003) EMBO J. 22, 6621–6630[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  7. Ohashi, E., Murakumo, Y., Kanjo, N., Akagi, J., Masutani, C., Hanaoka, F., and Ohmori, H. (2004) Genes Cells 9, 523–531[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  8. Tissier, A., Kannouche, P., Reck, M. P., Lehmann, A. R., Fuchs, R. P., and Cordonnier, A. (2004) DNA Repair 3, 1503–1514[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  9. Lehmann, A. R., Niimi, A., Ogi, T., Brown, S., Sabbioneda, S., Wing, J. F., Kannouche, P. L., and Green, C. M. (2007) DNA Repair 6, 891–899[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  10. Guo, C., Sonoda, E., Tang, T. S., Parker, J. L., Bielen, A. B., Takeda, S., Ulrich, H. D., and Friedberg, E. C. (2006) Mol. Cell 23, 265–271[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  11. Kannouche, P. L., Wing, J., and Lehmann, A. R. (2004) Mol. Cell 14, 491–500[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  12. Prakash, S., Johnson, R. E., and Prakash, L. (2005) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 74, 317–353[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  13. Ulrich, H. D. (2004) Cell Cycle 3, 15–18[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  14. Stelter, P., and Ulrich, H. D. (2003) Nature 425, 188–191[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  15. Watanabe, K., Tateishi, S., Kawasuji, M., Tsurimoto, T., Inoue, H., and Yamaizumi, M. (2004) EMBO J. 23, 3886–3896[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  16. Ogi, T., Shinkai, Y., Tanaka, K., and Ohmori, H. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 99, 15548–15553[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  17. Schenten, D., Gerlach, V. L., Guo, C., Velasco-Miguel, S., Hladik, C. L., White, C. L., Friedberg, E. C., Rajewsky, K., and Esposito, G. (2002) Eur. J. Immunol. 32, 3152–3160[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  18. Okada, T., Sonoda, E., Yamashita, Y. M., Koyoshi, S., Tateishi, S., Yamaizumi, M., Takata, M., Ogawa, O., and Takeda, S. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 48690–48695[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  19. Takenaka, K., Ogi, T., Okada, T., Sonoda, E., Guo, C., Friedberg, E. C., and Takeda, S. (2006) J. Biol. Chem. 281, 2000–2004[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  20. Bavoux, C., Hoffmann, J. S., and Cazaux, C. (2005) Biochimie (Paris) 87, 637–646
  21. Bavoux, C., Leopoldino, A. M., Bergoglio, V., O-Wang, J., Ogi, T., Bieth, A., Judde, J. G., Pena, S. D., Poupon, M. F., Helleday, T., Tagawa, M., Machado, C., Hoffmann, J. S., and Cazaux, C. (2005) Cancer Res. 65, 325–330[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  22. Ogi, T., Kannouche, P., and Lehmann, A. R. (2005) J. Cell Sci. 118, 129–136[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  23. Bergoglio, V., Bavoux, C., Verbiest, V., Hoffmann, J. S., and Cazaux, C. (2002) J. Cell Sci. 115, 4413–4418[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  24. Bi, X., Slater, D. M., Ohmori, H., and Vaziri, C. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 22343–22355[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  25. Bienko, M., Green, C. M., Crosetto, N., Rudolf, F., Zapart, G., Coull, B., Kannouche, P., Wider, G., Peter, M., Lehmann, A. R., Hofmann, K., and Dikic, I. (2005) Science 310, 1821–1824[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  26. Guo, C., Tang, T. S., Bienko, M., Parker, J. L., Bielen, A. B., Sonoda, E., Takeda, S., Ulrich, H. D., Dikic, I., and Friedberg, E. C. (2006) Mol. Cell. Biol. 26, 8892–8900[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  27. Guo, C., Gao, T., Confer, N., Velasco-Miguel, S., and Friedberg, E. C. (2005) DNA Repair 4, 397–402[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  28. Velasco-Miguel, S., Richardson, J. A., Gerlach, V. L., Lai, W. C., Gao, T., Russell, L. D., Hladik, C. L., White, C. L., and Friedberg, E. C. (2003) DNA Repair 2, 91–106[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  29. Gerlach, V. L., Aravind, L., Gotway, G., Schultz, R. A., Koonin, E. V., and Friedberg, E. C. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 11922–11927[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  30. Plosky, B. S., Vidal, A. E., Fernandez de Henestrosa, A. R., McLenigan, M. P., McDonald, J. P., Mead, S., and Woodgate, R. (2006) EMBO J. 25, 2847–2855[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  31. Bi, X., Barkley, L. R., Slater, D. M., Tateishi, S., Yamaizumi, M., Ohmori, H., and Vaziri, C. (2006) Mol. Cell. Biol. 26, 3527–3540[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  32. Moldovan, G. L., Pfander, B., and Jentsch, S. (2007) Cell 129, 665–679[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  33. Huang, T. T., and D'Andrea, A. D. (2006) Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 7, 323–334[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  34. Ogi, T., Mimura, J., Hikida, M., Fujimoto, H., Fujii-Kuriyama, Y., and Ohmori, H. (2001) Genes Cells 6, 943–953[Abstract]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.Home page
L. S. Waters, B. K. Minesinger, M. E. Wiltrout, S. D'Souza, R. V. Woodruff, and G. C. Walker
Eukaryotic Translesion Polymerases and Their Roles and Regulation in DNA Damage Tolerance
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., March 1, 2009; 73(1): 134 - 154.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
A. Niimi, S. Brown, S. Sabbioneda, P. L. Kannouche, A. Scott, A. Yasui, C. M. Green, and A. R. Lehmann
Regulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen ubiquitination in mammalian cells
PNAS, October 21, 2008; 105(42): 16125 - 16130.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
283/8/4658    most recent
M709275200v1
Right arrow Submit a Letter to Editor
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Guo, C.
Right arrow Articles by Friedberg, E. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Guo, C.
Right arrow Articles by Friedberg, E. C.
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 All ASBMB Journals   Molecular and Cellular Proteomics 
 Journal of Lipid Research   ASBMB Today 
Copyright © 2008 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Advertisement
spacer
Advertisement
Advertisement