Fatty acylation of proteins: new insights into membrane targeting of myristoylated and palmitoylated proteins. (41/1855)

Covalent attachment of myristate and/or palmitate occurs on a wide variety of viral and cellular proteins. This review will highlight the latest advances in our understanding of the enzymology of N-myristoylation and palmitoylation as well as the functional consequences of fatty acylation of key signaling proteins. The role of myristate and palmitate in promoting membrane binding as well as specific membrane targeting will be reviewed, with emphasis on the Src family of tyrosine protein kinases and alpha subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins. The use of myristoyl switches and regulated depalmitoylation as mechanisms for achieving reversible membrane binding and regulated signaling will also be explored.  (+info)

Palmitoylation of GAP-43 by the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment and Golgi apparatus. (42/1855)

Palmitoylation of the neuronal plasticity protein GAP-43 has previously been shown to occur at the plasma membrane, but the site of initial palmitoylation has not been identified. To identify this organelle we have incubated GAP-43 with various subcellular fractions and have analyzed palmitoylation by the Triton X-114 partitioning method. In vitro-translated [(35)S]methionine-labeled GAP-43 was incubated with plasma membrane, nuclei, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus and a rough microsome preparation that contained the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC), but not plasma membrane or Golgi apparatus. GAP-43 partitioned into Triton X-114 in the presence of plasma membrane, Golgi, and ERGIC membranes, but not nuclei or mitochondria. Partitioning caused by the ERGIC was blocked by pretreatment of the membranes with the palmitoylation inhibitors dithiothreitol, tunicamycin, and low temperature, and by treatment of GAP-43 with iodoacetamide. The time course of partitioning agreed closely with the time course of incorporation of radioactive palmitate into proteins as reported previously. Because the ERGIC has a broad distribution in the cell, our results provide evidence that the ERGIC is the initial site of GAP-43 palmitoylation.  (+info)

Outer membrane proteins Omp10, Omp16, and Omp19 of Brucella spp. are lipoproteins. (43/1855)

The deduced sequences of the Omp10, Omp16, and Omp19 outer membrane proteins of Brucella spp. contain a potential bacterial lipoprotein processing sequence. After extraction with Triton X-114, these three proteins partitioned into the detergent phase. Processing of the three proteins is inhibited by globomycin, a specific inhibitor of lipoprotein signal peptidase. The three proteins were radioimmunoprecipitated from [(3)H]palmitic acid-labeled Brucella abortus lysates with monoclonal antibodies. These results demonstrate that Omp10, Omp16, and Omp19 are lipoproteins.  (+info)

Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (FabI): a target for the antimicrobial triclosan and its role in acylated homoserine lactone synthesis. (44/1855)

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa fabI structural gene, encoding enoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) reductase, was cloned and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that fabI is probably the last gene in a transcriptional unit that includes a gene encoding an ATP-binding protein of an ABC transporter of unknown function. The FabI protein was similar in size and primary sequence to other bacterial enoyl-ACP reductases, and it contained signature motifs for the FAD-dependent pyridine nucleotide reductase and glucose/ribitol dehydrogenase families, respectively. The chromosomal fabI gene was disrupted, and the resulting mutant was viable but possessed only 62% of the total enoyl-ACP reductase activity found in wild-type cell extracts. The fabI-encoded enoyl-ACP reductase activity was NADH dependent and inhibited by triclosan; the residual activity in the fabI mutant was also NADH dependent but not inhibited by triclosan. An polyhistidine-tagged FabI protein was purified and characterized. Purified FabI (i) could use NADH but not NADPH as a cofactor; (ii) used both crotonyl-coenzyme A and crotonyl-ACP as substrates, although it was sixfold more active with crotonyl-ACP; and (iii) was efficiently inhibited by low concentrations of triclosan. A FabI Gly95-to-Val active-site amino acid substitution was generated by site-directed mutagenesis, and the mutant protein was purified. The mutant FabI protein retained normal enoyl-ACP reductase activity but was highly triclosan resistant. When coupled to FabI, purified P. aeruginosa N-butyryl-L-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) synthase, RhlI, could synthesize C4-HSL from crotonyl-ACP and S-adenosylmethionine. This reaction was NADH dependent and inhibited by triclosan. The levels of C4-HSL and N-(3-oxo)-dodecanoyl-L-homoserine lactones were reduced 50% in a fabI mutant, corroborating the role of FabI in acylated homoserine lactone synthesis in vivo.  (+info)

Acylation of monolysocardiolipin in rat heart. (45/1855)

Cardiolipin is a major mitochondrial membrane glycerophospholipid in the mammalian heart. In this study, the ability of the isolated intact rat heart to remodel cardiolipin and the mitochondrial enzyme activities that reacylate monolysocardiolipin to cardiolipin in vitro were characterized. Adult rat heart cardiolipin was found to contain primarily linoleic and oleic acids. Perfusion of the isolated intact rat heart in the Langendorff mode with various radioactive fatty acids, followed by analysis of radioactivity incorporated into cardiolipin and its immediate precursor phosphatidylglycerol, indicated that unsaturated fatty acids entered into cardiolipin mainly by deacylation followed by reacylation. The in vitro mitochondrial acylation of monolysocardiolipin to cardiolipin was coenzyme A-dependent with a pH optimum in the alkaline range. Significant activity was also present at physiological pH. With oleoyl-coenzyme A as substrate, the apparent K(m) for oleoyl-coenzyme A and monolysocardiolipin were 12.5 microm and 138.9 microm, respectively. With linoleoyl-coenzyme A as substrate, the apparent K(m) for linoleoyl-coenzyme A and monolysocardiolipin were 6.7 microm and 59.9 microm, respectively. Pre-incubation at 50 degrees C resulted in different profiles of enzyme inactivation for the two activities. Both activities were affected similarly by phospholipids, triacsin C, and various lipid binding proteins but were affected differently by various detergents and myristoyl-coenzyme A. [(3)H]cardiolipin was not formed from monolyso[(3)H]cardiolipin in the absence of acyl-coenzyme A. Monolysocardiolipin acyltransferase activities were observed in mitochondria prepared from various other rat tissues. In summary, the data suggest that the isolated intact rat heart has the ability to rapidly remodel cardiolipin and that rat heart mitochondria contain coenzyme A-dependent acyltransferase(s) for the acylation of monolysocardiolipin to cardiolipin. A simple and reproducible in vitro assay for the determination of acyl-coenzyme A- dependent monolysocardiolipin acyltransferase activity in mammalian tissues with exogenous monolysocardiolipin substrate is also presented.  (+info)

The nonribosomal code. (46/1855)

How genes are expressed and translated into proteins (using mRNA, codons and tRNAs as adaptor molecules) forms the basis of the 'genetic code'. Many peptides are synthesized nonribosomally, however, by large protein complexes that also serve as templates. Recent advances have shed light on what the nonribosomal code is and how it can be read.  (+info)

Biosynthesis and turnover of anandamide and other N-acylethanolamines in peritoneal macrophages. (47/1855)

Polyunsaturated N-acylethanolamines (NAEs), including anandamide (20:4n-6 NAE), elicit a variety of biological effects through cannabinoid receptors, whereas saturated and monounsaturated NAEs are inactive. Arachidonic acid mobilization induced by treatment of intact mouse peritoneal macrophages with Ca2+ ionophore A23187 had no effect on the production of NAE or its precursor N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (N-acyl PE). Addition of exogenous ethanolamine resulted in enhanced NAE synthesis by its N-acylation with endogenous fatty acids, but this pathway was not selective for arachidonic acid. Incorporation of (18)O from H2 (18)O-containing media into the amide carbonyls of both NAE and N-acyl PE demonstrated a rapid, constitutive turnover of both lipids.  (+info)

Steric interactions of valines 1, 5, and 7 in [valine 5, D-alanine 8] gramicidin A channels. (48/1855)

When the central valine residues 6, 7, and 8 of gramicidin A (gA) are shifted by one position, the resulting [Val(5), D-Ala(8)]gA forms right-handed channels with a single-channel conductance and average duration somewhat less than gA channels. The reduction in channel duration has been attributed to steric conflict between the side chains of Val(1) and Val(5) in opposing monomers (Koeppe, R. E. II, D. V. Greathouse, A. Jude, G. Saberwal, L. L. Providence, and O. S. Andersen. 1994. J. Biol. Chem. 269:12567-12576). To investigate the orientations and motions of valines in [Val(5), D-Ala(8)]gA, we have incorporated (2)H labels at Val 1, 5, or 7 and recorded (2)H-NMR spectra of oriented and nonoriented samples in hydrated dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine. Spectra of nonoriented samples at 4 degrees C reveal powder patterns that indicate rapid side chain "hopping" for Val(5), and an intermediate rate of hopping for Val(1) and Val(7) that is somewhat slower than in gA. Oriented samples of deuterated Val(1) and Val(7) show large changes in the methyl and C(beta)-(2)H quadrupolar splittings (Deltanu(q)) when Ala(5) in native gA is changed to Val(5). Three or more peaks for the Val(1) methyls with Deltanu(q) values that vary with the echo delay, together with an intermediate spectrum for nonoriented samples at 4 degrees C, suggest unusual side chain dynamics for Val(1) in [Val(5), D-Ala(8)]gA. These results are consistent with a steric conflict that has been introduced between the two opposing monomers. In contrast, the acylation of gA has little influence on the side chain dynamics of Val(1), regardless of the identity of residue 5.  (+info)