The occlusion derived form of baculovirus is specially adapted for primary infection of the host midgut epithelium. As such, the virion must contain the proteins essential for host range determination and initiation of infection. Because knowledge of virion composition is a prerequisite for functional investigation, this study used a combination of techniques to identify the proteins present within or associated with the occlusion-derived virus (ODV) virion. Thirtyone proteins, including proteins known to be essential for viral DNA replication, were identified with confidence. An additional 13 proteins were identified by using one of the three techniques. A comparison of gene conservation among the ODV proteins encoded in the 16 sequenced baculoviridae genomes is presented. With knowledge of the composition of ODV, it is now possible to target proteins and study their role(s) during primary infection.A utographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is the type species for the family Baculoviridae and it was used in this study. AcMNPV is a double-stranded DNA virus (132 kbp) that undergoes a biphasic life cycle in its lepidopteron host. Progeny nucleocapsids have two fates: during the early phase of infection, Ϸ16% of the intracellular copies of viral DNA are targeted for maturation at the cell surface to produce budded virus (BV) (1). The remaining nucleocapsids mature within the nucleus and are incorporated within a viral occlusion (occlusionderived virus, ODV). After primary infection of the insect gut by ODV, BV is produced and released into the hemocoel, and secondary infection results in insect death with subsequent release of viral occlusions into the environment. Because ODV is the viral form responsible for primary infection, knowing virion composition is fundamental for functional investigation of virulence and host specificity. The goal of this study was to determine the protein composition of the ODV virion. Such knowledge should aid in the understanding of the biology of AcMNPV, including genetic manipulation of the family Baculoviridae to enhance their function as microbial pesticides (2). Additionally, studies on the mechanism of envelope protein trafficking to intranuclear membranes and ODV envelope would be aided by comprehensive knowledge of ODV envelope composition.ODV is amenable to proteomic approaches for protein identification. It is easily purified and contains a small number of proteins. Previous studies suggest ODV contains between 13 and 35 proteins, most of which are unknown (3-13). ODV is incorporated within a crystalline occlusion, and the increased density of the occlusion allows it to be easily purified from in vitro or in vivo sources. A major concern when releasing the ODV from the crystalline matrix is protein degradation caused by the presence of proteases, particularly an insect alkaline protease (14). To inhibit protease activity, the occlusions are treated with HgCl 2 or diisopropyl fluorophosphate (14). After protease inactivation, ODV is released from the occlusion an...

Post-translational modification by the conjugation of small ubiquitin-like modifiers is an essential mechanism to affect protein function. Currently, only a limited number of substrates are known for most of these modifiers, thus limiting our knowledge of their role and relevance for cellular physiology. Here, we report the development of a universal strategy for proteomic studies of ubiquitin-like modifiers. This strategy involves the development of stable transfected cell lines expressing a double-tagged modifier under the control of a tightly negatively regulated promoter, the induction of the expression and conjugation of the tagged modifier to cellular proteins, the tandem affinity purification of the pool of proteins covalently modified by the tagged modifier, and the identification of the modified proteins by LC and MS. By applying this methodology to the proteomic analysis of SUMO-1 and SUMO-3, we determined that SUMO-1 and SUMO-3 are stable proteins exhibiting half-lives of over 20 h, demonstrated that sumoylation with both SUMO-1 and SUMO-3 is greatly stimulated by MG-132 and heat shock treatment, demonstrated the preferential usage of either SUMO-1 or SUMO-3 for some known SUMO substrates, and identified 122 putative SUMO substrates of which only 27 appeared to be modified by both SUMO-1 and SUMO-3. This limited overlapping in the subset of proteins modified by SUMO-1 and SUMO-3 supports that the SUMO paralogues are likely to be functionally distinct. Three of the novel putative SUMO substrates identified, namely the polypyrimidine tract-binding protein-associated splicing factor PSF, the structural microtubular component ␣-tubulin, and the GTP-binding nuclear protein Ran, were confirmed as authentic SUMO substrates. The application of this universal strategy to the identification of the pool of cellular substrates modified by other ubiquitin-like modifiers will dramatically increase our knowledge of the biological role of the different ubiquitin-like conjugations systems in the cell. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 4:56 -72, 2005.

Regulation of BCR signalling strength is crucial for B-cell development and function. Bright is a B-cell-restricted factor that complexes with Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) and its substrate, transcription initiation factor-I (TFII-I), to activate immunoglobulin heavy chain gene transcription in the nucleus. Here we show that a palmitoylated pool of Bright is diverted to lipid rafts of resting B cells where it associates with signalosome components. After BCR ligation, Bright transiently interacts with sumoylation enzymes, blocks calcium flux and phosphorylation of Btk and TFII-I and is then discharged from lipid rafts as a Sumo-I-modified form. The resulting lipid raft concentration of Bright contributes to the signalling threshold of B cells, as their sensitivity to BCR stimulation decreases as the levels of Bright increase. Bright regulates signalling independent of its role in IgH transcription, as shown by specific dominant-negative titration of rafts-specific forms. This study identifies a BCR tuning mechanism in lipid rafts that is regulated by differential post-translational modification of a transcription factor with implications for B-cell tolerance and autoimmunity.

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) overexpression has been found to be associated with malignant cancer progression and aggression in individuals with many types of cancers. However, the molecular basis of XIAP in the regulation of cancer cell biological behavior remains largely unknown. In this study, we found that a deficiency of XIAP expression in human cancer cells by either knock-out or knockdown leads to a marked reduction in ␤-actin polymerization and cytoskeleton formation. Consistently, cell migration and invasion were also decreased in XIAP-deficient cells compared with parental wildtype cells. Subsequent studies demonstrated that the regulation of cell motility by XIAP depends on its interaction with the Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor (RhoGDI) via the XIAP RING domain. Furthermore, XIAP was found to negatively regulate RhoGDI SUMOylation, which might affect its activity in controlling cell motility. Collectively, our studies provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms by which XIAP regulates cancer invasion and offer a further theoretical basis for setting XIAP as a potential prognostic marker and specific target for treatment of cancers with metastatic properties.The X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) 3 is a member of the IAP family that has received substantial attention during the last few years. Biochemical and structural studies have indicated that XIAP has three zinc-binding baculovirus IAP repeat (BIR) domains (BIR1-3), a loop region, and a RING finger (1). The BIR3 domain of XIAP is able to bind and inhibit caspase-9, whereas the BIR2 region binds and inhibits active caspase-3 and caspase-7. The RING domain of XIAP has E3 ligase activity and is able to degrade proteins by linking them to ubiquitin molecules (2-4). More recently, XIAP has been found to be a regulator of the cell cycle through binding the cell cycle regulators MAGED1 and NRAGE and to play an important role in the control of intracellular copper levels through ubiquitin ligase-dependent regulation of the copper-regulating gene MURR1 (5, 6). The ability of XIAP to regulate these pathways, uncoupled with its caspase inhibitory activities, indicates its distinct properties and functions. Based on the finding that XIAP-deficient mice do not display obvious apoptotic phenotypes (7), it was hypothesized that there might be new functions and signaling pathways affected by XIAP, which are probably distinct from those involved in apoptotic caspase cascades.There is growing evidence showing the correlation between high XIAP overexpression and malignant cancer aggression (8, 9). Comparison of XIAP expression between adjacent malignant tissue and normal tissue invariably demonstrates that XIAP is much more highly expressed in the malignant cancer tissue (10 -20). Poorly differentiated carcinomas also display significantly higher levels of XIAP expression than do well differentiated carcinomas (13,(17)(18)(19)(20). Moreover, XIAP expression in metastatic specimens is much higher than that in primary cancers ...

Supplementary material available online at