Precise body and organ sizes in the adult animal are ensured by a range of signaling pathways. In a screen to identify genes affecting hindgut morphogenesis in Drosophila, we identified a P-element insertion in dRheb, a novel, highly conserved member of the Ras superfamily of G-proteins. Overexpression of dRheb in the developing fly (using the GAL4:UAS system) causes dramatic overgrowth of multiple tissues: in the wing,this is due to an increase in cell size; in cultured cells, dRheboverexpression results in accumulation of cells in S phase and an increase in cell size. Using a loss-of-function mutation we show that dRheb is required in the whole organism for viability (growth) and for the growth of individual cells. Inhibition of dRheb activity in cultured cells results in their arrest in G1 and a reduction in size. These data demonstrate that dRheb is required for both cell growth (increase in mass) and cell cycle progression; one explanation for this dual role would be that dRheb promotes cell cycle progression by affecting cell growth. Consistent with this interpretation, we find that flies with reduced dRheb activity are hypersensitive to rapamycin, an inhibitor of the growth regulator TOR. In cultured cells, the effect of overexpressing dRheb was blocked by the addition of rapamycin. These results imply that dRheb is involved in TOR signaling.

Post-translational modi®cation of proteins by the addition of a farnesyl group is critical for the function of a number of proteins involved in signal transduction. Farnesylation facilitates their membrane association and also promotes protein±protein interaction. Recently, progress has been made in understanding the biological signi®cance of farnesylation. First, effects of farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) on cancer cells have been examined using a variety of human cancer cells. This study showed that one of the major effects of FTIs is to alter cell cycle progression. Both G0/G1 enrichment and G2/M accumulation were observed depending on the cell line examined. Second, a number of novel farnesylated proteins have been characterized. Of these, Rheb and CENP-E,F are of particular interest. Rheb, a novel member of the Ras superfamily G-proteins, may play a role in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. CENP-E,F are centromere associated motors that play critical roles in mitosis. These results suggest important contributions of farnesylated proteins in the regulation of cell cycle progression.

Protein l-isoaspartyl methyltransferase is a widely distributed repair enzyme that initiates the conversion of abnormal l-isoaspartyl residues to their normal l-aspartyl forms. Here we show that this activity is expressed in developing corn (Zea mays) and carrot (Daucus carota var. Danvers Half Long) plants in patterns distinct from those previously seen in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum cv Augusta) and thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), whereas the pattern of expression observed in rice (Oryza sativa) is similar to that of winter wheat. Although high levels of activity are found in the seeds of all of these plants, relatively high levels of activity in vegetative tissues are only found in corn and carrot. The activity in leaves was found to decrease with aging, an unexpected finding given the postulated role of this enzyme in repairing age-damaged proteins. In contrast with the situation in wheat and Arabidopsis, we found that osmotic or salt stress could increase the methyltransferase activity in newly germinated seeds (but not in seeds or seedlings), whereas abscisic acid had no effect. We found that the corn, rice, and carrot enzymes have comparable affinity for methyl-accepting substrates and similar optimal temperatures for activity of 45°C to 55°C as the wheat and Arabidopsis enzymes. These experiments suggest that this enzyme may have specific roles in different plant tissues despite a common catalytic function.

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Neurofibromin plays a critical role in the downregulation of Ras proteins in neurons and Schwann cells. Thus, the ability of neurofibromin to interact with Ras is crucial for its function, as mutations in NF1 that abolish this interaction fail to maintain function. To investigate the neurofibromin-Ras interaction in a systematic manner, we have carried out a yeast two-hybrid screen using a mutant of H-ras, H-ras D92K, defective for interaction with the GTPase-activated protein-related domain (GRD) of NF1. Two screens of a randomly mutagenized NF1-GRD library led to the identification of seven novel NF1 mutants. Characterization of the NF1-GRD mutants revealed that one class of mutants are allele specific for H-ras D92K. These mutants exhibit increased affinity for H-ras D92K and significantly reduced affinity for wild-type H-ras protein. Furthermore, they do not interact with another H-ras mutant defective for interaction with GTPase-activating proteins. Another class of mutants are high-affinity mutants which exhibit dramatically increased affinity for both wildtype and mutant forms of Ras. They also exhibit a striking ability to suppress the heat shock sensitive traits of activated RAS2 G19V in yeast cells. Five mutations cluster within a region encompassing residues 1391 to 1436 (region II). Three NF1 patient mutations have previously been identified in this region. Two mutations that we identified occur in a region encompassing residues 1262 to 1276 (region I). Combining high-affinity mutations from both regions results in even greater affinity for Ras. These results demonstrate that two distinct regions of NF1-GRD are involved in the Ras interaction and that single amino acid changes can affect NF1's affinity for Ras.

Protein L-isoaspartate-(D-aspartate)O-methyltransferases (EC 2.1.1.77), present in a wide variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, can initiate the conversion of abnormal L-isoaspartyl residues that arise spontaneously with age to normal L-aspartyl residues. In addition, the mammalian enzyme can recognize spontaneously racemized D-aspartyl residues for conversion to L-aspartyl residues, although no such activity has been seen to date for enzymes from lower animals or prokaryotes. In this work, we characterize the enzyme from the hyperthermophilic archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus. Remarkably, this methyltransferase catalyzes both L-isoaspartyl and D-aspartyl methylation reactions in synthetic peptides with affinities that can be significantly higher than those of the human enzyme, previously the most catalytically efficient species known. Analysis of the common features of L-isoaspartyl and D-aspartyl residues suggested that the basic substrate recognition element for this enzyme may be mimicked by an N-terminal succinyl peptide. We tested this hypothesis with a number of synthetic peptides using both the P. furiosus and the human enzyme. We found that peptides devoid of aspartyl residues but containing the N-succinyl group were in fact methyl esterified by both enzymes. The recent structure determined for the Lisoaspartyl methyltransferase from P. furiosus complexed with an L-isoaspartyl peptide supports this mode of methyl-acceptor recognition. The combination of the thermophilicity and the high affinity binding of methylaccepting substrates makes the P. furiosus enzyme useful both as a reagent for detecting isomerized and racemized residues in damaged proteins and for possible human therapeutic use in repairing damaged proteins in extracellular environments where the cytosolic enzyme is not normally found.) is a repair enzyme that catalyzes the S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)-dependent 1 methyl esterification of the ␣-carboxyl group of L-isoaspartyl residues that originate from the spontaneous degradation of aspartic acid and asparagine residues in proteins (1-5). The enzyme-mediated methylation reaction is followed by nonenzymatic steps that result in the net conversion of L-isoaspartyl residues to L-aspartyl residues, representing a potentially important mechanism for avoiding the accumulation of damaged proteins as cells age (4 -9). This methyltransferase is found in a wide array of organisms including eubacteria (10), plants (11, 12), nematodes (13), insects (14), and mammals (15). Its amino acid sequence is highly conserved (16). Its functional importance to the bacterium Escherichia coli, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, and mice has been assessed by analyzing the effect of knockout mutations of its structural genes. In E. coli, methyltransferasedeficient cells are more sensitive to stress in the stationary phase (17), whereas knockout worms show poorer survival in the dauer phase (18). Methyltransferase-deficient mice suffer fatal seizures at an early age (19 -21). Interestingly, the e...

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