No abstract

The Wilson disease copper-transporting ATPase plays a critical role in the intracellular trafficking of copper. Mutations in this protein lead to the accumulation of a toxic level of copper in the liver, kidney, and brain followed by extensive tissue damage and death. The ATPase has a novel amino-terminal domain ( approximately 70 kDa) which contains six repeats of the copper binding motif GMTCXXC. We have expressed and characterized this domain with respect to the copper binding sites and the conformational consequences of copper binding. A detailed analysis of this domain by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has revealed that each binding site ligates copper in the +1 oxidation state using two cysteine side chains with distorted linear geometry. Analysis of copper-induced conformational changes in the amino-terminal domain indicates that both secondary and tertiary structure changes take place upon copper binding. These copper-induced conformational changes could play an important role in the function and regulation of the ATPase in vivo. In addition to providing important insights on copper binding to the protein, these results suggest a possible mechanism of copper trafficking by the Wilson disease ATPase.

C.d. studies have shown that mouse SAA2 (serum amyloid A2) protein has about one-half of the alpha-helix content of the SAA1 (serum amyloid A1) analogue (15 as against 32%), although secondary-structure prediction analyses based on sequence data do not suggest such a large difference between the forms. The decreased helical content may be a reflection or indication of a stronger propensity to aggregation of the SAA2 form compared with SAA1. The main elements of secondary structure in both proteins are beta-sheets/turns. Interactions with Ca2+ are accompanied by small losses in alpha-helix content, whereas binding to chondroitin-6-sulphate in the presence of millimolar Ca2+ also decreases the amount of secondary structure. However, SAA2 binding to heparan sulphate increases its beta-sheet structure, whereas with SAA1 secondary structure is not apparently altered by its interaction with heparan sulphate. Computer-generated surface profiles show slight differences in accessibility, hydrophilicity and flexibility between the proteins. Understanding these differences may help to explain why SAA2 is found in amyloid fibrils whereas SAA1 is not. In particular, a stronger tendency to aggregation might be the reason why SAA2 is deposited exclusively in these fibrils.

The metalloproteome is defined as the set of proteins that have metal-binding capacity by being metalloproteins or having metal-binding sites. A different metalloproteome may exist for each metal. Mass spectrometric characterization of metalloproteomes provides valuable information relating to cellular disposition of metals physiologically and in metal-associated diseases. We examined the Cu and Zn metalloproteomes in three human hepatoma lines: Hep G2 and Mz-Hep-1, which retain many functional characteristics of normal human hepatocytes, and SKHep-1, which is poorly differentiated. Additionally we studied a single specimen of normal human liver and Hep Metals play a pivotal role in cellular metabolism. They function as the catalytic centers in many biochemical reactions and serve as structural elements for a large number of regulatory proteins (1, 2). Characterization of metal-binding proteins is important for understanding the structure and biological functions of such proteins in metal-associated diseases. In the past few years, a variety of mass spectrometric techniques has been used to probe the metal-protein interactions in metal-containing proteins. These studies have been successfully applied to determining metal binding stoichiometry (3-9), metal-binding sites (10, 11), and metal-dependent structure/conformation changes (12,13). A number of metalbinding proteins, such as cytochrome c oxidase (14), albumin (3, 7), metallothionein (12,15,16), prion protein (PrP) (8,9,11,13,17), matrilysin (4, 5), and non-heme iron-containing metalloproteins (6), have been individually well characterized by either overall mass measurements on the intact metal-protein complexes or peptide sequencing on the protein digest with tandem mass spectrometry.Rapid developments in proteomic technology and bioinformatics have permitted identification of proteomes of cell lines and tissue by using mass spectrometry instrumentation (for review, see . The specific advances include the use of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE),

COMMD1 (copper metabolism gene MURR1 (mouse U2af1-rs1 region1) domain) belongs to a family of multifunctional proteins that inhibit nuclear factor NF-kappaB. COMMD1 was implicated as a regulator of copper metabolism by the discovery that a deletion of exon 2 of COMMD1 causes copper toxicosis in Bedlington terriers. Here, we report the detailed characterization and specific copper binding properties of purified recombinant human COMMD1 as well as that of the exon 2 product, COMMD(61-154). By using various techniques including native-PAGE, EPR, UV-visible electronic absorption, intrinsic fluorescence spectroscopies as well as DEPC modification of histidines, we demonstrate that COMMD1 specifically binds copper as Cu(II) in 1:1 stoichiometry and does not bind other divalent metals. Moreover, the exon 2 product, COMMD(61-154), alone was able to bind Cu(II) as well as the wild type protein, with a stoichiometry of 1 mol of Cu(II) per protein monomer. The protection of DEPC modification of COMMD1 by Cu(II) implied that Cu(II) binding involves His residues. Further investigation by DEPC modification of COMMD(61-154) and subsequent MALDI MS mapping and MS/MS sequencing identified the protection of His101 and His134 residues in the presence of Cu(II). Fluorescence studies of single point mutants of the full-length protein revealed the involvement of M110 in addition to H134 in direct Cu(II) binding. Taken together, the data provide insight into the function of COMMD1 and especially COMMD(61-154), a product of exon 2 that is deleted in terriers affected by copper toxicosis, as a regulator of copper homeostasis.

A new specific DNA cleavage protein, Gly-Lys-His-Fos(138-211), was designed, expressed, and characterized. The DNA-binding component of the design uses the basic and leucine zipper regions of the leucine zipper Fos, which are represented by Fos(138-211). The DNA cleavage moiety was provided by the design of the amino-terminal Cu(II)-, Ni(II)-binding site GKH at the amino terminus of Fos(138-211). Binding of Cu(II) or Ni(II) by the protein activates its cleavage ability. The GKH motif was predicted to form a specific amino-terminal Cu(II)-, Ni(II)-binding motif as previously defined [Predki, P. F., Harford, C., Brar, P., & Sarkar, B. (1992) Biochem. J. 287, 211 -215]. This prediction was verified as the tripeptide, GKH, and the expressed protein, GKH-Fos(138-211), were both shown to be capable of binding Cu(II) and Ni(II). The designed protein upon heterodimerization with Jun(248-334) was shown to bind to and cleave several forms of DNA which contained an AP-1 binding site. The cleavage was shown to be specific. This design demonstrates the versatility of the amino-terminal Cu(II)-, Ni(II)-binding motif and the variety of motifs which can be generated. The site of cleavage by GKH-Fos(138-211) on DNA provides further information regarding the bending of DNA upon binding to Fos-Jun heterodimers.

No abstract

ATP7B, the Wilson disease-associated Cu(I)-transporter, and ZntA from Escherichia coli are soft metal P1-type ATPases with mutually exclusive metal ion substrates. P1-type ATPases have a distinctive amino-terminal domain containing the conserved metal-binding motif GXXCXXC. ZntA has one copy of this motif while ATP7B has six copies. The effect of interchanging the amino-terminal domains of ATP7B and ZntA was investigated. Chimeric proteins were constructed in which either the entire amino-terminal domain of ATP7B or only its sixth metal-binding motif replaced the aminoterminal domain of ZntA. Both chimeras conferred resistance to lead, zinc, and cadmium salts but not to copper salts. The purified chimeras displayed activity with lead, cadmium, zinc, and mercury, which are substrates of ZntA. There was no activity with copper or silver, which are substrates of ATP7B. The chimeras were 2-3-fold less active than ZntA. Thus, the amino-terminal domain of P1-type ATPases cannot alter the metal specificity determined by the transmembrane segment. Also, these results suggest that this domain interacts with the rest of the transporter in a metal ion-specific manner; the amino-terminal domain of ATP7B cannot replace that of ZntA in restoring full catalytic activity.