The chloroplast is a major plant cell organelle that fulfills essential metabolic and biosynthetic functions. Located at the interface between the chloroplast and other cell compartments, the chloroplast envelope system is a strategic barrier controlling the exchange of ions, metabolites and proteins, thus regulating essential metabolic functions (synthesis of hormones precursors, amino acids, pigments, sugars, vitamins, lipids, nucleotides etc.) of the plant cell. However, unraveling the contents of the chloroplast envelope proteome remains a difficult challenge; many proteins constituting this functional double membrane system remain to be identified. Indeed, the envelope contains only 1% of the chloroplast proteins (
Methylation of ribosomal proteins has long been described in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but our knowledge about the enzymes responsible for these modifications in plants is scarce. The bacterial protein methyltransferase PrmA catalyzes the trimethylation of ribosomal protein L11 (RPL11) at three distinct sites. The role of these modifications is still unknown. Here, we show that PrmA from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPrmA) is dually targeted to chloroplasts and mitochondria. Mass spectrometry and enzymatic assays indicated that the enzyme methylates RPL11 in plasto- and mitoribosomes in vivo. We determined that the Arabidopsis and Escherichia coli PrmA enzymes share similar product specificity, making trimethylated residues, but, despite an evolutionary relationship, display a difference in substrate site specificity. In contrast to the bacterial enzyme that trimethylates the ε-amino group of two lysine residues and the N-terminal α-amino group, AtPrmA methylates only one lysine in the MAFCK(D/E)(F/Y)NA motif of plastidial and mitochondrial RPL11. The plant enzyme possibly methylates the N-terminus of plastidial RPL11, whereas mitochondrial RPL11 is N-α-acetylated by an unknown acetyltransferase. Lastly, we found that an Arabidopsis prma-null mutant is viable in standard environmental conditions and no molecular defect could be associated with a lack of RPL11 methylation in leaf chloroplasts or mitochondria. However, the conservation of PrmA during the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes together with the location of methylated residues at the binding site of translation factors to ribosomes suggests that RPL11 methylation in plant organelles could be involved, in combination with other post-translational modifications, in optimizing ribosome function.
Migration of myeloid cells towards a source of chemoattractant, such as the C5a anaphylatoxin, is triggered by the activation of a G-protein-coupled receptor. In the present study, we have used a yeast two-hybrid approach to find unknown partners of the C5a receptor (C5aR). Using the cytosolic C-terminal region of C5aR as bait to screen a human leucocyte cDNA library, we identified the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) as a potential partner of C5aR. WASP is known to have an essential function in regulating actin dynamics at the cell leading edge. The interaction was detected with both the fragment of WASP containing amino acids 1-321 (WASP.321) and WASP with its actin-nucleation-promoting domain [verprolin-like, central and acidic (VCA) domain] deleted. The interaction between C5aR and the WASP.321 was supported further by an in vitro binding assay between a radiolabelled WASP.321 fragment and a receptor C-terminus glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein, as well as by GST pull-down, co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence experiments. In the yeast two-hybrid assay, full-length WASP showed no ability to interact with the C-terminal domain of C5aR. This is most probably due to an auto-inhibited conformation imposed by the VCA domain. In HEK-293T cells co-transfected with full-length WASP and C5aR, only a small amount of WASP was co-precipitated with the receptor. However, in the presence of the active form of the GTPase Cdc42 (Cdc42V12), which is thought to switch WASP to an active 'open conformation', the amount of WASP associated with the receptor was markedly increased. We hypothesize that a transient interaction between C5aR and WASP occurs following the stimulation of C5aR and Cdc42 activation. This might be one mechanism by which WASP is targeted to the plasma membrane and by which actin assembly is spatially controlled in cells moving in a gradient of C5a.
We have used streptolysin-O (SO)-permeabilized neutrophils to investigate the signal transduction pathway through which chemoattractants induce actin polymerization. Chemoattractants stimulate phosphorylation of various proteins and lipids but whether these phosphorylations are required for actin polymerization is not known. Addition of guanosine 5'-3-O-(thio)triphosphate (GTP gamma S) to SO-permeabilized neutrophils induced a doubling of the F-actin. This induction of F-actin, assayed by TRITC-labeled phalloidin binding, did not require the addition of ATP. Neither addition of apyrase to deplete residual ATP nor addition of ADP or UDP to compete with residual endogenous ATP inhibited significantly the GTP gamma S-induced polymerization. Addition of ATP on its own caused no increase in F-actin and did not affect the time course or concentration dependence of GTP gamma S-induced F-actin. Addition of ATP did increase the maximal amount of F-actin induced by GTP gamma S by about 20%. N-Formylnorleucylleucylphenalanine (formyl-peptide) in the presence of GTP, but not in its absence, also stimulated an increase in F-actin in SO-permeabilized cells. The F-actin induced by formyl-peptide plus GTP was inhibited by pertussis toxin. The induction did not require addition of ATP and addition of ADP to compete with residual ATP only slightly decreased the level of actin. However, addition of UDP significantly reduced the response to formyl-peptide plus GTP. Addition of ATP enhanced the increase in F-actin induced by optimal concentrations of GTP with formyl-peptide. ATP also lowered the apparent Km for GTP, but not for N-formyl peptide. The non-hydrolyzable ATP analog, adenosine 5'-(beta, gamma-imino)triphosphate, did not enhance the actin polymerization. Rather its presence inhibited the response induced by formyl-peptide plus GTP. The data suggest that actin polymerization can be induced by GTP gamma S in an manner that is largely ATP-independent. A role for ATP cannot be ruled out in the induction of actin polymerization by formyl-peptide plus GTP.
