DNA post-replication repair (PRR) is a cellular tolerance mechanism by which eukaryotic cells survive lethal lesions during or after DNA synthesis. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, modification of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) by ubiquitin and by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) plays an important role in PRR. PCNA ubiquitination is dependent on Rad6, a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2) and Rad18, a ubiquitin ligase (E3). Rad6 and Rad18 form a stable complex. PCNA sumoylation is dependent on Ubc9, an E2 specific to SUMO modification. <p>PRR in mammalian cells is less well understood. However, human Rad18 (hRad18) has been found to interact with human Rad6 (HHR6A/B). In this study, we detected physical interaction between hRad18 and human Ubc9 (hUbc9) through yeast two-hybrid assays. In order to define the domain(s) of hRad18 involved in the formation of a complex with HHR6B or hUbc9, a series of yeast two-hybrid constructs containing various hRAD18 gene deletions and mutations were made. A C-terminal region of hRad18, containing the putative HHR6A/B binding domain (amino acids 340 to 395), interacts with HHR6A/B while the N-terminus (amino acids 1-93) does not. Yeast Rad18 has a homologous fragment of the HHR6A/B binding domain and this fragment is sufficient to interact with yeast Rad6 in yeast two-hybrid assays, so we infer that hRad18 interacts with HHR6B through the same domain. Surprisingly, both the N-terminal and C-terminal fragments of hRad18 can interact with hUbc9, suggesting the existence of two separate domains in hRad18 interacting with hUbc9. The N-terminal fragment of hRad18 contains only a RING finger domain (amino acids 25-64), which is probably responsible for binding to hUbc9. The C-terminal fragment of hRad18 with HHR6A/B binding domain deletion can still interact with hUbc9, suggesting that the HHR6A/B binding domain is not involved in hUbc9 interaction. A key cysteine mutation (C28F) in the RING finger domain abolished the interactions of hRad18 with both HHR6A/B and hUbc9. This amino acid substitution is likely to alter the three-dimensional structure of the protein, thus making the protein unstable. Taken together, results obtained from this study suggest that hRad18 may regulate the modification status of PCNA by interacting with two different E2s, HHR6A/B and hUbc9, through distinct domains.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-03292006-000248 |
| Date | 29 March 2006 |
| Creators | Ma, Xinfeng |
| Contributors | Xiao, Wei, Moore, Stanley A., Howard, S. Peter, Goldie, Hughes |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-03292006-000248/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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