The N-end rule pathway relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N terminal residue. In this pathway, a substrate bearing N-degron is recognized and ubiquitylated by a family of E3 ubiquitin ligases named UBR proteins. The N-end rule pathway is implicated in various physiological and pathological processes including cardiac development and angiogenesis. It has been previously shown that mice lacking ATE1, which mediates N-terminal arginylation, die during embryogenesis associated with various defects in cardiovascular development. The goal of my graduate research was to understand the function of the N-end rule pathway in cardiovascular development, signaling, and homeostasis. In my first project, I employed a genome-wide functional proteomic approach to identify physiological substrates of ATE1, that potentially underlie the above cardiovascular phenotypes. I found that RGS4, RGS5, and RGS16 are in vivo substrates of the N-end rule pathway, the first to be identified in mammals. These RGS proteins, emerging regulators for cardiovascular G protein signaling, were degraded through sequential N-terminal modifications including N-terminal exposure of their Cys 2, its oxidation, and arginylation. In the second project, to understand the physiological meaning of ATE1-mediated RGS proteolysis in cardiac development and signaling, I characterized ATE1-/- mice and embryonic cardiomyocytes with an emphasis on GPCR signaling. I found that cell-autonomous function of ATE1 regulates the proliferation of cardiomyocytes and the homeostasis of Gq-dependent cardiac signaling. In the third project, I explored a model of heterovalent interaction by developing RF-C11, a small molecule inhibitor of the N-end rule pathway. Its two heterovalent ligands were designed to cooperatively target two cognate sites of N-recognins. RF-C11 showed higher inhibitory efficiency than its homovalent controls, providing molecular basis of designing multivalent inhibitors for specific intracellular pathways. Moreover, the treatment of RF-C11 reduced cardiac proliferation and hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes, unveiling a previously unknown function of the pathway in cardiac proliferation and signaling. In summary, my graduate research contributes to comprehensive understanding of the function of the N-end rule pathway in the cardiovascular system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-08022007-141748 |
| Date | 28 August 2007 |
| Creators | Lee, Min Jae |
| Contributors | Wen Xie, Dexi Liu, Jeffrey L. Brodsky, Yong Wan, Yong Tae Kwon |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-08022007-141748/ |
| Rights | restricted, 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 Pittsburgh 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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