Substrate Recognition of MARTX Ras/Rap1 Specific Endopeptidase
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Substrate Recognition of MARTX Ras/Rap1-Specific Endopeptidase The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Biancucci, Marco et al. “Substrate Recognition of MARTX Ras/Rap1- Specific Endopeptidase.” Biochemistry 56, 21 (May 2017): 2747–2757 © 2017 American Chemical Society As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ACS.BIOCHEM.7B00246 Publisher American Chemical Society (ACS) Version Author's final manuscript Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116350 Terms of Use Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author Biochemistry Manuscript Author . Author manuscript; Manuscript Author available in PMC 2018 May 30. Published in final edited form as: Biochemistry. 2017 May 30; 56(21): 2747–2757. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00246. Substrate recognition of MARTX Ras/Rap1 specific endopeptidase Marco Biancucci1, Amy E. Rabideau2,†, Zeyu Lu2, Alex R. Loftis2, Bradley L. Pentelute2, and Karla J. F. Satchell1,* 1Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611 USA 2Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 02139 USA Abstract Ras/Rap1-specific endopeptidase (RRSP) is a cytotoxic effector domain of Multifunctional- autoprocessing repeats-in-toxins (MARTX) toxin of highly virulent strains of Vibrio vulnificus. RRSP blocks RAS-MAPK kinase signaling by cleaving Ras and Rap1 within the Switch I region between Y32 and D33. Although the RRSP processing site is highly conserved among small GTPases, only Ras and Rap1 have been identified as proteolytic substrates. Here we report that Y32-D33 residues at the scissile bond play an important role for RRSP substrate recognition, while nucleotide state of Ras has only a minimal effect. In addition, substrate specificity is generated by residues across the entire Switch I region. Indeed, swapping the Ras Switch I region into either RalA or RhoA, GTPases that are not recognized by RRSP, generated chimeras that are substrates of RRSP. However, a difference in processing efficiency of the Ras Switch I in the context of Ras, RalA, or RhoA indicates that protein regions outside the Ras Switch I also contribute to efficient RRSP substrate recognition. Moreover, we show that synthetic peptides corresponding to the Ras and Rap1, but not RalA, Switch I regions are cleaved by RRSP demonstrating sequence specific substrate recognition. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that the GTPase recognition of RRSP is nucleotide independent, and is mainly driven by the Ras and Rap1 Switch I loop and also influenced by additional protein-protein interactions, increasing the substrate specificity of RRSP. *Corresponding Author: Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 E. Chicago Avenue, Ward 6-205, Chicago IL 60611 USA; [email protected]. Phone: 312-503-2162. †Current address: A.E.R. Moderna Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA, USA 02139 ORCID Karla Satchell: 0000-0003-3274-7611 Author Contributions M.B. conceived and conducted most of the experiments, analyzed the data and coordinated the study. Z.L. A.R.L. A.E.R., and B.L.P. produced the synthetic peptides, conducted in vitro cleavage studies, and analyzed data. M.B. and K.J.F.S. wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript. Notes M.B. and K.J.F.S. hold a patent application covering RRSP application. The remaining authors declare no competing financial interest. ASSOCIATED CONTENT Supporting Information. Figure S1 (.pdf) Table S1 (.pdf) List S1 (.pdf) Biancucci et al. Page 2 Author ManuscriptAuthor Keywords Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author bacterial toxin; Ras protein; Ras-related protein 1; GTPase KRas; bacterial pathogenesis; RRSP; endopeptidase; substrate specificity TEXT Vibrio vulnificus is a motile Gram-negative foodborne pathogen that can cause life- threatening infections. Ingestion of contaminated seafood or the exposure of open wounds to water harboring V. vulnificus can result in fatal septicemia, gastroenteritis and necrotizing fasciitis. The mortality rate of human subjects with liver damage or compromised immune systems can be greater than 50%1, 2. The severity of V. vulnificus infection is due to the secretion of the cytolytic pore-forming V. vulnificus cytolysin (VVC) and the multifunctional autoprocessing repeats-in-toxin (MARTXVv) toxin, which together diminish the innate immune response and induce tissue necrosis at the site of infection, helping the 3–10 bacterial to invade and spread systemically . In particular, MARTXVv has been recognized as the most significant virulence factor for V. vulnificus pathogenesis5–9, 11, 12. MARTX toxins are large protein toxins (3500–5300 aa) secreted by Gram-negative bacteria13. MARTX toxins may carry up to five different enzymatically active effector domains that are delivered into the eukaryotic cytosol across the plasma membrane13. Once in the cytosol, the MARTX cysteine protease domain (CPD) binds inositol hexakisphosphate, initiating autoprocessing of the toxin at leucine residues located in unstructured regions that link the effector domains14. When released in target cells, each effector domain has a unique enzymatic function, resulting in cytopathicity or cytotoxicity15–20. The toxin effector designated Domain of Unknown Function in position 5 (DUF5) is carried 21 by some, but not all, V. vulnificus MARTXVv toxins . Notably, a V. vulnificus strain producing a MARTXVv toxin with DUF5 shows about 50-fold higher LD50 in mice than strains producing a toxin without DUF521. In addition, delivery of DUF5 alone into cells results in cytotoxicity characterized by cell rounding and lack of cell proliferation15, 22. In order to understand how DUF5 dramatically increases the virulence potential of V. vulnificus, we recently solved its molecular mechanism within cells. DUF5 directly inhibits the mitogen-activated protein kinases pathway (MAPK) by proteolytically processing the small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Ras, thereby preventing the phosphorylation of extracellular signal–regulated kinases (ERK) and blocking cell proliferation22. Ras is the representative protein of the small GTPase superfamily that includes more than 150 proteins separated into five families: Ras, Rho, Rab, Arf, and Ran23. These small GTPases control various cell processes by alternating conformational states finely regulated by guanine-nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs), which promote formation of the GTP- bound active state, and by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), which accelerate the intrinsic GTPase activity to promote formation of the GDP-bound inactive state23–25. In particular, the conformation of the Switch I region (residues 30–38 in Ras) in the GTP-bound state is essential for binding of effectors and activation of downstream signaling cascades26–28. DUF5 was found to cleave Ras between Y32 and D33 within the Switch I region22. Biochemistry. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2018 May 30. Biancucci et al. Page 3 There are three human RAS genes (NRas, HRas and KRas) that encode four Ras proteins: Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author Manuscript Author Manuscript Author NRas, HRas, and two isoforms of KRas, of which KRas4B is the predominant splice variant expressed in many tissues 29. The primary sequence of the four Ras proteins is highly conserved (85–87% amino acid sequence identity) and they share many structural and biochemical properties. The N-terminal G domain (residues 5–166) is involved in the nucleotide binding and GTP hydrolysis including the highly conserved Switch I region (Fig. 2). The hypervariable regions (HVRs) at the C-termini are subject to different post- translational modifications that direct Ras isoforms to different subcellular locations23, 30. In our previous study, we found that DUF5 cleaves full-length KRas, NRas and HRas equally well, demonstrating that the different C-terminal HVRs among Ras isoforms are not involved in substrate recognition by the endopeptidase22. The Ras subfamily, in addition to KRas, HRas, and NRas, includes other similar GTPases like Ras-related proteins 1 and 2 (Rap1 and Rap2), as well as Ral, Rheb, and Rit proteins. These other subfamily members regulate many cellular functions including cell proliferation, differentiation and survival, cell adhesion, mTOR signaling, and neuronal differentiation31–34. Among several small GTPases tested belonging to this Ras subfamily, DUF5 was found to efficiently cleave only Rap1 in addition to Ras22, and did not cleave RalA, RheB2, or Rit222. The endopeptidase also did not cleave GTPases from other small GTPase subfamilies, including RhoA, which regulates cytoskeleton assembly. Since DUF5 exclusively cleaves the small GTPases Ras and Rap1, this effector domain was renamed Ras/ Rap1-specific endopeptidase (RRSP). Ras itself is the central node in the cell that coordinates extracellular signals to ultimately regulate expression of genes for cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival through its control of the MAPK signaling cascade35. Rap1 mainly controls establishment of cell polarity, activation of integrin-mediated cell adhesion and the regulation of cell–cell contacts31, 36, 37. Interestingly, both Ras and Rap1 control signal