UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE an Expanded Genetic Code

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE an Expanded Genetic Code UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE An expanded genetic code for the characterization and directed evolution of tyrosine-sulfated proteins DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILSOPHY in Biomedical Engineering by Xiang Li Dissertation Committee: Assistant Professor Chang C. Liu, Chair Associate Professor Wendy Liu Associate Professor Jennifer A. Prescher 2018 Portion of Chapter 2 © John Wiley and Sons Portion of Chapter 3 © Springer Portion of Chapter 4 © Royal Society of Chemistry All other materials © 2018 Xiang Li i Dedication To My parents Audrey Bai and Yong Li and My brother Joshua Li ii Table of Content LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................VI LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. VIII CURRICULUM VITAE ...........................................................................................................IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... XII ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... XIII CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. OVERVIEW OF DISSERTATION ............................................................................................. 2 1.2. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 2. BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF EXPANDED GENETIC CODES ............... 5 2.1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 6 2.2. PROTEIN BIOLOGY ............................................................................................................. 7 2.2.1 Therapeutic Proteins through Bioconjugation ............................................................. 8 2.2.2 Addressing Posttranslationally Modified Proteins ....................................................... 8 2.3. CELL BIOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 11 2.3.1. Light-activated Crosslinking and Control ................................................................. 11 2.3.2. Fluorescent Reporters .............................................................................................. 13 2.3. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 14 2.4. LABORATORY EVOLUTION ............................................................................................... 16 2.5. OUTLOOK ........................................................................................................................ 18 2.6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 18 2.7. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 3. SITE-SPECIFIC INCORPORATION OF SULFOTYROSINE USING AN EXPANDED GENETIC CODE ................................................................................................ 30 3.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 31 3.2. MATERIALS ..................................................................................................................... 32 3.2.1. E. coli strains ........................................................................................................... 32 3.2.2. Plasmids .................................................................................................................. 32 3.2.3. Stock solutions ........................................................................................................ 33 3.2.4. Media ...................................................................................................................... 34 3.2.5. Agar Plates .............................................................................................................. 34 3.2.6. Transformation Reagents ......................................................................................... 34 3.3. METHODS........................................................................................................................ 35 3.3.1. Construction of plasmids ......................................................................................... 35 3.3.2. Preparation of electrocompetent bacterial cells. ....................................................... 35 3.3.3. Transformation via electroporation. ......................................................................... 37 3.3.4. Protein expression.................................................................................................... 38 3.4. NOTES............................................................................................................................. 38 iii 3.5. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 40 3.6. FIGURE LOG .................................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER 4. A SECOND-GENERATION EXPRESSION SYSTEM FOR TYROSINE SULFATED PROTEINS AND ITS APPLICATION IN CROP PROTECTION ....................... 46 4.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 47 4.2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................... 48 4.3. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 52 4.4. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION .................................................................................................. 52 4.5. COMPETING FINANCIAL INTERESTS ................................................................................... 52 4.6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 53 4.7. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 53 4.8. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION ........................................................................................ 58 4.8.1. Experimental Details ............................................................................................... 58 4.8.1.1. Construction of second-generation sY protein expression vectors...................... 58 4.8.1.2. Cloning, expression, and analyses of GFP ......................................................... 58 4.8.1.3. Cloning, Expression and Purification of RaxX60 .............................................. 59 4.8.1.4. Gene expression assay in rice ............................................................................ 60 4.8.1.5. Statistical analysis ............................................................................................. 60 4.8.1.6. Proteomic Analysis ........................................................................................... 61 4.8.1.7. Shotgun proteomics .......................................................................................... 61 4.8.1.8. Targeted proteomics.......................................................................................... 62 4.8.1.9. Calculations of Relative sY status ..................................................................... 62 4.8.1.10. Circular Dichroism.......................................................................................... 64 4.8.1.11. Post-treatment experiment ............................................................................... 64 4.8.1.12. Commercial peptides....................................................................................... 64 4.8.1.13. Sequences of GFP-1UAG ............................................................................... 65 4.8.1.14. Sequences of GFP-3UAG ............................................................................... 65 4.8.2. Supplemental figures ............................................................................................... 66 4.8.3. Supplemental tables ................................................................................................. 69 4.8.4. Supplemental references .......................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 5. CHARACTERIZATION OF A SULFATED ANTI-HIV ANTIBODY USING AN EXPANDED GENETIC CODE ................................................................................................ 75 5.1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 76 5.2. METHODS........................................................................................................................ 78 5.2.1. Construction of expression plasmids for E51 Fabs and small hairpin RNAs. ...........
Recommended publications
  • Addressing Evolutionary Questions with Synthetic Biology
    Addressing evolutionary questions with synthetic biology Florian Baier and Yolanda Schaerli Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract Synthetic biology emerged as an engineering discipline to design and construct artificial biological systems. Synthetic biological designs aim to achieve specific biological behavior, which can be exploited for biotechnological, medical and industrial purposes. In addition, mimicking natural systems using well-characterized biological parts also provides powerful experimental systems to study evolution at the molecular and systems level. A strength of synthetic biology is to go beyond nature’s toolkit, to test alternative versions and to study a particular biological system and its phenotype in isolation and in a quantitative manner. Here, we review recent work that implemented synthetic systems, ranging from simple regulatory circuits, rewired cellular networks to artificial genomes and viruses, to study fundamental evolutionary concepts. In particular, engineering, perturbing or subjecting these synthetic systems to experimental laboratory evolution provides a mechanistic understanding on important evolutionary questions, such as: Why did particular regulatory networks topologies evolve and not others? What happens if we rewire regulatory networks? Could an expanded genetic code provide an evolutionary advantage? How important is the structure of genome and number of chromosomes? Although the field of evolutionary synthetic biology is still in its teens, further advances in synthetic biology provide exciting technologies and novel systems that promise to yield fundamental insights into evolutionary principles in the near future. 1 1. Introduction Evolutionary biology traditionally studies past or present organisms to reconstruct past evolutionary events with the aim to explain and predict their evolution.
    [Show full text]
  • And Chemical-Activated Nucleosides and Unnatural Amino Acids. (Under the Direction of Dr
    ABSTRACT LIU, QINGYANG. Synthesis of Photo- and Chemical-Activated Nucleosides and Unnatural Amino Acids. (Under the direction of Dr. Alexander Deiters). Synthetic oligonucleotides coupled with photolabile caging groups have been developed to regulate a variety of biological processes in a spatial and temporal fashion. A UV-cleavable caging group was installed on deoxyadenosine and two morpholino oligonucleotide (MO) monomers of which the morpholino core synthesis was also investigated. The synthesis of a two-photon caging group was optimized and two chromophores with > 400 nm absorption maximum were applied to cage thymidine. These caged monomers can serve as light-triggers of oligonucleotide function upon incorporation. Two phosphine-labile azido thymidine derivatives were synthesized as orthogonal small molecule-triggers to the above light-triggers. Additionally, two coumarin linkers were synthesized, which can cyclize a linear MO so as to inactivate MO activity until > 400 nm light irradiation. These two linkers have been applied to the wavelength-selective regulation of zebrafish embryo development. An azide linker was also synthesized to control MOs using phosphines, as well as a UV-cleavable phosphoramidite to regulate DNA oligonucleotide activities. On the regulation of proteins, a two-photon caged lysine, four azido lysines and an azido tyrosine were synthesized to control protein function with either light or small molecules. The phosphine-induced cleavage of the azido groups were investigated on a coumarin reporter. A fluorescent lysine and an isotope labeled lysine were also synthesized as additional biophysical probes to label protein. These unnatural amino acids have been or will be incorporated into proteins through exogenous tRNA-aaRSs pairs.
    [Show full text]
  • Secretariat of the CBD Technical Series No. 82 Convention on Biological Diversity
    Secretariat of the CBD Technical Series No. 82 Convention on Biological Diversity 82 SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY FOREWORD To be added by SCBD at a later stage. 1 BACKGROUND 2 In decision X/13, the Conference of the Parties invited Parties, other Governments and relevant 3 organizations to submit information on, inter alia, synthetic biology for consideration by the Subsidiary 4 Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), in accordance with the procedures 5 outlined in decision IX/29, while applying the precautionary approach to the field release of synthetic 6 life, cell or genome into the environment. 7 Following the consideration of information on synthetic biology during the sixteenth meeting of the 8 SBSTTA, the Conference of the Parties, in decision XI/11, noting the need to consider the potential 9 positive and negative impacts of components, organisms and products resulting from synthetic biology 10 techniques on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, requested the Executive Secretary 11 to invite the submission of additional relevant information on this matter in a compiled and synthesised 12 manner. The Secretariat was also requested to consider possible gaps and overlaps with the applicable 13 provisions of the Convention, its Protocols and other relevant agreements. A synthesis of this 14 information was thus prepared, peer-reviewed and subsequently considered by the eighteenth meeting 15 of the SBSTTA. The documents were then further revised on the basis of comments from the SBSTTA 16 and peer review process, and submitted for consideration by the twelfth meeting of the Conference of 17 the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
    [Show full text]
  • Biosynthesis and Secretion of the Microbial Sulfated Peptide Raxx and Binding to the Rice XA21 Immune Receptor
    Biosynthesis and secretion of the microbial sulfated peptide RaxX and binding to the rice XA21 immune receptor Dee Dee Luua,b,1, Anna Joea,b,c,1, Yan Chend, Katarzyna Paryse, Ofir Bahara,b,2, Rory Pruitta,b,3, Leanne Jade G. Chand, Christopher J. Petzoldd, Kelsey Longa,b, Clifford Adamchaka,b, Valley Stewartf, Youssef Belkhadire, and Pamela C. Ronalda,b,c,4 aDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; bThe Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; cFeedstocks Division, Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608; dTechnology Division, Joint Bioenergy Institute, Emeryville, CA 94608; eGregor Mendel Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030 Vienna, Austria; and fDepartment of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 Edited by Jonathan D. G. Jones, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, United Kingdom, and approved March 7, 2019 (received for review October 24, 2018) The rice immune receptor XA21 is activated by the sulfated micro- to Xoo strains lacking RaxX (7–10). Xoo strains lacking RaxX are bial peptide required for activation of XA21-mediated immunity X also compromised in virulence of rice plants lacking XA21 (10). (RaxX) produced by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Muta- These results suggest a role for RaxX in bacterial virulence. tional studies and targeted proteomics revealed that the RaxX pre- Tyrosine sulfated RaxX16, a 16-residue synthetic peptide de- cursor peptide (proRaxX) is processed and secreted by the protease/ rived from residues 40–55 of the 60-residue RaxX precursor transporter RaxB, the function of which can be partially fulfilled by peptide (proRaxX), is the shortest characterized immunogenic a noncognate peptidase-containing transporter component B derivative of RaxX (10).
    [Show full text]
  • A Database for Enzymes Involved in Novel Post-Translational Modifications Shradha Khater and Debasisa Mohanty*
    Database, 2015, 1–12 doi: 10.1093/database/bav039 Original article Original article novPTMenzy: a database for enzymes involved in novel post-translational modifications Shradha Khater and Debasisa Mohanty* Bioinformatics Centre, National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India *Corresponding author: Tel: þ91 11 26703749; Fax: þ91 11 26742125; Email: [email protected] Citation details: Khater,S. and Mohanty,D. novPTMenzy: a database for enzymes involved in novel post-translational modifications. Database (2015) Vol. 2015: article ID bav039; doi:10.1093/database/bav039 Received 7 November 2014; Revised 30 March 2015; Accepted 1 April 2015 Abstract With the recent discoveries of novel post-translational modifications (PTMs) which play important roles in signaling and biosynthetic pathways, identification of such PTM cata- lyzing enzymes by genome mining has been an area of major interest. Unlike well-known PTMs like phosphorylation, glycosylation, SUMOylation, no bioinformatics resources are available for enzymes associated with novel and unusual PTMs. Therefore, we have developed the novPTMenzy database which catalogs information on the sequence, struc- ture, active site and genomic neighborhood of experimentally characterized enzymes involved in five novel PTMs, namely AMPylation, Eliminylation, Sulfation, Hydroxylation and Deamidation. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the sequence and structural features of these known PTM catalyzing enzymes, we have created Hidden Markov Model profiles for the identification of similar PTM catalyzing enzymatic domains in gen- omic sequences. We have also created predictive rules for grouping them into functional subfamilies and deciphering their mechanistic details by structure-based analysis of their active site pockets. These analytical modules have been made available as user friendly search interfaces of novPTMenzy database.
    [Show full text]
  • Directed Evolution: Bringing New Chemistry to Life
    Angewandte Essays Chemie International Edition:DOI:10.1002/anie.201708408 Biocatalysis German Edition:DOI:10.1002/ange.201708408 Directed Evolution:Bringing NewChemistry to Life Frances H. Arnold* biocatalysis ·enzymes ·heme proteins · protein engineering ·synthetic methods Survival of the Fittest Expanding Nature’s Catalytic Repertoire for aSustainable Chemical Industry In this competitive age,when new industries sprout and decay in the span of adecade,weshould reflect on how Nature,the best chemist of all time,solves the difficult acompany survives to celebrate its 350th anniversary.A problem of being alive and enduring for billions of years, prerequisite for survival in business is the ability to adapt to under an astonishing range of conditions.Most of the changing environments and tastes,and to sense,anticipate, marvelous chemistry that makes life possible is the work of and meet needs faster and better than the competition. This naturesmacromolecular protein catalysts,the enzymes.By requires constant innovation as well as focused attention to using enzymes,nature can extract materials and energy from execution. Acompany that continues to provide meaningful the environment and convert them into self-replicating,self- and profitable solutions to human problems has achance to repairing,mobile,adaptable,and sometimes even thinking survive,even thrive,inarapidly changing and highly biochemical systems.These systems are good models for competitive world. asustainable chemical industry that uses renewable resources Biology has abrilliant
    [Show full text]
  • Expanding the Genetic Code Lei Wang and Peter G
    Reviews P. G. Schultz and L. Wang Protein Science Expanding the Genetic Code Lei Wang and Peter G. Schultz* Keywords: amino acids · genetic code · protein chemistry Angewandte Chemie 34 2005 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim DOI: 10.1002/anie.200460627 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44,34–66 Angewandte Protein Science Chemie Although chemists can synthesize virtually any small organic molecule, our From the Contents ability to rationally manipulate the structures of proteins is quite limited, despite their involvement in virtually every life process. For most proteins, 1. Introduction 35 modifications are largely restricted to substitutions among the common 20 2. Chemical Approaches 35 amino acids. Herein we describe recent advances that make it possible to add new building blocks to the genetic codes of both prokaryotic and 3. In Vitro Biosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. Over 30 novel amino acids have been genetically Approaches to Protein encoded in response to unique triplet and quadruplet codons including Mutagenesis 39 fluorescent, photoreactive, and redox-active amino acids, glycosylated 4. In Vivo Protein amino acids, and amino acids with keto, azido, acetylenic, and heavy-atom- Mutagenesis 43 containing side chains. By removing the limitations imposed by the existing 20 amino acid code, it should be possible to generate proteins and perhaps 5. An Expanded Code 46 entire organisms with new or enhanced properties. 6. Outlook 61 1. Introduction The genetic codes of all known organisms specify the same functional roles to amino acid residues in proteins. Selectivity 20 amino acid building blocks. These building blocks contain a depends on the number and reactivity (dependent on both limited number of functional groups including carboxylic steric and electronic factors) of a particular amino acid side acids and amides, a thiol and thiol ether, alcohols, basic chain.
    [Show full text]
  • Machine Learning-Assisted Directed Evolution Navigates a Combinatorial Epistatic Fitness Landscape with Minimal Screening Burden
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.04.408955; this version posted December 4, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Machine Learning-Assisted Directed Evolution Navigates a Combinatorial Epistatic Fitness Landscape with Minimal Screening Burden Bruce J. Wittmann1, Yisong Yue2, & Frances H. Arnold1,3,* 1Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, 2Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and 3Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA *To whom correspondence should be addressed Abstract Due to screening limitations, in directed evolution (DE) of proteins it is rarely feasible to fully evaluate combinatorial mutant libraries made by mutagenesis at multiple sites. Instead, DE often involves a single-step greedy optimization in which the mutation in the highest-fitness variant identified in each round of single-site mutagenesis is fixed. However, because the effects of a mutation can depend on the presence or absence of other mutations, the efficiency and effectiveness of a single-step greedy walk is influenced by both the starting variant and the order in which beneficial mutations are identified—the process is path-dependent. We recently demonstrated a path- independent machine learning-assisted approach to directed evolution (MLDE) that allows in silico screening of full combinatorial libraries made by simultaneous saturation mutagenesis, thus explicitly capturing the effects of cooperative mutations and bypassing the path-dependence that can limit greedy optimization.
    [Show full text]
  • Synthetic Life Synthetic Life SL3-4
    15.11.2018 Aptamers Synthetic life SL3SL3SL3-SL3 ---4444 Aptamers (from the Latin aptus – fit, and Greek meros – part) are oligonucleotide or peptide molecules that bind to a specific target molecule. Aptamers are usually created by selecting them from a large random sequence pool, but natural aptamers also exist in riboswitches. •DNA or RNA or XNA aptamers – oligonucleotide strands (usually short) •Peptide aptamers - one (or more) short variable peptide domains, attached at both ends to a protein scaffold. Photo credit: Jenny Mottar, NASA NaturalNews.com WiSe 2018/19 Structure of an RNA aptamer specific for biotin. The aptamer surface and backbone Variety of target molecules Zbigniew Pianowski are shown in yellow. Biotin (spheres) fits snugly into a cavity of the RNA surface Fdardel Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment - SELEX Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment - SELEX In vitro selection begins with the generation 1990 – Gold et al. – selection of RNA ligands against T4 DNA polymerase of a diverse library of DNA or RNA molecules. 1990 – J. Szostak et al. – selecting RNA ligands towards organic dyes Multiple rounds are performed until The library is then the library converges on to a introduced to a target ligand collection of sequences with affinity for the target molecule. The bound sequences are then collected and PCR amplified for subsequent rounds of enrichment. A general overview of in vitro selection protocol. NA stands for Nucleic Acids (DNA, RNA) which Sequences demonstrating affinity start as a random pool, and are enriched through the selection process towards the target molecule are isolated from any unbound sequences.
    [Show full text]
  • Biomolecule, Pathway, and Circuit Engineering (Biomolecular Engineering)
    June 2019 Biomolecule, Pathway, and Circuit Engineering (Biomolecular Engineering) Engineering Biology: A Research Roadmap for the Next-Generation Bioeconomy 27 5885 Hollis Street, 4th Floor, Emeryville, CA 94608 Phone: +1.510.871.3272 Fax: +1.510.245.2223 This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1818248. © 2019 Engineering Biology Research Consortium June 2019 Biomolecule, Pathway, and Circuit Engineering Summary Biomolecule, Pathway, and Circuit Engineering focuses on the importance, challenges, and goals of engineering individual biomolecules themselves to have expanded or new functions. Successful progress would be demonstrated by production of functional macromolecules on- demand from both natural and non-natural building blocks, targeted design of complex circuits and pathways, and control over the dynamics of regulatory systems. Introduction and Impact At the molecular level, the functional richness, complexity, and diversity of biology can be localized predominantly to large “macro”-molecules (nucleic acids and proteins) and secondary metabolites. Indeed, evolution has produced and leveraged biomolecules and their assemblies to achieve extraordinarily sophisticated natural functions far surpassing our current engineering capabilities. If researchers are able to efficiently design, generate, synthesize, assemble, and regulate biomolecules in ways that rival the functional complexity of natural counterparts, but with user-defined functions, then all areas of bioengineering and synthetic biology should benefit. The challenge of crafting biomolecules, pathways, and circuits that carry out user-defined functions has historically been an exercise in building out from what exists in nature to what doesn’t. Certainly, this mode of bioengineering will be important going forward and will see transformations as our knowledge of and ability to harvest what exists in nature increases.
    [Show full text]
  • A Novel Method for Site-Determination of Tyrosine O- Sulfation in Peptides and Proteins
    A novel method for site-determination of tyrosine O- sulfation in peptides and proteins Yonghao Yu Genome Center, Depts of Chemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616 and Dept of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, current address: Dept of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 Adam J. Hoffhines Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73104 Kevin L. Moore Cardiovascular Biology Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104 Julie A. Leary Genome Center, Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616 Method Article Keywords: tyrosine sulfation, mass spectrometry, post-translational modication, protein-protein interaction, extracelluar matrix, proteomics Posted Date: September 20th, 2007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2007.388 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Page 1/12 Abstract Introduction Tyrosine O-sulfation is one of many posttranslational modications described in nature that can impart critical functional properties to proteins that are independent of the genes encoding them1, 2. It plays a key role in regulating protein-protein interactions in the extracellular space3 and is catalyzed by two closely related Golgi enzymes called tyrosylprotein sulfotransferases \(TPST-1 and TPST–2)4, 5. In this protocol, we describe a novel subtractive strategy to determine the sites of tyrosine sulfation in peptides and proteins6. Hydroxyl groups on unsulfated tyrosines are stoichiometrically acetylated by a one-step reaction using sulfosuccinimidyl acetate in the presence of imidazole at pH 7.0.
    [Show full text]
  • Tyrosine Sulfation: a Modulator of Extracellular Protein–Protein Interactions Provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector John W Kehoe1 and Carolyn R Bertozzi1,2
    cm7309.qxd 03/10/2000 11:46 Page R57 CORE Minireview R57 brought to you by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Tyrosine sulfation: a modulator of extracellular protein–protein interactions provided by John W Kehoe1 and Carolyn R Bertozzi1,2 Tyrosine sulfation is a post-translational modification of P-selectin on activated endothelial cells with the many secreted and membrane-bound proteins. Its P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL)-1 on cognate biological roles have been unclear. Recent work has leukocytes [3]. PSGL-1 was identified at the molecular implicated tyrosine sulfate as a determinant of level in 1993, using expression cloning [4]. Glycosylation protein–protein interactions involved in leukocyte of PSGL-1 was known to be a major determinant of adhesion, hemostasis and chemokine signaling. P-selectin binding, but was not sufficient to explain the binding avidities observed in vivo. Addresses: Departments of 1Molecular and Cell Biology and 2 Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Further investigations revealed that tyrosine sulfation near Correspondence: Carolyn R Bertozzi the amino terminus of PSGL-1 plays an essential role in E-mail: [email protected] P-selectin binding (shown schematically in Figure 1b). Three papers published within one month of each other in Chemistry & Biology 2000, 7:R57–R61 1995 provided the first evidence of this phenomenon 1074-5521/00/$ – see front matter [5–7]. Progressive deletions of the PSGL-1 amino termi- © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. nus by Pouyani and Seed [5] revealed that a 20-residue peptide was required for high-affinity binding. Further- The study of living systems has been transformed by an more, mutagenesis within this sequence showed that the explosion of genetic information.
    [Show full text]