The Ubiquitination Enzymes of Leishmania Mexicana
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The ubiquitination enzymes of Leishmania mexicana Rebecca Jayne Burge Doctor of Philosophy University of York Biology October 2020 Abstract Post-translational modifications such as ubiquitination are important for orchestrating the cellular transformations that occur as the Leishmania parasite differentiates between its main morphological forms, the promastigote and amastigote. Although 20 deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) have been partially characterised in Leishmania mexicana, little is known about the role of E1 ubiquitin-activating (E1), E2 ubiquitin- conjugating (E2) and E3 ubiquitin ligase (E3) enzymes in this parasite. Using bioinformatic methods, 2 E1, 13 E2 and 79 E3 genes were identified in the L. mexicana genome. Subsequently, bar-seq analysis of 23 E1, E2 and HECT/RBR E3 null mutants generated in promastigotes using CRISPR-Cas9 revealed that the E2s UBC1/CDC34, UBC2 and UEV1 and the HECT E3 ligase HECT2 are required for successful promastigote to amastigote differentiation and UBA1b, UBC9, UBC14, HECT7 and HECT11 are required for normal proliferation during mouse infection. Null mutants could not be generated for the E1 UBA1a or the E2s UBC3, UBC7, UBC12 and UBC13, suggesting these genes are essential in promastigotes. X-ray crystal structure analysis of UBC2 and UEV1, orthologues of human UBE2N and UBE2V1/UBE2V2 respectively, revealed a heterodimer with a highly conserved structure and interface. Furthermore, recombinant L. mexicana UBA1a was found to load ubiquitin onto UBC2, allowing UBC2- UEV1 to form K63-linked di-ubiquitin chains in vitro. UBC2 was also shown to cooperate with human E3s RNF8 and BIRC2 in vitro to form non-K63-linked polyubiquitin chains, but association of UBC2 with UEV1 inhibits this ability. Using affinity purification proteomics, 3 putative UBC2:E3 pairs and potential substrates of UBC2 and UEV1, which include proteins associated with cellular respiration, intracellular transport and pH regulation, were identified. Therefore, the essential requirement for UBC2 and UEV1 in promastigote to amastigote differentiation could be explained by roles for UBC2-UEV1- mediated ubiquitination in regulating the changes in metabolism and protein trafficking that occur during this transition. 2 Table of contents Title page ...................................................................................................................... 1 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 2 Table of contents .......................................................................................................... 3 List of tables ................................................................................................................. 6 List of figures ................................................................................................................ 7 List of accompanying material....................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 10 Author’s declaration .................................................................................................... 12 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Leishmania and leishmaniasis ...................................................................... 13 Epidemiology ......................................................................................... 13 Disease pathology ................................................................................. 13 Life cycle overview ................................................................................ 15 Cellular composition .............................................................................. 17 Gene expression ................................................................................... 19 Current treatments ................................................................................. 21 Genetic approaches to the study of Leishmania .................................... 23 1.2 Ubiquitination in non-trypanosomatids .......................................................... 24 Introduction to the ubiquitin system........................................................ 24 Diversity and roles of ubiquitin modifications ......................................... 26 E1 ubiquitin-activating enzymes ............................................................ 28 E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes ......................................................... 29 E3 ubiquitin ligases ................................................................................ 31 Deubiquitinating enzymes ...................................................................... 35 The proteasome .................................................................................... 36 Ubiquitin-like modifiers ........................................................................... 37 1.3 Ubiquitination in trypanosomatids ................................................................. 37 Discovery of the trypanosomatid ubiquitin system ................................. 37 Ubiquitination in the life cycle of trypanosomatids .................................. 39 Roles for ubiquitin in trypanosomatid endocytosis ................................. 41 Ubiquitination and the infection process ................................................ 42 Trypanosomatid ubiquitin system inhibitors ........................................... 43 Ubls in trypanosomatids ........................................................................ 44 1.4 Aims ............................................................................................................. 46 2 Materials and methods ........................................................................................ 47 2.1 Bioinformatics ............................................................................................... 47 Protein domain searches ....................................................................... 47 Other searches ...................................................................................... 47 2.2 Molecular biology .......................................................................................... 48 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) .......................................................... 48 Agarose gel electrophoresis .................................................................. 48 Transformations ..................................................................................... 49 Bacterial culture and storage ................................................................. 49 DNA extraction from E. coli .................................................................... 49 Restriction digestion .............................................................................. 49 DNA sequencing .................................................................................... 50 2.3 Leishmania cell culture ................................................................................. 50 Promastigote cell culture ....................................................................... 50 Promastigote to amastigote differentiation ............................................. 50 Cell counting .......................................................................................... 51 Axenic amastigote viability assay .......................................................... 51 3 Transfection and selection ..................................................................... 51 CRISPR-Cas9-based endogenous tagging ............................................ 52 Live cell imaging .................................................................................... 53 CRISPR-Cas9-based null mutant generation ......................................... 53 Genomic DNA extraction ....................................................................... 53 Pooled bar-seq screen ........................................................................... 53 2.4 Biochemical techniques ................................................................................ 55 Activity-based protein profiling ............................................................... 55 Generation of E. coli expression plasmids ............................................. 56 Bacterial expression .............................................................................. 56 Bacterial cell lysis .................................................................................. 57 Nickel affinity purification ....................................................................... 57 Tag cleavage and removal ..................................................................... 57 Size-exclusion chromatography ............................................................. 57 Assessment of protein purity and storage .............................................. 58 Size Exclusion Chromatography-Multi-Angle Laser Light Scattering (SEC- MALLS) 58 SDS-PAGE ............................................................................................ 58 Western blotting ..................................................................................... 59 Thioester assay ..................................................................................... 59 Diubiquitin formation assay ...................................................................