NAT6 acetylates the N-terminus of different forms of actin Elsa Wiame1,2,Gaelle€ Tahay2, Donatienne Tyteca3, Didier Vertommen4, Vincent Stroobant5, Guido T. Bommer1,2 and Emile Van Schaftingen1,2 1 Walloon Excellence in Lifesciences and Biotechnology (WELBIO), Brussels, Belgium 2 Laboratory of Biochemistry, de Duve Institute, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium 3 CELL Unit, de Duve Institute, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium 4 Mass Spectrometry Platform, de Duve Institute, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium 5 Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium Keywords All forms of mammalian actin comprise at their N-terminus a negatively acetylation; actin; NAA10; N- charged region consisting of an N-acetylated aspartate or glutamate fol- acetyltransferase; NAT6 lowed by two or three acidic residues. This structural feature is unique to actins and important for their interaction with other proteins. The enzyme Correspondence E. Van Schaftingen, Laboratory of catalyzing the acetylation of the N-terminal acidic residue is thought to be Biochemistry, de Duve Institute, Universite NAA10, an enzyme that acetylates multiple intracellular proteins. We Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate report here that this acetylation is essentially carried out by NAT6 (Fus2), 75, B1.75.08, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium a protein of unknown function. Tests of the activity of human recombinant Fax: +3227647598 NAT6 on a series of purified proteins showed that the best substrate had Tel: +3227647564 several acidic residues near its N-terminus. Accordingly NAT6 was particu- E-mail:
[email protected] larly active on highly acidic peptides with sequences corresponding to the Elsa Wiame and Gaelle€ Tahay contributed N-terminus of different forms of mammalian actins.