Apoptosis is a program of cellular suicide wherein individual cells are removed from the midst of a living tissue without destroying overall tissue architecture. Although the convergence of multiple signaling pathways determines whether a cell will live or die, once the decision to die is made, most cells activate a family of lethal proteases called caspases. By cleaving key intracellular substrates, these enzymes package cellular contents for their orderly elimination by phagocytosis. Caspases can be inhibited by the binding of a class of proteins known as lAPs (inhibitors of apoptosis). In turn, the lAPs can be antagonized by pro-apoptotic IBM (IAP binding motif) proteins that displace lAPs from their caspase binding sites. One such IBM protein, isolated from Drosophila Melanogaster, is the pro-apoptotic protein, Reaper. Reaper not only releases lAPs from caspases, but also promotes IAP ubquitination and degradation, at least in part, through activation of an lAP-intrinsic E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. Although the IBM motif, present at the extreme Nterminus of Reaper, is required for induction of IAP auto-ubiquitination, an additional domain in Reaper, (the GH3 domain) is required for both Reaper-stimulated IAP degradation and localization of Reaper to mitochondria. In a Reaper mutant lacking the GH3 domain, both mitochondria! localization and the ability to induce IAP degradation can be rectified by appending a heterologous mitochondrial targeting sequence. These observations suggest that mitochondrial localization of Reaper and its ability to induce IAP degradation are in some way linked. Upon expression in vertebrate cells, Reaper binds not only lAPs, but also a 150kD protein called Scythe, which participates in Reaper-induced release of mitochondrial cytochrome c to the cytoplasm. The Scythe/Reaper interaction and consequent cytochrome c release is critical for Reaper-mediated caspase activation in vertebrate systems, though its role in Drosophila cell death has not yet been examined. The goals of this proposal are to understand how Reaper functions at mitochondria to promote IAP degradation in both fly and vertebrate cells, to understand how Scythe participates in Reaper-mediated alterations of mitochondria in vertebrate cells, to identify a vertebrate modulator of Scythe function and to determine whether Scythe is also important for fly cell apoptosis. In aggregate, these experiments should not only help to reconcile the effects of Reaper in fly and vertebrate systems, but should also lead to a detailed picture of how the various functions of Reaper contribute to the induction of full-blown apoptosis. These studies will employ both fly and vertebrate systems, including a powerful in vitro reconstitution system derived from Xenopus eggs that allows the recapitulation of apoptotic signaling in vitro. ? ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM061919-07
Application #
7148712
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDA-D (02))
Program Officer
Zatz, Marion M
Project Start
2000-08-01
Project End
2008-11-30
Budget Start
2006-12-01
Budget End
2007-11-30
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$328,545
Indirect Cost
Name
Duke University
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
044387793
City
Durham
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27705
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Sasaki, Toru; Gan, Eugene C; Wakeham, Andrew et al. (2007) HLA-B-associated transcript 3 (Bat3)/Scythe is essential for p300-mediated acetylation of p53. Genes Dev 21:848-61
Colon-Ramos, Daniel A; Shenvi, Christina L; Weitzel, Douglas H et al. (2006) Direct ribosomal binding by a cellular inhibitor of translation. Nat Struct Mol Biol 13:103-11
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Olson, Michael R; Holley, Christopher L; Gan, Eugene C et al. (2003) A GH3-like domain in reaper is required for mitochondrial localization and induction of IAP degradation. J Biol Chem 278:44758-68
Colon-Ramos, Daniel A; Irusta, Pablo M; Gan, Eugene C et al. (2003) Inhibition of translation and induction of apoptosis by Bunyaviral nonstructural proteins bearing sequence similarity to reaper. Mol Biol Cell 14:4162-72
Tashker, Jessica S; Olson, Michael; Kornbluth, Sally (2002) Post-cytochrome C protection from apoptosis conferred by a MAPK pathway in Xenopus egg extracts. Mol Biol Cell 13:393-401
Holley, Christopher L; Olson, Michael R; Colon-Ramos, Daniel A et al. (2002) Reaper eliminates IAP proteins through stimulated IAP degradation and generalized translational inhibition. Nat Cell Biol 4:439-44

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