The cold shock domain (CSD) is an evolutionarily conserved nucleic acid binding domain that exhibits binding activity to RNA, ssDNA, and dsDNA. Mammalian CRHSP-24 contains CSD, but its structure-functional relationship has remained elusive. Here we report the crystal structure of human CRHSP-24 and characterization of the molecular trafficking of CRHSP-24 between stress granules and processing bodies in response to oxidative stress. The structure of CRHSP-24 determined by single-wavelength anomalous dispersion exhibits an α-helix and a compact β-barrel formed by five curved anti-parallel β strands. Ligand binding activity of the CSD is orchestrated by residues Ser(41) to Leu(43). Interestingly, a phosphomimetic S41D mutant abolishes the ssDNA binding in vitro and causes CRHSP-24 liberated from stress granules in vivo without apparent alternation of its localization to the processing bodies. This new class of phosphorylation-regulated interaction between the CSD and nucleic acids is unique in stress granule plasticity. Importantly, the association of CRHSP-24 with stress granules is blocked by PP4/PP2A inhibitor calyculin A as PP2A catalyzes the dephosphorylation of Ser(41) of CRHSP-24. Therefore, we speculate that CRHSP-24 participates in oxidative stress response via a dynamic and temporal association between stress granules and processing bodies.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a critical mediator of inflammation, and its production is tightly regulated, with control points operating at nearly every step of its biosynthesis. We sought to identify uncharacterized TNF-α 3' untranslated region (3'UTR)-interacting proteins utilizing a novel screen, termed the RNA capture assay. We identified CARHSP1, a cold-shock domain-containing protein. Knockdown of CARHSP1 inhibits TNF-α protein production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells and reduces the level of TNF-α mRNA in both resting and LPS-stimulated cells. mRNA stability assays demonstrate that CARHSP1 knockdown decreases TNF-α mRNA stability from a half-life (t(1/2)) of 49 min to a t(1/2) of 22 min in LPS-stimulated cells and from a t(1/2) of 29 min to a t(1/2) of 24 min in resting cells. Transfecting CARHSP1 into RAW264.7 cells results in an increase in TNF-α 3'UTR luciferase expression in resting cells and CARHSP1 knockdown LPS-stimulated cells. We examined the functional effect of inhibiting Akt, calcineurin, and protein phosphatase 2A and established that inhibition of Akt or calcineurin but not PP2A inhibits CARHSP1 function. Subcellular analysis establishes CARHSP1 as a cytoplasmic protein localizing to processing bodies and exosomes but not on translating mRNAs. We conclude CARHSP1 is a TNF-α mRNA stability enhancer required for effective TNF-α production, demonstrating the importance of both stabilization and destabilization pathways in regulating the TNF-α mRNA half-life.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a critical mediator of inflammation, and its production is tightly regulated, with control points operating at nearly every step of its biosynthesis. We sought to identify uncharacterized TNF-α 3' untranslated region (3'UTR)-interacting proteins utilizing a novel screen, termed the RNA capture assay. We identified CARHSP1, a cold-shock domain-containing protein. Knockdown of CARHSP1 inhibits TNF-α protein production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells and reduces the level of TNF-α mRNA in both resting and LPS-stimulated cells. mRNA stability assays demonstrate that CARHSP1 knockdown decreases TNF-α mRNA stability from a half-life (t(1/2)) of 49 min to a t(1/2) of 22 min in LPS-stimulated cells and from a t(1/2) of 29 min to a t(1/2) of 24 min in resting cells. Transfecting CARHSP1 into RAW264.7 cells results in an increase in TNF-α 3'UTR luciferase expression in resting cells and CARHSP1 knockdown LPS-stimulated cells. We examined the functional effect of inhibiting Akt, calcineurin, and protein phosphatase 2A and established that inhibition of Akt or calcineurin but not PP2A inhibits CARHSP1 function. Subcellular analysis establishes CARHSP1 as a cytoplasmic protein localizing to processing bodies and exosomes but not on translating mRNAs. We conclude CARHSP1 is a TNF-α mRNA stability enhancer required for effective TNF-α production, demonstrating the importance of both stabilization and destabilization pathways in regulating the TNF-α mRNA half-life.
Ca2+-regulated heat-stable protein of 24 kDa (CRHSP-24) is a serine phosphoprotein originally identified as a physiological substrate for the Ca2+-calmodulin regulated protein phosphatase calcineurin (PP2B). CRHSP-24 is a paralog of the brain-specific mRNA-binding protein PIPPin and was recently shown to interact with the STYX/dead phosphatase protein in developing spermatids (Wishart MJ and Dixon JE. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99: 2112-2117, 2002). Investigation of the effects of phorbol ester (12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate; TPA) and cAMP analogs in 32P-labeled pancreatic acini revealed that these agents acutely dephosphorylated CRHSP-24 by a Ca2+-independent mechanism. Indeed, cAMP- and TPA-mediated dephosphorylation of CRHSP-24 was fully inhibited by the PP1/PP2A inhibitor calyculin A, indicating that the protein is regulated by an additional phosphatase other than PP2B. Supporting this, CRHSP-24 dephosphorylation in response to the Ca2+-mobilizing hormone cholecystokinin was differentially inhibited by calyculin A and the PP2B-selective inhibitor cyclosporin A. Stimulation of acini with secretin, a secretagogue that signals through the cAMP pathway in acini, induced CRHSP-24 dephosphorylation in a concentration-dependent manner. Isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting indicated that elevated cellular Ca2+ dephosphorylated CRHSP-24 on at least three serine sites, whereas cAMP and TPA partially dephosphorylated the protein on at least two sites. The cAMP-mediated dephosphorylation of CRHSP-24 was inhibited by low concentrations of okadaic acid (10 nM) and fostriecin (1 microM), suggesting that CRHSP-24 is regulated by PP2A or PP4. Collectively, these data indicate that CRHSP-24 is regulated by diverse and physiologically relevant signaling pathways in acinar cells, including Ca2+, cAMP, and diacylglycerol.
The process in which a signal is passed on to downstream components within the cell, which become activated themselves to further propagate the signal and finally trigger a change in the function or state of the cell.
J. Biol. Chem. 273, 22738-22744 (1998)[PubMed:9712905]
Although the calcium/calmodulin-regulated protein phosphatase calcineurin has been shown to play a role in a number of intracellular processes, relatively few of the downstream phosphoproteins that are dephosphorylated by this enzyme in cells have been described. Calcineurin was previously shown to play a role in amylase secretion by rat pancreatic acinar cells and to specifically dephosphorylate a 24-kDa cytosolic protein. The present study describes the purification and characterization of this novel phosphoprotein, termed CRHSP-24 (calcium-regulated heat-stable protein with a molecular mass of 24 kDa). Microgram quantities of CRHSP-24 were purified from a large-scale rat pancreas preparation in a procedure involving heat and acid precipitation, anion-exchange chromatography, preparative electrophoresis, electroelution, and two-dimensional electrophoresis. Internal amino acid sequence was obtained from two peptides following trypsin digestion and high pressure liquid chromatography. Both sequences matched with 100% identity nucleotide sequences of expressed sequence tags from human placenta and rat PC-12 cells. Two CRHSP-24 transcripts of 0.7 and 2. 9 kilobases were detected in multiple rat tissues by Northern analysis, whereas a single 24-kDa protein was observed by Western blotting. The CRHSP-24 protein is 147 amino acids in length, is composed of nearly 14% proline, and is phosphorylated entirely on serine residues. Western analysis and 32P metabolic labeling of acini revealed CRHSP-24 to be maximally phosphorylated in control cells and to undergo a rapid sustained dephosphorylation on at least 3 serine residues in response to calcium-mobilizing stimuli. Dephosphorylation of CRHSP-24 was completely inhibited by pretreatment of acini with cyclosporin A or FK506. Furthermore, the inhibitory effects of FK506 were blocked by excess rapamycin. The ubiquitous expression of CRHSP-24 in rat tissues suggests that this novel calcineurin substrate plays a common role in calcium-mediated signal transduction.
A reference proteome is a set of protein sequences derived from a complete proteome which constitutes a defined standard for a particular user community. Reference proteomes are manually defined according to a number of criteria. They cover the proteomes of well- studied model organisms and other proteomes of interest for biomedical and biotechnological research. Reference proteomes have been selected to provide broad coverage of the tree of life, and constitute a representative cross-section of the taxonomic diversity to be found within UniProtKB.