Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 2004, p. 10826-10834, Vol. 24, No. 24
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.24.10826-10834.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
The Wistar Institute,1 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,2 Harvard Microchemistry and Proteomics Analysis Facility, Cambridge, Massachusetts3
Received 18 June 2004/ Returned for modification 19 July 2004/ Accepted 17 September 2004
|
|
|---|
|
|
|---|
The acetylation of nucleosomal histones has been known for several decades to be tightly correlated with transcriptional activation (38). However, it is only in recent years that the enzymes that catalyze this acetylation have been demonstrated to also modify nonhistone substrates (22, 45). The acetylation of nonhistone substrates regulates their function through a variety of means (28). For one of the most well-characterized nonhistone substrates, p53, acetylation has been variously reported to affect DNA binding, protein stability, and interaction with other proteins (4, 22, 29). Acetylation regulates these same functions in other transcription factors as well (24, 31, 39, 40). In addition, acetylation has been reported to regulate subcellular localization, protein-protein interactions, protein turnover rates, and other functions (3, 41). These pleiotropic effects have led to the suggestion that acetylation may be as broadly utilized a posttranslational modification as phosphorylation in the regulation of cellular physiology (28).
A number of studies have shown that one of the strategies used by c-MYC to regulate the transcription of target genes is the recruitment of multiprotein complexes containing either the mammalian GCN5 (mGCN5)/PCAF or TIP60 acetyltransferase (20, 21, 34). (mGCN5 and PCAF are paralogs which appear biochemically indistinguishable and exist in identical multiprotein complexes [36]). Existing experimental evidence suggests that recruitment of these enzymes to specific genes by c-MYC results in the acetylation of nucleosomal histones (7, 21). In most cases, histone acetylation is correlated with increased transcription of c-MYC targets. The present study was designed to examine whether one of these enzymes, mGCN5/PCAF or TIP60, directly acetylates the c-MYC protein itself. We report here the robust in vivo acetylation of c-MYC by both mGCN5/PCAF and TIP60. The sites of acetylation for mGCN5 have been mapped, with the major target residues residing within the nuclear localization signal (NLS) and the leucine zipper of c-MYC. Furthermore, c-MYC acetylation by either mGCN5/PCAF or TIP60 results in increased protein stability. These data help to define a novel pathway by which levels of the critical c-MYC oncoprotein are regulated.
|
|
|---|
Identification of c-MYC acetylation sites. Acetylated c-MYC protein was purified from H1299 cells and digested with trypsin, and peptide sequence analysis was performed by microcapillary reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography nanoelectrospray tandem mass spectrometry (µLC-MS/MS) on a Finnigan LCQ DECA XP+ quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer (Thermo Electron). The ion trap repetitively surveyed the range m/z 395 to 1,600, acquiring data-dependent MS/MS spectra for peptide sequence information on the four most abundant ions in each survey scan. MS/MS spectra were acquired with a relative collision energy of 30%, 2.5-Da isolation width, and recurring ions dynamically excluded. Preliminary sequencing of peptides was facilitated by database correlation with the algorithm SEQUEST (19). The discovery of peptides carrying acetylation and subsequent manual de novo interpretation of their MS/MS spectra were facilitated with the in-house programs MUQUEST and FUZZYIONS (12), respectively.
c-MYC half-life determination. H1299 cells were seeded onto 100-mm-diameter dishes at 106 cells per plate and allowed to incubate at 37°C overnight. They were then transfected with 5 µg of FLAG-c-MYC and 10 µg of either pcDNA (two plates) or FLAG-GCN5 using Lipofectamine-2000 (Invitrogen). The transfection solution was kept on the cells for 4 h at 37°C, after which each plate was evenly split among the six wells of a six-well cluster plate and allowed to incubate at 37°C overnight. One of the FLAG-c-MYC/pcDNA sample groups was treated with 20 µM MG-132 (dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide [Calbiochem]) for 1 h prior to cycloheximide treatment. Each well of cells from each group was treated with cycloheximide (100 µg/ml; Sigma) for the durations indicated in the text. Cells were harvested in 50 µl of NP-40-based lysis buffer containing protease inhibitors (34). Twenty-five micrograms of each lysate was run on 4 to 12% Tris-glycine SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) gels (Invitrogen) and used to carry out Western blotting as described above. Autoradiography was performed, and the films were scanned and digitized. Individual c-MYC bands were quantified using Kodak 1D 3.5.3 imaging software. Individual bands were quantitated, and the mean intensity values were exported to Microsoft Excel. In addition to c-MYC, tubulin levels were also determined by Western blotting, and all c-MYC levels were normalized to tubulin. Normalized densitometric data for each time course was plotted, and curves were generated using linear regression. The point at which a given curve reached a c-MYC value equal to one-half of its starting value was determined and referred to as the half-life. Different exposures of films from different experimental groups were chosen for scanning based on similar intensity of c-MYC signals at the zero time point. This was necessary since coexpression of mGCN5 led to an overall increase in steady-state levels of c-MYC, as discussed in Results.
|
|
|---|
![]() View larger version (33K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 1. The c-MYC oncoprotein is acetylated in vivo by its cofactors mGCN5 and TIP60. (A) The human lung cancer cell line H1299 was transfected with an expression vector for c-MYC (lanes 2 to 4). Mock transfected cells served as a negative control (lane 1). In addition, transfections included expression vectors for the acetyltransferases mGCN5 and TIP60, as indicated. Twenty-four hours posttransfection, cell lysates were produced, and acetylated proteins were precipitated with a universal antiacetyllysine antibody. Precipitates (top panel) and lysates (bottom panel) were resolved by SDS-PAGE and Western blotted for c-MYC. (B) H1299 cells were transfected with expression vectors for mGCN5 or TIP60, as indicated. Lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation for the FLAG epitope present on the acetyltransferases. Precipitates were either resolved by SDS-PAGE and Western blotted for the FLAG epitope (top panel) or subjected to an in vitro acetyltransferase assay using purified histones as the substrate (bottom panel). The migration of molecular weight markers is indicated at the left. The migration of the immunoglobulin heavy chain from the immunoprecipitating antibody is indicated (Ig).
|
![]() View larger version (38K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. mGCN5 acetylates the three mammalian MYC proteins, c-MYC, L-MYC, and N-MYC. Expression vectors for FLAG epitope-tagged versions of the mammalian MYC family members c-MYC (lanes 3 and 4), L-MYC (lanes 5 and 6), and N-MYC (lanes 7 and 8) were transfected into H1299 cells. In addition, transfections included an expression vector for mGCN5 (lanes 2, 4, 6, and 8), as indicated. As a negative control, cotransfections including the empty expression vector were also performed (lanes 1, 3, 5, and 7). Lysates were resolved, blotted, and probed for the FLAG epitope common to c-MYC, L-MYC, and N-MYC (middle panel) or for mGCN5 (top panel). Antiacetyllysine immunoprecipitates (i.p.) were also resolved and blotted for FLAG to detect acetylated forms of the MYC family proteins (bottom panel).
|
![]() View larger version (16K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 3. mGCN5-mediated acetylation of c-MYC does not require the MbII domain (A) H1299 cells were transfected with expression vectors encoding either wild-type c-MYC (wt, lanes 2 and 3) or a mutant lacking amino acids 129 to 145 ( MbII, lanes 4 and 5). Transfections also included the expression vector for mGCN5 (lanes 3 and 5), as indicated. After blotting, both lysates (top panel) and antiacetyl- lysine precipitates (bottom panel) were probed for the FLAG epitope present on c-MYC. (B) In parallel with the transfections shown in panel A, H1299 cells were transfected with an expression vector for the c-MYC partner MAX in the presence (lane 2) or absence (lane 1) of the mGCN5 expression vector. Lysates (top panel) and antiacetyl- lysine precipitates (bottom panel) were resolved and blotted for MAX.
|
![]() View larger version (36K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Mapping of c-MYC acetylation sites in vitro and in vivo. (A) H1299 cells were transfected with expression vectors for FLAG epitope-tagged versions of either wild-type c-MYC (amino acids 1 to 439, lanes 2 and 3) or a truncation mutant encoding only amino acids 1 to 268 (lanes 4 and 5), as indicated. Mock-transfected cells served as a control (lane 1). Lysates and antiacetyllysine immunoprecipitates were resolved and probed for the FLAG epitope common to the wild-type and mutant c-MYC proteins or mGCN5, as indicated. The migration of molecular weight markers is indicated at the left. Ig, immunoglobulin. (B) An in vitro acetylation assay was performed on glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins containing either the amino (amino acids 1 to 204) or carboxy (amino acids 200 to 439) terminal (term) region of c-MYC produced and purified from E. coli. The catalytic domain of the mGCN5 paralog PCAF was also produced and purified from E. coli. Purified proteins were assayed in the combinations indicated in an in vitro acetylation assay. The p45 subunit of NFE2, a known substrate for mGCN5/PCAF, was included as a positive control. The migration of molecular weight markers is indicated at the right. (C) FLAG epitope-tagged c-MYC expressed in either the presence or the absence of mGCN5 was purified from transfected H1299 cells. These proteins were subjected to µLC-MS/MS analysis to identify in vivo sites of mGCN5-mediated acetylation. This analysis revealed acetylation at lysine 149 of c-MYC in both the presence and the absence of mGCN5 overexpression. Two additional sites of acetylation were observed in the presence of mGCN5. The first of these lies within the c-MYC NLS at amino acid 323, and the second lies within the LZ domain at amino acid 417, as indicated. The individual peptides recovered for each region are indicated by thick black lines beneath the amino acid sequence of the region. Acetylated lysines within these peptides are indicated in red. Other functional domains of the c-MYC protein are indicated as follows: MbII, the highly conserved MYC homology box II region; B, the basic DNA binding motif; HLH, the helix-loop-helix domain essential for dimerization with MAX. (D) H1299 cells were transfected with the c-MYC expression vector in the presence or absence of mGCN5 expression, as indicated. Cell lysates were generated under denaturing conditions. These lysates and antiacetyllysine immunoprecipitates (i.p.) were blotted and probed for c-MYC. Lysates were also probed for mGCN5 and for ß-tubulin.
|
To define the site of acetylation, direct peptide sequence analysis was performed on c-MYC protein purified from H1299 cells. For this analysis, c-MYC was expressed alone or in combination with mGCN5, so that inducible sites of acetylation could be distinguished from those sites constitutively acetylated by endogenous enzymes. The FLAG epitope tag on c-MYC allowed the isolation of sufficient quantities of mGCN5-acetylated c-MYC from human cells for this analysis. This material was subjected to sequence analysis by microcapillary reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and µLC-MS/MS. The c-MYC peptides that were captured and analyzed by this method cover approximately 65% of the protein and included 17 of 27 lysines. This analysis revealed constitutive acetylation on lysine 149, even in the absence of mGCN5 coexpression. Based on the in vitro assay illustrated in Fig. 4B, acetylation of lysine 149 is not likely to be targeted by mGCN5/PCAF. mGCN5-induced acetylation of c-MYC was observed at lysines 323 and 417 (Fig. 4C). As predicted by the in vivo and in vitro mapping studies described above, both of these sites reside within the C-terminal half of c-MYC. More specifically, lysine 323 resides within the major nuclear localization sequence of c-MYC (15), while lysine 417 is located within the leucine zipper motif (6). Of the three peptides spanning lysine 323 that were recovered and sequenced by µLC-MS/MS, two were acetylated. While this does not provide quantitative information about the level of c-MYC acetylation achieved in these studies, it does suggest that the acetylated form of c-MYC represents a significant fraction of the total c-MYC pool. In addition, a comparison of immunoprecipitates performed using antiacetyllysine or anti-c-MYC demonstrated that 40 to 70% of the total c-MYC pool is acetylated under the conditions used here (data not shown).
To confirm that the acetylation observed in vivo was occurring on c-MYC rather than on a c-MYC-associated protein, antiacetyllysine immunoprecipitates were generated under denaturing conditions. Probing of these precipitates for c-MYC revealed that c-MYC was directly recognized by the antiacetyllysine antisera (Fig. 4D).
As the mGCN5 acetylation sites mapped to regions of c-MYC with well-defined function, studies were conducted to assess whether acetylation affects these functions. The leucine zipper of c-MYC cooperates with the adjacent helix-loop-helix motif to mediate dimerization with MAX (6). H1299 cells were transfected with the c-MYC expression vector in either the presence or the absence of the mGCN5 expression vector. Efficient mGCN5-induced acetylation of c-MYC was confirmed by performing an antiacetyllysine immunoprecipitation on lysates from a portion of these cells (Fig. 5A, bottom panel). To test for dimerization with MAX, lysates from the same cell pools were precipitated for the FLAG epitope on c-MYC. Precipitates and lysates were then probed for FLAG to detect c-MYC and mGCN5 (Fig. 5A, top and middle panels). Precipitates were also probed for MAX to assess the level of endogenous MAX associated with the acetylated and nonacetylated forms of c-MYC. The level of MAX binding was not significantly different between the two forms of c-MYC, suggesting that acetylation within the leucine zipper neither enhanced nor inhibited the dimerization of c-MYC and MAX. The lack of a significant effect on this critical c-MYC function was partially predicted by the observation that lysine 417 is not entirely conserved among c-MYC proteins of different species. Since lysine 323 lies within the main nuclear localization signal in c-MYC (15), the affect of acetylation on localization was assessed. Differential cytoplasmic and nuclear extracts were generated from cells transfected with the c-MYC expression vector in the presence or the absence of mGCN5. Quantitation of the ratio of cytoplasmic to nuclear c-MYC revealed no change in the localization of c-MYC in response to acetylation by mGCN5 (Fig. 5B). Direct examination of the acetylated pool of c-MYC showed a subcellular localization pattern indistinguishable from that reported above for total c-MYC (data not shown).
![]() View larger version (33K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. Dimerization with MAX and nuclear localization are not affected by c-MYC acetylation. (A) To assess whether acetylation of c-MYC altered its potential for dimerization with MAX, H1299 cells were transfected with the FLAG c-MYC expression vector (lanes 2 and 3), in the presence (lane 3) or absence (lane 2) of mGCN5, as indicated. Lysates and anti-FLAG immunoprecipitates (i.p.) were resolved by SDS-PAGE and blotted for the FLAG epitope to detect the tagged c-MYC and mGCN5, as indicated. In addition, the blots were probed for endogenous MAX to determine the amount dimerized with c-MYC. To confirm that c-MYC was efficiently acetylated by mGCN5 in this experiment, a portion of the lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with antiacetyllysine antisera. After blotting, these precipitates were probed for the FLAG tag to visualize acetylated c-MYC (bottom panel). (B) The effect of acetylation on c-MYC's subcellular localization was assessed in H1299 cells transfected with the FLAG c-MYC expression vector (lanes 2 and 3), in the presence (lane 3) or absence (lane 2) of mGCN5. Whole-cell lysates (top panel) were produced from a portion of the transfected cells, while the remaining cells were subjected to differential extraction of the cytoplasmic (cyto.; left middle panel) and nuclear fractions (right middle panel), as indicated. The presence of c-MYC in the various fractions was detected by probing for the FLAG epitope. To confirm that c-MYC was efficiently acetylated by mGCN5 in this experiment, a portion of the lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with antiacetyllysine antisera. These precipitates were blotted and probed for the FLAG tag to visualize acetylated c-MYC (bottom panel). The migration of molecular weight markers is indicated at the left.
|
![]() View larger version (25K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 6. Acetylation by mGCN5 stabilizes c-MYC. In order to determine the effect of acetylation on the stability of the c-MYC protein, half-life studies were conducted with H1299 cells transfected with the FLAG epitope-tagged c-MYC expression vector. In addition, transfections included vectors encoding either mGCN5 or CBP, as indicated. After transfection, cells were treated with cycloheximide to block further protein synthesis. Cells were harvested at the times indicated, and c-MYC levels were determined by Western blotting. Half-life values were determined by densitometric quantitation of Western blots. Signals for c-MYC levels at each time point were plotted using a logarithmic curve-fit algorithm, and the time point at which c-MYC levels decreased to 50% of their original value was determined and reported as the half-life. Because acetylation dramatically increased the overall steady-state levels of c-MYC, shorter exposures of c-MYC blots from the cells coexpressing mGCN5 or CBP were used for densitometry. Cells transfected with c-MYC in the absence of either acetyltransferase served as the source for determining the c-MYC basal half-life.
|
![]() View larger version (30K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 7. TIP60 increases c-MYC half-life. To determine the effect of acetylation by TIP60 on the stability of the c-MYC protein, half-life studies were conducted with H1299 cells as described for Fig. 6. Briefly, cells were transfected with the FLAG epitope-tagged c-MYC expression vector, in the presence or absence of TIP60, as indicated. Cell lysates were examined for c-MYC levels, and half-life values were determined as described in the legend to Fig. 6. As a control, one group of cells was treated with the proteasome inhibitor MG-132 to artificially stabilize c-MYC.
|
![]() View larger version (38K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 8. Mutation of c-MYC acetylation sites inhibits mGCN5-induced stabilization. In experiments (EXPT) identical to those presented in Fig. 6 and 7, wild-type (wt) and acetylation site mutant (K323/417R) versions of c-MYC were compared for their stabilization in response to mGCN5. (A) In two independent experiments, the loss of acetylation inhibited the ability of mGCN5 to stabilize c-MYC from 2.4- to 3.2-fold down to 1.6-fold (data are displayed as half-lives in minutes). (B) Western blots from experiment #2 are shown.
|
|
|
|---|
To date, the mGCN5 sites reported here are the only sites of acetylation on c-MYC. While these sites lie within the NLS and leucine zipper, acetylation does not appear to play a major role in regulating the function of either of these domains. Instead, acetylation by mGCN5 (and TIP60) results in increased stability of the c-MYC protein. This is similar to the effect of c-MYC acetylation by CBP shown here and recently reported by others (49). A major unresolved issue, therefore, is whether all three families of enzymes increase protein stability by targeting the same residues on c-MYC. It should also be pointed out that our µLC-MS/MS data only allowed us to examine
65% of the c-MYC polypeptide, leaving open the possibility that residues in addition to lysines 323 and 417 are acetylated. Lysine 323 is highly conserved among c-MYC proteins from different species, and lysines in a similar position are also present in N-MYC and L-MYC proteins. Lysine 417 is also highly conserved among c-MYC, N-MYC, and L-MYC proteins, with the notable exceptions of human and Xenopus laevis c-MYC, where lysine 417 is not conserved. (Our data were obtained by expressing mouse c-MYC in human cells and therefore included lysine 417.) What is clear from this study and the previous study with CBP (49) is that the posttranslational modification of c-MYC by acetylation is a conserved mechanism by which levels of c-MYC may be regulated in vivo.
The mechanism by which acetylation increases c-MYC stability remains unclear. c-MYC has recently been reported to exist within two distinct cellular pools (48). The first of these is a detergent-soluble pool termed S1, containing 90 to 95% of cellular c-MYC and displaying a relatively short half-life. The remaining 5 to 10% of c-MYC resides in a detergent-insoluble pool termed S2, where it displays a much longer half-life. One potential mechanism by which c-MYC acetylation might increase its half-life is the relocalization of c-MYC from the unstable S1 pool to the more stable S2 pool. This possibility seemed particularly plausible given that one of the major acetylation sites identified here resides within the nuclear localization signal. However, this mechanism does not appear to be responsible for the acetylation-induced increase in c-MYC stability observed here, since acetylation did not result in a significant increase in the percentage of c-MYC in the stable S2 pool (data not shown).
Recently, c-MYC has been shown to be a substrate for two ubiquitin ligases, termed SKP2 and Fbw7 (27, 50, 52, 54). Ubiquitylation of c-MYC by these enzymes targets it for proteasome-mediated degradation. In an attractive model for the mechanism by which acetylation of c-MYC results in increased protein stability, acetylation of lysine 323 and/or 417 blocks these residues from becoming ubiquitylated. Thus, acetylated c-MYC would not be targeted for degradation. Ubiquitylation of c-MYC is also required for its ability to transactivate target genes (46). These data establish a seemingly paradoxical scenario in which the modification that marks the c-MYC protein for destruction is also required for its activity. If acetylation regulates c-MYC ubiquitylation, then it would also be predicted to have an impact on transcriptional activity. Our data show that mutation of the acetylation sites results in decreased transactivation potential (data not shown). This effect may result from the fact that mutant c-MYC cannot be acetylated and therefore can not be stabilized. Alternatively, if the acetylated lysines are also the sites of ubiquitylation, then their mutation would result in an inactive protein.
It is tempting to speculate that the fraction of c-MYC associated with its cofactors mGCN5/PCAF and TIP60 is preferentially stabilized as a result of direct acetylation by these same cofactors. By virtue of its increased stability, the transcriptionally active, cofactor-bound pool of c-MYC could thereby gain a functional advantage over other pools of c-MYC in the cell. However, at the levels of ectopic expression examined here, the stable recruitment of mGCN5/PCAF and TIP60 through the MbII domain of c-MYC is not required for its acetylation. This suggests a model in which the stable recruitment of these enzymes as cofactors for c-MYC is separable from their ability to recognize c-MYC as a substrate. Other issues that remain to be resolved include defining whether c-MYC is preferentially acetylated during specific cellular responses or stages of the cell cycle.
Levels of the c-MYC oncoprotein are tightly regulated in cells. A number of studies have demonstrated that cell cycle progression rates are tightly coupled to c-MYC levels, with even twofold changes in c-MYC having profound effects on doubling times (32). In fact, a modest increase in the levels of c-MYC may be an initiating event in the various forms of human cancer where the c-myc oncogene is amplified (35). The results described here identify a novel mechanism by which the acetyltransferases mGCN5/PCAF and TIP60 increase c-MYC levels in cells.
This work was supported by the following grants from the NIH:CA090465 and CA098172 (to S.B.M.), DK58044 (to G.A.B.), and CA085678 (to P.M.L.). In addition, this work was partially supported by funds from the Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, Pennsylvania Department of Health.
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»