Functional heterogeneity of GEF-free initiation factor 2 purified from suckling and adult rat brain

Translational initiation factor eIF-2 subcellular levels and phosphorylation status in the developing rat brain

We have quantified the levels of the alpha subunit of initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) in the postmicrosomal supernatant and the ribosomal salt wash fractions from suckling and adult rat brain. The levels of eIF-2 in the ribosomal salt wash decrease in adult with respect to that present in suckling rat brain, but the total amount remains fairly constant, and a very close parallelism exists between the eIF-2 associated with ribosomes and RNA levels in the microsomal fraction in the two age groups. The phosphorylation state of eIF-2 alpha, as determined by isoelectric focusing followed by protein immunoblotting, in the same subcellular fractions, did not reveal the presence of the phosphorylated form in any of the fractions studied. These results suggest that phosphorylation of the alpha subunit is not implied in the regulation of protein synthesis initiation during brain development, and some other component regulates both the number of active ribosomes and eIF-2 levels in microsomes.

Partial purification of a novel N-ethylmaleimide-activated translational inhibitor from adult rat brain

A translational inhibitor that is activated by N-ethylmaleimide treatment can be found in the postmicrosomal fraction prepared from the brain of adult rats, but it is almost undetectable in the same fraction prepared from suckling animals. The inhibitor is thermolabile and remains in the supernatant fraction after precipitation at pH 5. During the purification procedure, the inhibitor in its unactivated state binds to the anion exchanger (diethylaminoethyl-cellulose) but not to the cation exchanger (phosphocellulose). Treatment with N-ethylmaleimide increases inhibitor affinity for the cation exchanger, and this chromatographic step purifies the inhibitor by 143-fold. Both the thermolabile nature and the behavior of the inhibitory activity during the different steps of the purification procedure suggest that this activity is most probably due to a protein. Although the addition of initiation factor 2 reverses the inhibition of protein synthesis in the presence of ATP and Mg2+, the inhibitor does not phosphorylate any of the initiation factor subunits "in vitro," which indicates that it does not contain any intrinsic protein kinase activity. However, its presence in both a crude and a purified preparation of a kinase of the alpha subunit of a brain eukaryotic initiation factor increases the phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of the initiation factor. The mechanism of action of this inhibitor is discussed.

Subcellular and regional distribution of casein kinase II and initiation factor 2 activities during rat brain development

The possible relationship between the subcellular and regional distribution of the activities of initiation factor 2 and casein kinase II, responsible for the phosphorylation of the beta subunit of the factor, has been studied during postnatal rat brain development. Both activities have been measured in four brain regions: diencephalon, hemispheres, cerebellum and brain stem, and in two subcellular fractions: postmicrosomal supernatant and the protein fraction associated with ribosomes, or crude initiation factors fraction. The specific activity of both the factor and the protein kinase is much higher in the protein fraction associated with ribosomes than in the soluble fraction and slightly higher in the hemispheres than in the other three regions. Changes in the activity of both proteins are in parallel with development, the activities increase in the postmicrosomal supernatant and decrease in the fraction associated with ribosomes from suckling (5-day-old) to adult (60-day-old) animals. The total activity of the factor and its kinase, calculated by summation of the activities of both subcellular fractions, does not change during development, and the distribution of activities between the two subcellular fractions observed during brain development, appears as an attractive regulation mechanism for the function of both proteins.

An improved purification procedure and properties of casein kinase II from brain

A simple and short purification procedure applicable to casein kinase II has been developed, for fully characterizing the enzyme from calf cerebral cortex cytosol. The procedure consists of four chromatographic steps: DEAE-cellulose, phosphocellulose, phosvitin-Sepharose and ATP-agarose which yields 87% pure casein kinase II. The purified enzyme shows three major bands with apparent molecular masses of 42, 38, and 27 kDa by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate and is self-autophosphorylated on its 27 kDa polypeptide. The enzyme shows all the characteristics described for casein kinase II from other sources: it is independent of cyclic nucleotides, calcium/phospholipids, and double-stranded poly(I).poly(C); it can utilize both ATP and GTP as phosphoryl donors and can phosphorylate both casein and phosvitin but not histone. The kinetic studies establish that the Km for ATP is 12.5 microM and 25.1 microM when using phosvitin and casein respectively as phosphoryl acceptors. The Km for phosvitin is 0.91 mg/ml and for casein 1.43 mg/ml, while the Vmax is 315 nmol/min/per mg protein and 479 nmol/min/per mg protein for phosvitin and casein respectively. The activity of the kinase is highly stimulated by KCl or NaCl, and almost completely inhibited by heparin concentrations of 1 microgram/ml (92%). This inhibition is reduced to only 33% in the presence of optimal KCl concentrations (150 mM). Spermine stimulates enzyme activity, whilst hemin produces a slight inhibition.

Differential subcellular distribution of guanine nucleotide exchange factor in suckling and adult rat brain

Guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity in ribosomal high salt wash and cytosolic fractions from suckling (4-10-day-old) and adult (60-day-old) rats was assayed by two different methods, by measuring: (i) its ability to promote binding of [3H]Met-tRNAi to eukaryotic initiation factor-2 (eIF-2) preparations that are partially or wholly in the form of eIF-2-GDP complexes (at Mg2+ concentrations near the optimum for protein synthesis), and (ii) under similar conditions, its ability to catalyze the displacement of [3H]GDP, previously bound to eIF-2, by unlabelled GDP. A purified eIF-2 (GEF-free) from brain was used as the source of eIF-2 activity. GEF activity in ribosomal fractions is higher in the brain of suckling than adults rats, and a direct correlation therefore exists between ribosomal GEF activity and the previously observed age-related decrease in eIF-2 activity in ribosomal high salt wash protein fractions. On the other hand GEF activity in the postmicrosomal supernatant is lower in the brain of suckling than adult rats. These findings further support the hypothesis that the progressive decrease in protein synthesis during brain development is controlled through regulation of the initiation step, by modulation of eIF-2/GEF activities.

Protein kinase activities associated with ribosomes of developing rat brain. Identification of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 kinases

Protein kinases associated with ribosomes in the brains of suckling (4-10 days) and adult (2 months) rats were extracted from ribosomal fraction with 0.5 M KCl. The different protein kinase activities were characterized by their ability to phosphorylate three exogenous substrates: casein, histone IIs and histone IIIs in the presence of different modulators. Ribosomal salt wash fractions contain a high casein kinase activity which was partially inhibited by heparin and stimulated by calmodulin in the presence of Ca2+, indicating the presence of casein kinase I and II and calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases. Cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP-dependent kinases and protein kinase C (calcium/phospholipids-dependent kinase) were also present. No differences were found in the casein kinase activities of suckling and adult animals, but histone kinase activities were higher in adult than in suckling animals. To identify initiation factor 2 kinases, purified factor from adult brains was used as a protein marker. In addition to the phosphorylation of both factor subunits alpha and beta by casein kinase I or II, an increased phosphorylation was detected of alpha subunit in the presence of cyclic AMP, and beta subunit, in the presence of Ca2+/calmodulin or Ca2+/phospholipids. Present results reinforce our hypothesis that, as occurs in other eukaryotic cells, the decreased rate of protein synthesis during brain development may be regulated by phosphorylation of initiation factor 2.