Analysis of the STAT3 interactome using in-situ biotinylation and SILAC

A family-wide assessment of latent STAT transcription factor interactions reveals divergent dimer repertoires

The conversion of STAT proteins from latent to active transcription factors is central to cytokine signalling. Triggered by their signal-induced tyrosine phosphorylation, it is the assembly of a range of cytokine-specific STAT homo- and heterodimers that marks a key step in the transition of hitherto latent proteins to transcription activators. In contrast, the constitutive self-assembly of latent STATs and how it relates to the functioning of activated STATs, is understood less well. To provide a more complete picture, we developed a co-localization-based assay and tested all 28 possible combinations of the seven unphosphorylated STAT (U-STAT) proteins in living cells. We identified five U-STAT homodimers -STAT1, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5A and STAT5B- and two heterodimers -STAT1:STAT2 and STAT5A:STAT5B- and performed semi-quantitative assessments of the forces and characterizations of binding interfaces that support them. One STAT protein -STAT6- was found to be monomeric. This comprehensive analysis of latent STAT self-assembly lays bare considerable structural and functional diversity in the ways that link STAT dimerization before and after activation.

Large-scale sequencing identifies multiple genes and rare variants associated with Crohn's disease susceptibility

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified hundreds of loci associated with Crohn's disease (CD). However, as with all complex diseases, robust identification of the genes dysregulated by noncoding variants typically driving GWAS discoveries has been challenging. Here, to complement GWASs and better define actionable biological targets, we analyzed sequence data from more than 30,000 patients with CD and 80,000 population controls. We directly implicate ten genes in general onset CD for the first time to our knowledge via association to coding variation, four of which lie within established CD GWAS loci. In nine instances, a single coding variant is significantly associated, and in the tenth, ATG4C, we see additionally a significantly increased burden of very rare coding variants in CD cases. In addition to reiterating the central role of innate and adaptive immune cells as well as autophagy in CD pathogenesis, these newly associated genes highlight the emerging role of mesenchymal cells in the development and maintenance of intestinal inflammation.

Identification of intracellular glycosaminoglycan-interacting proteins by affinity purification mass spectrometry

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are essential functional components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Artificial GAGs like sulfated hyaluronan (sHA) exhibit pro-osteogenic properties and boost healing processes. Hence, they are of high interest for supporting bone regeneration and wound healing. Although sulfated GAGs (sGAGs) appear intracellularly, the knowledge about intracellular effects and putative interaction partners is scarce. Here we used an affinity-purification mass spectrometry-based (AP-MS) approach to identify novel and particularly intracellular sGAG-interacting proteins in human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC). Overall, 477 proteins were found interacting with at least one of four distinct sGAGs. Enrichment analysis for protein localization showed that mainly intracellular and cell-associated interacting proteins were identified. The interaction of sGAG with α2-macroglobulin receptor-associated protein (LRPAP1), exportin-1 (XPO1), and serine protease HTRA1 (HTRA1) was confirmed in reverse assays. Consecutive pathway and cluster analysis led to the identification of biological processes, namely processes involving binding and processing of nucleic acids, LRP1-dependent endocytosis, and exosome formation. Respecting the preferentially intracellular localization of sGAG in vesicle-like structures, also the interaction data indicate sGAG-specific modulation of vesicle-based transport processes. By identifying many sGAG-specific interacting proteins, our data provide a resource for upcoming studies aimed at molecular mechanisms and understanding of sGAG cellular effects.

Function is what counts: how microbial community complexity affects species, proteome and pathway coverage in metaproteomics

Introduction: Metaproteomics is an established method to obtain a comprehensive taxonomic and functional view of microbial communities. After more than a decade, we are now able to describe the promise, reality, and perspectives of metaproteomics and provide useful information about the choice of method, applications, and potential improvement strategies.Areas covered: In this article, we will discuss current challenges of species and proteome coverage, and also highlight functional aspects of metaproteomics analysis of microbial communities with different levels of complexity. To do this, we re-analyzed data from microbial communities with low to high complexity (8, 72, 200 and >300 species). High species diversity leads to a reduced number of protein group identifications in a complex community, and thus the number of species resolved is underestimated. Ultimately, low abundance species remain undiscovered in complex communities. However, we observed that the main functional categories were better represented within complex microbiomes when compared to species coverage.Expert opinion: Our findings showed that even with low species coverage, metaproteomics has the potential to reveal habitat-specific functional features. Finally, we exploit this information to highlight future research avenues that are urgently needed to enhance our understanding of taxonomic composition and functions of complex microbiomes.

Unphosphorylated STAT1 represses apoptosis in macrophages during Mycobacteriumtuberculosis infection

In murine macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the level of phosphorylated STAT1 (P-STAT1), which drives the expression of many pro-apoptosis genes, increases quickly but then declines over a period of hours. By contrast, infection induces a continued increase in the level of unphosphorylated STAT1 that persists for several days. Here, we found that the level of unphosphorylated STAT1 correlated with the intracellular bacterial burden during the later stages of infection. To investigate the significance of a high level of unphosphorylated STAT1, we increased its concentration exogenously, and found that the apoptosis rate induced by Mtb was sufficiently decreased. Further experiments confirmed that unphosphorylated STAT1 affects the expression of several immune-associated genes and lessens the sensitivity of macrophages to CD95 (FAS)-mediated apoptosis during Mtb infection. Furthermore, we characterized 149 proteins that interacted with unphosphorylated STAT1 and the interactome network. The cooperation between unphosphorylated STAT1 and STAT3 results in downregulation of CD95 expression. Additionally, we verified that unphosphorylated STAT1 and IFIT1 competed for binding to eEF1A. Taken together, our data show that the role of unphosphorylated STAT1 differs from that of P-STAT1, and represses apoptosis in macrophages to promote immune evasion during Mtb infection.

Integrative Phosphoproteomics Links IL-23R Signaling with Metabolic Adaptation in Lymphocytes

Interleukin (IL)-23 mediated signal transduction represents a major molecular mechanism underlying the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition, emerging evidence supports the role of IL-23-driven Th17 cells in inflammation. Components of the IL-23 signaling pathway, such as IL-23R, JAK2 and STAT3, have been characterized, but elements unique to this network as compared to other interleukins have not been readily explored. In this study, we have undertaken an integrative phosphoproteomics approach to better characterise downstream signaling events. To this end, we performed and compared phosphopeptide and phosphoprotein enrichment methodologies after activation of T lymphocytes by IL-23. We demonstrate the complementary nature of the two phosphoenrichment approaches by maximizing the capture of phosphorylation events. A total of 8202 unique phosphopeptides, and 4317 unique proteins were identified, amongst which STAT3, PKM2, CDK6 and LASP-1 showed induction of specific phosphorylation not readily observed after IL-2 stimulation. Interestingly, quantitative analysis revealed predominant phosphorylation of pre-existing STAT3 nuclear subsets in addition to translocation of phosphorylated STAT3 within 30 min after IL-23 stimulation. After IL-23R activation, a small subset of PKM2 also translocates to the nucleus and may contribute to STAT3 phosphorylation, suggesting multiple cellular responses including metabolic adaptation.

PIPINO: A Software Package to Facilitate the Identification of Protein-Protein Interactions from Affinity Purification Mass Spectrometry Data

The functionality of most proteins is regulated by protein-protein interactions. Hence, the comprehensive characterization of the interactome is the next milestone on the path to understand the biochemistry of the cell. A powerful method to detect protein-protein interactions is a combination of coimmunoprecipitation or affinity purification with quantitative mass spectrometry. Nevertheless, both methods tend to precipitate a high number of background proteins due to nonspecific interactions. To address this challenge the software Protein-Protein-Interaction-Optimizer (PIPINO) was developed to perform an automated data analysis, to facilitate the selection of bona fide binding partners, and to compare the dynamic of interaction networks. In this study we investigated the STAT1 interaction network and its activation dependent dynamics. Stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) was applied to analyze the STAT1 interactome after streptavidin pull-down of biotagged STAT1 from human embryonic kidney 293T cells with and without activation. Starting from more than 2,000 captured proteins 30 potential STAT1 interaction partners were extracted. Interestingly, more than 50% of these were already reported or predicted to bind STAT1. Furthermore, 16 proteins were found to affect the binding behavior depending on STAT1 phosphorylation such as STAT3 or the importin subunits alpha 1 and alpha 6.

Cellular Protein WDR11 Interacts with Specific Herpes Simplex Virus Proteins at the trans-Golgi Network To Promote Virus Replication

It has recently been proposed that the herpes simplex virus (HSV) protein ICP0 has cytoplasmic roles in blocking antiviral signaling and in promoting viral replication in addition to its well-known proteasome-dependent functions in the nucleus. However, the mechanisms through which it produces these effects remain unclear. While investigating this further, we identified a novel cytoplasmic interaction between ICP0 and the poorly characterized cellular protein WDR11. During an HSV infection, WDR11 undergoes a dramatic change in localization at late times in the viral replication cycle, moving from defined perinuclear structures to a dispersed cytoplasmic distribution. While this relocation was not observed during infection with viruses other than HSV-1 and correlated with efficient HSV-1 replication, the redistribution was found to occur independently of ICP0 expression, instead requiring viral late gene expression. We demonstrate for the first time that WDR11 is localized to the trans-Golgi network (TGN), where it interacts specifically with some, but not all, HSV virion components, in addition to ICP0. Knockdown of WDR11 in cultured human cells resulted in a modest but consistent decrease in yields of both wild-type and ICP0-null viruses, in the supernatant and cell-associated fractions, without affecting viral gene expression. Although further study is required, we propose that WDR11 participates in viral assembly and/or secondary envelopment.

IMPORTANCE

While the TGN has been proposed to be the major site of HSV-1 secondary envelopment, this process is incompletely understood, and in particular, the role of cellular TGN components in this pathway is unknown. Additionally, little is known about the cellular functions of WDR11, although the disruption of this protein has been implicated in multiple human diseases. Therefore, our finding that WDR11 is a TGN-resident protein that interacts with specific viral proteins to enhance viral yields improves both our understanding of basic cellular biology as well as how this protein is co-opted by HSV.