CD3-induced preferential hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides and calcium regulation of inositol phosphate metabolism in a permeabilized murine T cell clone

Auto-ADP-ribosylation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa ExoS

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exoenzyme S (ExoS) is a bifunctional type-III cytotoxin. The N terminus possesses a Rho GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity, whereas the C terminus comprises an ADP-ribosyltransferase domain. We investigated whether the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of ExoS influences its GAP activity. Although the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of ExoS is dependent upon FAS, a 14-3-3 family protein, factor-activating ExoS (FAS) had no influence on the activity of the GAP domain of ExoS (ExoS-GAP). In the presence of NAD and FAS, the GAP activity of full-length ExoS was reduced about 10-fold, whereas NAD and FAS did not affect the activity of the ExoS-GAP fragment. Using [(32)P]NAD, ExoS-GAP was identified as a substrate of the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of ExoS. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed that auto-ADP-ribosylation of Arg-146 of ExoS was crucial for inhibition of GAP activity in vitro. To reveal the auto-ADP-ribosylation of ExoS in intact cells, tetanolysin was used to produce pores in the plasma membrane of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to allow the intracellular entry of [(32)P]NAD, the substrate for ADP-ribosylation. After a 3-h infection of CHO cells with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, proteins of 50 and 25 kDa were preferentially ADP-ribosylated. The 50-kDa protein was determined to be auto-ADP-ribosylated ExoS, whereas the 25-kDa protein appeared to represent a group of proteins that included Ras.

F2(Pmp)2-TAM zeta 3, a novel competitive inhibitor of the binding of ZAP-70 to the T cell antigen receptor, blocks early T cell signaling

Signaling by the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) is mediated by 17-residue tyrosine-based activation motifs (TAM) present in the cytoplasmic tails of the TCR zeta and CD3 chains. TAMs become tyrosine-phosphorylated upon TCR stimulation, creating a high affinity binding site for the tandem SH2 domains of ZAP-70. In permeabilized T cells, the association of TCR and ZAP-70 was inhibited by a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase)-resistant TAM peptide analog, in which difluorophosphonomethyl phenylalanyl (F2Pmp) residues replaced phosphotyrosine. Inhibition of this association prevented TCR-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of ZAP-70 and reduced ZAP-70 kinase activity to basal levels. The reduction in ZAP-70 activity coincided with reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of a number of substrates. Such PTPase-resistant peptides, capable of disrupting SH2 domain-mediated protein-protein interactions, should prove useful in further dissection of multiple signaling pathways and may serve as models for rationally designed chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of autoimmune and neoplastic disorders.

Subtypes of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor in human hematopoietic cell lines: dynamic aspects of their cell-type specific expression

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-mediated Ca2+ signaling plays important roles in cellular responses to extracellular stimuli. We recently succeeded in cloning human counterparts of the three subtypes derived from separate genes. Using the cDNA sequences type-specific to these subtype receptors, we here analyzed the expression profile of IP3R subtypes in stimulated and unstimulated human hematopoietic cell lines representing T cells, B cells, neutrophils, macrophages, erythrocytes and megakaryocytes. Northern and dot blot analysis showed that each IP3R subtype is expressed differently in these cells and that the expression profile in each cell is dynamically changed upon stimuli which induce differentiation. Moreover, most of these cells were found to simultaneously express at least two different subtype receptors.