Regulation of protein synthesis in reticulocyte lysates: immune serum inhibits heme-regulated protein kinase activity and differentiates heme-regulated protein kinase from double-stranded RNA-induced protein kinase

Equilibration of methionine into the Met-tRNA pool of rabbit reticulocyte lysates

We have measured the rate of equilibration of [35S]methionine into the Met-tRNA pool of rabbit reticulocyte lysate as in [FEBS Lett. (1982) 143, 301-305]. Our results indicate that hemin-deficiency inhibits the equilibration of methionine into the tRNA pool much less than protein synthesis or the equilibration of alanine into the tRNA pool, whereas cycloheximide inhibits these processes similarly. This finding is consistent with our previous data and supports the hypothesis that with hemin-deficiency much of the Met-tRNAf that becomes bound to 40 S subunits subsequently undergoes enzymatic deacylation.

Inhibition of protein synthesis by nitric oxide correlates with cytostatic activity: nitric oxide induces phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 alpha

BACKGROUND

Nitric oxide (NO) is cytostatic for proliferating cells, inhibits microbial growth, and down-regulates the synthesis of specific proteins. Studies were undertaken to determine the mechanism by which NO inhibits total protein synthesis and whether the inhibition correlates with established cytostatic activities of NO.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In in vitro experiments, various cell types were exposed to NO using either donors or expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS). The capacity of NO to suppress total protein synthesis, measured by incorporation of 35S-methionine into protein, was correlated with the capacity of NO to suppress cell proliferation, viral replication, or iNOS expression. Phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha was examined as a possible mechanism for the suppressed protein synthesis by NO.

RESULTS

Both NO donors and expression of the iNOS suppressed total protein synthesis in L929 cells and A2008 human ovarian tumor cells in parallel with decreased cell proliferation. Suppressed protein synthesis was also shown to correlate with decreased vaccinia virus proliferation in murine peritoneal macrophages in an iNOS-dependent manner. Furthermore, iNOS expression in pancreatic islets or RAW264.7 cells almost completely inhibited total protein synthesis, suggesting that nonspecific inhibition of protein synthesis may be the mechanism by which NO inhibited the synthesis of specific proteins such as insulin or iNOS itself. This possibility was confirmed in RAW264.7 cells where the inhibition of total protein synthesis correlated with the decreased iNOS protein. The decrease in protein levels occurred without changes in iNOS mRNA levels, implicating an inhibition of translation. Mechanistic studies revealed that iNOS expression in RAW264.7 cells resulted in the phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha and inhibition of the 80S ribosomal complex formation.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that NO suppresses protein synthesis by stimulating the phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha. Furthermore, our observations indicate that nonspecific inhibition of protein synthesis may be a generalized response of cells exposed to high levels of NO and that inhibition of protein synthesis may contribute to many of the described cytostatic actions of NO.

Tissue distribution and immunoreactivity of heme-regulated eIF-2 alpha kinase determined by monoclonal antibodies

A highly purified preparation of heme-regulated inhibitor (HRI), an eIF-2 alpha kinase, from rabbit reticulocyte lysates has been used for generating monoclonal antibodies (mAB). Two hybridoma clones secreting HRI-specific antibodies (mAB A and mAB F) were obtained. Both antibodies immunoprecipitated biosynthetically labeled as well as phosphorylated HRI in reticulocyte lysates and also recognized denatured HRI in a Western blot. In in vitro protein kinase assays, preincubation of HRI with the antibodies significantly diminished both autokinase and eIF-2 alpha kinase activities. HRI from reticulocyte lysates could be quantitatively removed by immunoprecipitation with mAB F, and such HRI-depleted lysates were able to maintain protein synthesis under conditions of heme deficiency. With these monoclonal antibodies, HRI was detected only in the reticulocytes and bone marrow of anemic rabbits, among several rabbit tissues tested. The antibodies did not detect cross-reacting HRI in rat or human reticulocytes or in mouse erythroleukemic cells or human K562 cells even after induction of differentiation, although eIF-2 alpha kinase activity was detected in them. Polyclonal anti-rabbit HRI antibody detected HRI in rat reticulocytes. However, no cross-reacting HRI was detected by polyclonal antibody in human reticulocytes or other cell types tested. These findings suggest that HRI is not ubiquitous, and may be erythroid-specific, and that it is antigenically different in different species.

Regulation of protein synthesis in rabbit reticulocyte lysates: effect of of Ca2+, Mg2+, and Mn2+ on self-phosphorylation and heterophosphorylation catalyzed by the heme-regulated and double-stranded-RNA-activated protein kinases

The influence of divalent cations Mg2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+ on the cyclic-AMP-independent protein kinases of the heme-regulated and double-stranded-RNA-activated translational inhibitory protein kinases on self-phosphorylation and heterophosphorylation of the substrate (the 38 000-dalton subunit of initiation factor eIF-2) has been examined. Results show that Mg2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+ affect the activities of these enzymes in the following fashion. Mg2+ supports both self-phosphorylation and heterophosphorylation efficiently. Mn2+ on the other hand supports self-phosphorylation but to a lesser degree the heterophosphorylation. Ca2+ promotes neither self-phosphorylation nor heterophosphorylation.

Regulation of protein synthesis by phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha in intact reticulocytes and reticulocyte lysates

Studies in intact rabbit reticulocytes and reticulocyte lysates provide further evidence of a functional role for the phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF-2 alpha) in the regulation of initiation of protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells. In intact reticulocytes treated with isonicotinic acid hydrazide to inhibit heme synthesis, the phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha was significantly greater than in control cells. In heme-deficient reticulocyte lysates and in lysates treated with double-stranded RNA, significant phosphorylation of eIF-2 alpha occurred prior to the onset of inhibition of protein synthesis; a large proportion, however, of the total eIF-2 alpha remained unphosphorylated. These findings indicate that a modest concentration of phosphorylated eIF-2 alpha can suffice to inhibit initiation, and they suggest that one of the factors with which eIF-2 must interact may be rate limiting, especially when eIF-2 alpha is phosphorylated.

Activation and partial characterization of a human reticulocyte heme-dependent eIF-Z alpha kinase

An inhibitor of globin translation initiation that is activated under heme-deficient conditions and whose activity is associated with phosphorylation of the 38,000 dalton (alpha) subunit of the initiation factor eIF-2 has been previously described in rabbit reticulocytes. We describe here an analogous enzyme in human reticulocytes. The human enzyme can be activated in intact reticulocytes under conditions of heme synthesis inhibition or by incubation of lysates in the absence of hemin. Addition of hemin to lysates prevents activation of the eIF-2 alpha kinase. The partially purified kinase is associated with inhibition of globin synthesis in a rabbit cell-free system and phosphorylates the small subunit of highly purified rabbit eIF-2. We conclude that human reticulocytes contain a protein kinase that is analogous to the rabbit HCR and that may play a role in clinical heme deficiency states. l

Site-specific phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor eIF-2 by the heme-regulated and double-stranded RNA-activated eIF-2 alpha kinases from rabbit reticulocyte lysates

The site specificity of phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2alpha) by the heme-regulated and double-stranded RNA-activated eIF-2alpha kinases were compared by phosphopeptide mapping. eIF-2alpha was maximally phosphorylated in vitro with [gamma-(32)P]ATP and either crude or partially purified preparations of the kinases. (32)P-Labeled eIF-2alpha was isolated by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gels. The fixed, stained, and dried polypeptide band was excised and then exhaustively digested directly in the gel slice with one of several proteases (trypsin, chymotrypsin, subtilisin, or thermolysin); the resultant [(32)P]phosphopeptides were analyzed by one-dimensional chromatography or by two-dimensional chromatography and high-voltage electrophoresis. In addition, limited proteolysis of [(32)P]eIF-2alpha contained in fixed, dried, and stained gel slices was achieved with Staphylococcus aureus protease V8, chymotrypsin, or subtilisin, and the partial (32)P-labeled cleavage products were analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Each protease produced distinct and reproducible [(32)P]phosphopeptide profiles after partial or exhaustive proteolysis of [(32)P]eIF-2alpha. With a given protease, identical [(32)P]phosphopeptide patterns were obtained whether eIF-2alpha was phosphorylated by the heme-regulated or the double-stranded RNA-activated kinase. These data indicate that, in vitro, the kinases phosphorylate sites on eIF-2alpha that are identical or proximally located in the primary sequence. In this report we also provide preliminary evidence that the two eIF-2alpha kinases activated in lysates by heme deficiency or double-stranded RNA phosphorylate site(s) of endogenous eIF-2alpha that are similar, if not identical, to the sites phosphorylated in vitro with partially purified eIF-2alpha kinase(s) and eIF-2.

Characterization of double-stranded-RNA-activated kinase that phosphorylates alpha subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF-2 alpha) in reticulocyte lysates

Incubation of reticulocyte lysates with low levels of double-stranded (ds) RNA (1-20 ng/ml) activates a cAMP-independent protein kinase (dsI) that phosphorylates the alpha-subunit (M(r) 38,000) of initiation factor 2 (eIF-2) and produces an inhibition of protein chain initiation similar to that caused by heme deficiency. Activation of dsI from its latent precursor takes place on the ribosomes and requires ATP. dsI can also be activated in ribosomal salt washes and in partially purified preparations of the latent precursor of dsI. In all preparations, activation is accompanied by the ds RNA-dependent phosphorylation of a polypeptide doublet that migrates as bands of 67 and 68.5 kilodaltons (67/68.5) in NaDodSO(4)/acrylamide gels. The rate of phosphorylation of these components in a ribosome salt wash is more rapid than the ds RNA-dependent phosphorylation of eIF-2alpha. Other polypeptides in the salt wash also undergo ds RNA-dependent phosphorylation, but their significance is not clear. All of these phosphorylations are prevented by high concentrations of poly(I).poly(C)(20 mug/ml), but not by an antiserum specific for the heme-regulated eIF-2alpha kinase. Both the latent and activated forms of dsI have been partially purified from a 0.5 M KCl wash of reticulocyte ribosomes. The two species have similar M(r)s ( approximately 120,000) and sedimentation coefficients ( approximately 3.75 S), which suggests that activation of dsI probably does not involve extensive changes. By comparison, the heme-regulated eIF-2alpha kinase has an M(r) of approximately 160,000 and sediments at approximately 6.6 S. However, in vitro, dsI and HRI both phosphorylate the same site(s) of eIF-2alpha. Purified dsI inhibits protein synthesis in hemin-supplemented lysates with the same kinetics induced by the addition of ds RNA; both inhibitions are reversed by eIF-2. dsI that has been activated in the salt wash and then purified does not require ds RNA for expression and no longer displays phosphorylation of the 68.5/67 doublet, which appears to occur only during activation. The data support the view that this component(s) may be the eIF-2alpha kinase activated by ds RNA.