Structural and functional characterization of a cell cycle associated HDAC1/2 complex reveals the structural basis for complex assembly and nucleosome targeting

Recent proteomic studies have identified a novel histone deacetylase complex that is upregulated during mitosis and is associated with cyclin A. This complex is conserved from nematodes to man and contains histone deacetylases 1 and 2, the MIDEAS corepressor protein and a protein called DNTTIP1 whose function was hitherto poorly understood. Here, we report the structures of two domains from DNTTIP1. The amino-terminal region forms a tight dimerization domain with a novel structural fold that interacts with and mediates assembly of the HDAC1:MIDEAS complex. The carboxy-terminal domain of DNTTIP1 has a structure related to the SKI/SNO/DAC domain, despite lacking obvious sequence homology. We show that this domain in DNTTIP1 mediates interaction with both DNA and nucleosomes. Thus, DNTTIP1 acts as a dimeric chromatin binding module in the HDAC1:MIDEAS corepressor complex.

Recombinant protein expression for structural biology in HEK 293F suspension cells: a novel and accessible approach

The expression and purification of large amounts of recombinant protein complexes is an essential requirement for structural biology studies. For over two decades, prokaryotic expression systems such as E. coli have dominated the scientific literature over costly and less efficient eukaryotic cell lines. Despite the clear advantage in terms of yields and costs of expressing recombinant proteins in bacteria, the absence of specific co-factors, chaperones and post-translational modifications may cause loss of function, mis-folding and can disrupt protein-protein interactions of certain eukaryotic multi-subunit complexes, surface receptors and secreted proteins. The use of mammalian cell expression systems can address these drawbacks since they provide a eukaryotic expression environment. However, low protein yields and high costs of such methods have until recently limited their use for structural biology. Here we describe a simple and accessible method for expressing and purifying milligram quantities of protein by performing transient transfections of suspension grown HEK (Human Embryonic Kidney) 293 F cells.