The Angelman syndrome-associated protein, E6-AP, is a coactivator for the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily.
Mol Cell Biol 1999;
19:1182-9. [PMID:
9891052 PMCID:
PMC116047 DOI:
10.1128/mcb.19.2.1182]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 321] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/1998] [Accepted: 10/27/1998] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we found that the E6-associated protein (E6-AP/UBE3A) directly interacts with and coactivates the transcriptional activity of the human progesterone receptor (PR) in a hormone-dependent manner. E6-AP also coactivates the hormone-dependent transcriptional activities of the other members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily. Previously, it was shown that E6-AP serves the role of a ubiquitin-protein ligase (E3) in the presence of the E6 protein from human papillomavirus types 16 and 18. Our data show that the ubiquitin-protein ligase function of E6-AP is dispensable for its ability to coactivate nuclear hormone receptors, showing that E6-AP possesses two separable independent functions, as both a coactivator and a ubiquitin-protein ligase. Disruption of the maternal copy of E6-AP is correlated with Angelman syndrome (AS), a genetic neurological disorder characterized by severe mental retardation, seizures, speech impairment, and other symptoms. However, the exact mechanism by which the defective E6-AP gene causes AS remains unknown. To correlate the E6-AP coactivator function and ubiquitin-protein ligase functions with the AS phenotype, we expressed mutant forms of E6-AP isolated from AS patients and assessed the ability of each of these mutant proteins to coactivate PR or provide ubiquitin-protein ligase activity. This analysis revealed that in the majority of the AS patients examined, the ubiquitin-protein ligase function of E6-AP was defective whereas the coactivator function was intact. This finding suggests that the AS phenotype results from a defect in the ubiquitin-proteosome protein degradation pathway.
Collapse