Proteolytic activity of human osteoclast cathepsin K. Expression, purification, activation, and substrate identification

Human cathepsin K is a recently identified protein with high primary sequence homology to members of the papain cysteine protease superfamily including cathepsins S, L, and B and is selectively expressed in osteoclasts (Drake, F.H., Dodds, R., James I., Connor J., Debouck, C., Richardson, S., Lee, E., Rieman, D., Barthlow, R., Hastings, G., and Gowen, M. (1996) J. Biol., Chem. 271, 12511-12516). To characterize its catalytic properties, cathepsin K has been expressed in baculovirus-infected SF21 cells and the soluble recombinant protein isolated from growth media was purified. Purified protein includes an inhibitory pro-leader sequence common to this family of protease. Conditions for enzyme activation upon removal of the pro-sequence have been identified. Fluorogenic peptides have been identified as substrates for mature cathepsin K. In addition, two protein components of bone matrix, collagen and osteonectin, have been shown to be substrates of the activated protease. Cathepsin K is inhibited by E-64 and leupeptin, but not for by pepstatin, EDTA, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, or phenanthroline, consistent with its classification within the cysteine protease class. Leupeptin has been characterized as a slow binding inhibitor of cathepsin K (kobs/[I] = 273,000 m(-1).s(-1)). Cathepsin K may represent the elusive protease implicated in degradation of protein matrix during bone resorption and represents a novel molecular target in treatment of disease states associated with excessive bone loss such as osteoporosis.

Solubility properties of neuronal tubulin: evidence for labile and stable microtubules

The solubility properties of tubulin and microtubules in pure cultures of sympathetic neurons were examined by electron microscopic and biochemical techniques. For morphological analyses, neurons were extracted with Triton X-100 in the presence or absence of 1 mM CaCl2, and the resulting detergent-extracted residues were examined for microtubules. In parallel experiments, the solubility of tubulin was determined under various solution conditions. Detergent-extracted residues of neurons prepared without Ca2+ contained many microtubules. Neurite residues prepared in the presence of Ca2+ also contained microtubules, but at substantially lower numbers than in residues prepared without Ca2+. The biochemical data parallel the morphological observations. Following detergent-extraction under microtubule stabilizing conditions, 30% of the tubulin was detergent-soluble (i.e. unpolymerized), while 70% was detergent-insoluble (i.e. polymerized). A more detailed examination of the solubility properties of tubulin indicated that 62% was detergent-insoluble but soluble in buffers containing mM CaCl2, while 5-8% was detergent and Ca2+-insoluble. A variety of control experiments indicated that non-specific adsorption of tubulin onto detergent-insoluble components of the cultures, assembly of tubulin onto pre-existing microtubules, and incomplete extraction of tubulin from cells contributed minimally to the levels of Ca2+-soluble and insoluble tubulin obtained with the extraction conditions used. These results indicate that (a) the majority of neuronal tubulin is assembled into microtubules which disassemble upon treatment with Ca2+ and (b) a portion of the neuronal tubulin is assembled into microtubules which show the unusual property of Ca2+-stability.

Post-translational modification of tubulin in cultured neurons

Isoelectricfocusing x SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cultured sympathetic neurons revealed two alpha- and two beta-subunits of tubulin. In pulse-chase experiments, the spot morphology of the beta-subunits synthesized during a 10 min pulse did not change appreciably during the chase period. However, the appearance of the labeled alpha-subunits changed during the chase period. With chase periods of less than 4 h, the labeled alpha-subunits focused as discrete spots, while after chase periods of greater than 6 h, they focused as short streaks.

Microtubule-associated proteins of neurons

Microtubule-associated proteins (MAP) have been identified in cultures of rat sympathetic neurons. In all of the experiments performed here, the cultures consisted of greater than 97% neurons. 26 proteins were identified in these neuronal cultures that (a) remained associated with cytoskeletons prepared with a Triton X-100-containing microtubule-stabilizing buffer, (b) were released from such cytoskeletons by incubation in microtubule-depolymerizing buffers, (c) were not detected in cytoskeletons prepared from cultures depleted of microtubules by treatment with podophyllotoxin, and (d) co-cycled with rat brain microtubule proteins. We conclude that these 26 proteins are associated with microtubules in sympathetic neurons. Two of these proteins have molecular weights of approximately 30,000 and isoelectric points of approximately 6.2; the rest of the proteins range in molecular weight from 60,000 to 76,000 and isoelectric point from 6.3 to 6.9. This latter group of MAPs was heat labile. Several other proteins in the neuronal cultures had the solubility properties and drug-lability expected of MAP. All of these proteins had apparent molecular weights greater than 200,000; one of these putative MAP co-migrated with rat brain MAP-1. We did not detect any putative MAP in these cultures that co-migrated with rat brain MAP-2. In isoelectric focusing-SDS PAGE, the 24 MAP with molecular weights of 60,000-76,000 appeared to comprise four distinct molecular weight classes. Each molecular weight class was in turn composed of several proteins that varied in isoelectric point. In peptide mapping experiments, the isoelectric variants of each molecular weight class gave rise to very similar peptide maps. These observations suggest that each molecular weight class consists of several closely related proteins. It was also determined that all except the most basic member of the four MAP classes could be phosphorylated in vivo, raising the possibility that differential phosphorylation contributed to the variation in the isoelectric points of the members of each MAP class. We performed pulse-chase experiments to further evaluate the contribution of posttranslational modification to the generation of the complex population of MAP in the molecular weight range of 60,000 to 76,000. In cultures labeled for 20 min, only the more basic members of each MAP class were detectably labeled, while in cultures labeled for 20 min and then chased for 220 min the more acidic members of the MAP classes became labeled.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)