SPLIT-PROTEIN REASSEMBLY METHODS FOR THE DETECTION AND INTERROGATION OF BIOMOLECULAR INTERACTIONS AND MODULATORS THEREOF
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azu_etd_10661_sip1_m.pdf
Issue Date
2009Keywords
Bcl-2High Throughput
In Vitro Translation
Protein-Nucleic Acid
Protein-Protein
Split-Protein Complementation
Advisor
Ghosh, IndraneelCommittee Chair
Ghosh, IndraneelMetadata
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The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
The interactions between protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, and protein-small molecules are central to biological processes and are key for the design of new therapeutics. Rapid and easy to implement methodologies are needed that enable the interrogation of these interactions in a complex cellular context. Towards this goal, I have utilized the concept of split-protein reassembly, also called protein complementation, for the creation of a variety of sensor architectures that enable the interrogation of protein-nucleic acid, protein-protein, and protein-small molecule interactions. Utilizing the enzymatic split-reporter β-lactamase and existing zinc finger design strategies we applied our recently developed technology termed SEquence-Enabled Reassembly (SEER) towards the creation of a sensor capable of the specific detection of the CryIA transgene. Additionally, the split β-lactamase reporter was utilized for the sitespecific determination of DNA methylation at cytosine residues that is involved in epigenetic regulation. This method, dubbed mCpG-SEER, enabled the direct detection of femtomole levels of dsDNA methylation in sequence specific manner. In a separate endeavor, we have developed and optimized the first cell-free split-reporter systems for GFP, split β-lactamase, and firefly luciferase for the successful dsDNA-dependent reassembly of the various reporters. Our cell free in vitro translation systems eliminates previous bottlenecks encountered in split-reporter technologies such as laborious transfection/cell culture or protein purification. Capitalizing on the ease of use and speed afforded by this new technology we describe the sensitive detection of protein-protein, protein-nucleic acid, and protein-small molecule interactions and inhibitors thereof. In a related area, we have applied this rapid cell-free split-firefly luciferase assay to the specific interrogation of a large class of helix-receptor protein-protein interactions. We have built a panel consisting of the clinically relevant Bcl-2 family of proteins, hDM2, hDM4, and p53 and interrogated the specificity of helix-receptor interactions as well as the specificity of peptide and small-molecule inhibitors of these interactions. Finally, we describe the further applications of our cell-free technology to the development of a large number of general split-firefly luciferase sensors for the detection of ssRNA sequences, the detection of native proteins, the evaluation of protease activity, and interrogation of enzyme-inhibitor interactions. The new methodologies provided in this study provides a general and enabling methodology for the rapid interrogation of a wide variety of biomolecular interactions and their antagonists without the limitations imposed by current in vitro and in vivo approaches.Type
textElectronic Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
ChemistryGraduate College
Degree Grantor
University of ArizonaCollections
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Protein stickiness, rather than number of functional protein-protein interactions, predicts expression noise and plasticity in yeast(BioMed Central, 2012)BACKGROUND:A hub protein is one that interacts with many functional partners. The annotation of hub proteins, or more generally the protein-protein interaction "degree" of each gene, requires quality genome-wide data. Data obtained using yeast two-hybrid methods contain many false positive interactions between proteins that rarely encounter each other in living cells, and such data have fallen out of favor.RESULTS:We find that protein "stickiness", measured as network degree in ostensibly low quality yeast two-hybrid data, is a more predictive genomic metric than the number of functional protein-protein interactions, as assessed by supposedly higher quality high throughput affinity capture mass spectrometry data. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a protein's high stickiness, but not its high number of functional interactions, predicts low stochastic noise in gene expression, low plasticity of gene expression across different environments, and high probability of forming a homo-oligomer. Our results are robust to a multiple regression analysis correcting for other known predictors including protein abundance, presence of a TATA box and whether a gene is essential. Once the higher stickiness of homo-oligomers is controlled for, we find that homo-oligomers have noisier and more plastic gene expression than other proteins, consistent with a role for homo-oligomerization in mediating robustness.CONCLUSIONS:Our work validates use of the number of yeast two-hybrid interactions as a metric for protein stickiness. Sticky proteins exhibit low stochastic noise in gene expression, and low plasticity in expression across different environments.
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Methods for the Detection of Protein-Nucleic Acid and Protein-Protein Interactions(The University of Arizona., 2008)We describe the first general approach for the DNA templated reassembly of proteins, which we term SEquence-Enabled Reassembly or SEER. SEER makes use of dissected signaling domains which are each attached to separate, sequence specific DNA-binding proteins. Described herein is an embodiment of SEER in which DNA catalyzes the reassembly of the green fluorescent protein which leads to a direct fluorescence readout of the corresponding DNA sequence. This strategy has also been extended to the first direct method for the site specific detection of DNA methylation. This mCpG-SEER system is capable of discriminating between methylated versus nonmethylated DNA with a 40-fold increase in fluorescence signal.In a separate undertaking we tested the efficiency of disulfide bond formation within the context of the ribosome display in vitro selection methodology. We established conditions for the enrichment of a cyclic peptide, which is specific for Neutravidin, by 2 x 10^6-fold. Using the knowledge gained from the above experiments, we combined the rapid protein expression and folding benefits of cell-free translation systems with a sensitive split-luciferase reassembly assay to yield the most rapid method to date for the detection of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions. Furthermore, we have shown that these split-luciferase cell-free reassembly systems can be compartmentalized, allowing for future molecular evolution studies.Lastly, we have applied this rapid cell-free split-luciferase assay system to the direct detection of clinically relevant proteins. We have engineered a system for the rapid characterization of HIV-1 clades utilizing single-chain antibody specificities. We also demonstrate that this platform can be used to determine the relative amounts of HER2 expression in human breast cancer cells, using a homogeneous assay format in which cells and reagents are mixed and luminescence is monitored directly.We envision that the assay platforms described herein will find applications in the rapid detection of nucleic acid sequences, protein identities, and relative protein abundances in the laboratory and clinic.
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Analysis of Protein Adduction Kinetics and the Effects of Protein Adduction on C-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Signaling(The University of Arizona., 2006)Defining the mechanics and consequences of protein adduction is crucial to understanding the toxicity of reactive electrophiles. Application of tandem mass spectrometry and data analysis algorithms enables detection and mapping of chemical adducts at the level of amino acid sequence. Nevertheless, detection of adducts does not indicate relative reactivity of different sites. In this dissertation I describe a method to measure the kinetics of competing adduction reactions at different sites on the same protein using quantitative mass spectrometry. Adducts are formed by electrophiles at Cys-14 and Cys-47 on the metabolic enzyme glutathione-S-transferase P1-1 and accompanied by a loss of enzymatic activity. Relative quantitation of protein adducts was done by tagging N-termini of peptide digests with isotopically labeled phenyl isocyanate and tracking the ratio of light-tagged peptide adducts to heavy-tagged reference samples. This method was used to measure rate constants for adduction at both positions with two different model electrophiles, IAB and BMCC. The results indicate that Cys-47 was approximately 2-3-fold more reactive toward both electrophiles than was Cys-14. This result was consistent with the relative reactivity of these electrophiles in a complex proteome system. Quantitative analyses of protein modifications provide a means of determining the reactivity and selectivity of damaging protein modifications in chemical toxicity.Another area of study explored in this dissertation is looking at the effects of protein alkylation on activating cellular signaling pathways, specifically the JNK signaling pathway. Protein adduction has been shown to be selective between different alkylating agents. It would then be reasonable to think this selectivity of adduction translates to selectivity of downstream consequences or cellular events directly tied to specific adductions. My work will show how treatment of HEK293 cells with either IAB or BMCC leads to differences in activation of JNK signaling. In addition, I've been able to show a difference in selectivity of a number of adducted targets by each alkylating agent, which are directly involved in regulation of the JNK signaling pathway. These studies illustrate not only the significance of protein adduction, but the importance for continual research to better understand their behavior in living systems.
