Guillaume Charron

SIRT6 regulates TNF-α secretion through hydrolysis of long-chain fatty acyl lysine.

The Sir2 family of enzymes or sirtuins are known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylases and have been implicated in the regulation of transcription, genome stability, metabolism and lifespan. However, four of the seven mammalian sirtuins have very weak deacetylase activity in vitro. Here we show that human SIRT6 efficiently removes long-chain fatty acyl groups, such as myristoyl, from lysine residues. The crystal structure of SIRT6 reveals a large hydrophobic pocket that can accommodate long-chain fatty acyl groups. We demonstrate further that SIRT6 promotes the secretion of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) by removing the fatty acyl modification on K19 and K20 of TNF-α. Protein lysine fatty acylation has been known to occur in mammalian cells, but the function and regulatory mechanisms of this modification were unknown. Our data indicate that protein lysine fatty acylation is a novel mechanism that regulates protein secretion. The discovery of SIRT6 as an enzyme that controls protein lysine fatty acylation provides new opportunities to investigate the physiological function of a protein post-translational modification that has been little studied until now.

Palmitoylome profiling reveals S-palmitoylation–dependent antiviral activity of IFITM3

Identification of immune effectors and the post-translational modifications that control their activity is essential for dissecting mechanisms of immunity. Here we demonstrate that the antiviral activity of interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) is post-translationally regulated by S-palmitoylation. Large-scale profiling of palmitoylated proteins in a dendritic cell line using a chemical reporter strategy revealed over 150 lipid-modified proteins with diverse cellular functions, including innate immunity. We discovered that S-palmitoylation of IFITM3 on membrane-proximal cysteines controls its clustering in membrane compartments and its antiviral activity against influenza virus. The sites of S-palmitoylation are highly conserved among the IFITM family of proteins in vertebrates, which suggests that S-palmitoylation of these immune effectors may be an ancient post-translational modification that is crucial for host resistance to viral infections. The S-palmitoylation and clustering of IFITM3 will be important for elucidating its mechanism of action and for the design of antiviral therapeutics.

Robust Fluorescent Detection of Protein Fatty-Acylation with Chemical Reporters

Fatty-acylation of proteins in eukaryotes is associated with many fundamental cellular processes but has been challenging to study due to limited tools for rapid and robust detection of protein fatty-acylation in cells. The development of azido-fatty acids enabled the nonradioactive detection of fatty-acylated proteins in mammalian cells using the Staudinger ligation and biotinylated phosphine reagents. However, the visualization of protein fatty-acylation with streptavidin blotting is highly variable and not ideal for robust detection of fatty-acylated proteins. Here we report the development of alkynyl-fatty acid chemical reporters and improved bioorthogonal labeling conditions using the Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen [3 + 2] cycloaddition that enables specific and sensitive fluorescence detection of fatty-acylated proteins in mammalian cells. These improvements allow the rapid and robust biochemical analysis of fatty-acylated proteins expressed at endogenous levels in mammalian cells by in-gel fluorescence scanning. In addition, alkynyl-fatty acid chemical reporters enable the visualization of fatty-acylated proteins in cells by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The ability to rapidly visualize protein fatty-acylation in cells using fluorescence detection methods therefore provides new opportunities to interrogate the functions and regulatory mechanisms of fatty-acylated proteins in physiology and disease.

Bioorthogonal chemical reporters for analyzing protein lipidation and lipid trafficking

Protein lipidation and lipid trafficking control many key biological functions in all kingdoms of life. The discovery of diverse lipid species and their covalent attachment to many proteins has revealed a complex and regulated network of membranes and lipidated proteins that are central to fundamental aspects of physiology and human disease. Given the complexity of lipid trafficking and the protein targeting mechanisms involved with membrane lipids, precise and sensitive methods are needed to monitor and identify these hydrophobic molecules in bacteria, yeast, and higher eukaryotes. Although many analytical methods have been developed for characterizing membrane lipids and covalently modified proteins, traditional reagents and approaches have limited sensitivity, do not faithfully report on the lipids of interest, or are not readily accessible. The invention of bioorthogonal ligation reactions, such as the Staudinger ligation and azide-alkyne cycloadditions, has provided new tools to address these limitations, and their use has begun to yield fresh insight into the biology of protein lipidation and lipid trafficking. In this Account, we discuss how these new bioorthogonal ligation reactions and lipid chemical reporters afford new opportunities for exploring the biology of lipid-modified proteins and lipid trafficking. Lipid chemical reporters from our laboratory and several other research groups have enabled improved detection and large-scale proteomic analysis of fatty-acylated and prenylated proteins. For example, fatty acid and isoprenoid chemical reporters in conjunction with bioorthogonal ligation methods have circumvented the limited sensitivity and hazards of radioactive analogues, allowing rapid and robust fluorescent detection of lipidated proteins in all organisms tested. These chemical tools have revealed alterations in protein lipidation in different cellular states and are beginning to provide unique insights in mechanisms of regulation. Notably, the purification of proteins labeled with lipid chemical reporters has allowed both the large-scale analysis of lipidated proteins as well as the discovery of new lipidated proteins involved in metabolism, gene expression, and innate immunity. Specific lipid reporters have also been developed to monitor the trafficking of soluble lipids; these species are enabling bioorthogonal imaging of membranes in cells and tissues. Future advances in bioorthogonal chemistry, specific lipid reporters, and spectroscopy should provide important new insight into the functional roles of lipidated proteins and membranes in biology.

Proteomic analysis of fatty-acylated proteins in mammalian cells with chemical reporters reveals S-acylation of histone H3 variants

Bioorthogonal chemical reporters are useful tools for visualizing and identifying post-translational modifications on proteins. Here we report the proteomic analysis of mammalian proteins targeted by a series of fatty acid chemical reporters ranging from myristic to stearic acid. The large-scale analysis of total cell lysates from fully solubilized Jurkat T cells identified known fatty-acylated proteins and many new candidates, including nuclear proteins and in particular histone H3 variants. We demonstrate that histones H3.1, H3.2, and H3.3 are modified with fatty acid chemical reporters and identify the conserved cysteine 110 as a new site of S-acylation on histone H3.2. This newly discovered modification of histone H3 could have implications for nuclear organization and chromatin regulation. The unbiased proteomic analysis of fatty-acylated proteins using chemical reporters has revealed a greater diversity of lipid-modified proteins in mammalian cells and identified a novel post-translational modification of histones.

Tandem fluorescence imaging of dynamic S-acylation and protein turnover

The functional significance and regulation of reversible S-acylation on diverse proteins remain unclear because of limited methods for efficient quantitative analysis of palmitate turnover. Here, we describe a tandem labeling and detection method to simultaneously monitor dynamic S-palmitoylation and protein turnover. By combining S-acylation and cotranslational fatty acid chemical reporters with orthogonal clickable fluorophores, dual pulse-chase analysis of Lck revealed accelerated palmitate cycling upon T-cell activation. Subsequent pharmacological perturbation of Lck palmitate turnover suggests yet uncharacterized serine hydrolases contribute to dynamic S-acylation in cells. In addition to dually fatty-acylated proteins, this tandem fluorescence imaging method can be generalized to other S-acylated proteins using azidohomoalanine as a methonine surrogate. The sensitivity and efficiency of this approach should facilitate the functional characterization of cellular factors and drugs that modulate protein S-acylation. Furthermore, diverse protein modifications could be analyzed with this tandem imaging method using other chemical reporters to investigate dynamic regulation of protein function.

Comparative Analysis of Cleavable Azobenzene-Based Affinity Tags for Bioorthogonal Chemical Proteomics

The advances in bioorthogonal ligation methods have provided new opportunities for proteomic analysis of newly synthesized proteins, posttranslational modifications, and specific enzyme families using azide/alkyne-functionalized chemical reporters and activity-based probes. Efficient enrichment and elution of azide/alkyne-labeled proteins with selectively cleavable affinity tags are essential for protein identification and quantification applications. Here, we report the synthesis and comparative analysis of Na₂S₂O₄-cleavable azobenzene-based affinity tags for bioorthogonal chemical proteomics. We demonstrated that ortho-hydroxyl substituent is required for efficient azobenzene-bond cleavage and show that these cleavable affinity tags can be used to identify newly synthesized proteins in bacteria targeted by amino acid chemical reporters as well as their sites of modification on endogenously expressed proteins. The azobenzene-based affinity tags are compatible with in-gel, in-solution, and on-bead enrichment strategies and should afford useful tools for diverse bioorthogonal proteomic applications.

Lipidation by the host prenyltransferase machinery facilitates membrane localization of Legionella pneumophila effector proteins.

The intracellular human pathogen Legionella pneumophila translocates multiple proteins in the host cytosol known as effectors, which subvert host cellular processes to create a membrane-bound organelle that supports bacterial replication. It was observed that several Legionella effectors encode a prototypical eukaryotic prenylation CAAX motif (where C represents a cysteine residue and A denotes an aliphatic amino acid). These bacterial motifs mediated posttranslational modification of effector proteins resulting in the addition of either a farnesyl or geranylgeranyl isoprenyl lipid moiety to the cysteine residue of the CAAX tetrapeptide. Lipidation enhanced membrane affinity for most Legionella CAAX motif proteins and facilitated the localization of these effector proteins to host organelles. Host farnesyltransferase and class I geranylgeranyltransferase were both involved in the lipidation of the Legionella CAAX motif proteins. Perturbation of the host prenylation machinery during infection adversely affected the remodeling of the Legionella-containing vacuole. Thus, these data indicate that Legionella utilize the host prenylation machinery to facilitate targeting of effector proteins to membrane-bound organelles during intracellular infection.

Chemical tools for understanding protein lipidation in eukaryotes

Lipidation of proteins is an important mechanism to regulate protein trafficking and activity in cell and tissues. The targeting of proteins to membranes by lipidation plays key roles in many physiological processes and when not regulated properly can lead to cancer and neurological disorders. Dissecting the precise roles of protein lipidation in physiology and disease is a major challenge. Recent advances in chemical biology have now enabled the semisynthesis of lipidated proteins for fundamental biochemical and cellular studies. In addition, new chemical reporters of protein lipidation have improved the detection and enabled the proteomic analysis of lipidated proteins. The expanding efforts in chemical biology are therefore providing new tools to dissect the mechanisms and functions of protein lipidation as well as develop therapeutics targeted at protein lipidation pathways in disease.

Subcellular targeting of Salmonella virulence proteins by host-mediated S-palmitoylation.

Several pathogenic bacteria utilize type III secretion systems (TTSS) to deliver into host cells bacterial virulence proteins with the capacity to modulate a variety of cellular pathways. Once delivered into host cells, the accurate targeting of bacterial effectors to specific locations is critical for their proper function. However, little is known about the mechanisms these virulence effectors use to reach their subcellular destination. Here we show that the Salmonella TTSS effector proteins SspH2 and SseI are localized to the plasma membrane of host cells, a process dependent on S-palmitoylation of a conserved cysteine residue within their N-terminal domains. We also show that effector protein lipidation is mediated by a specific subset of host-cell palmitoyltransferases and that lipidation is critical for effector function. This study describes a remarkable mechanism by which a pathogen exploits host-cell machinery to properly target its virulence factors.