Pamela Mertz

Functional Compensation for Adipose Differentiation-related Protein (ADFP) by Tip47 in an ADFP Null Embryonic Cell Line

Ectopic accumulation of lipid droplets in non-adipose tissues correlates with the degree of insulin resistance in these tissues. Emerging evidence indicates that lipid droplets are specialized organelles that participate in lipid metabolism and intracellular trafficking. These properties are thought to derive from the lipid droplet-associated PAT protein family (perilipin, ADFP, and Tip47). The functions of the ubiquitously distributed adipose differentiation-related protein (ADFP) and Tip47 remain unknown. To evaluate the roles of ADFP and Tip47 in lipid biogenesis and metabolism, ADFP null and wild type (wt) clonal cell lines were established from ADFP null and wt mice, respectively. In ADFP null cells, Tip47 was identified as the sole lipid droplet-associated protein from the PAT family by mass spectroscopy, which was further confirmed by immunoblotting and immunocytochemistry. Following incubation with oleic acid, ADFP null cells were able to form lipid droplets to the same extent as wt cells. No statistical differences between the two cell types were observed in NEFA uptake or lipolysis. Small interference RNAs (siRNAs) against Tip47 were found to down-regulate protein levels for Tip47 by 85%. ADFP null cells treated with Tip47 siRNA retained the ability to form lipid droplets but to a lesser extent and shunted the utilization of exogenously added NEFA from triglycerides to phospholipids. These data support the hypothesis that Tip47 plays an important role in lipid metabolism. Tip47 and ADFP in peripheral tissues may play a critical role in regulating the formation and turnover, and hence metabolic consequences, of ectopic fat.

Kinetic and spectroscopic analyses of mutants of a conserved histidine in the metallophosphatases calcineurin and lambda protein phosphatase.

Calcineurin belongs to a family of serine/threonine protein phosphatases that contain active site dinuclear metal cofactors. Bacteriophage λ protein phosphatase is also considered to be a member of this family based on sequence comparisons (Lohse, D. L., Denu, J. M., and Dixon, J. E. (1995)Structure 3, 987–990). Using EPR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that λ protein phosphatase accommodates a dinuclear metal center. Calcineurin and λ protein phosphatase likewise contain a conserved histidine that is not a metal ligand but is within 5 Å of either metal in calcineurin. In this study the conserved histidine in calcineurin was mutated to glutamine and the mutant protein analyzed by EPR spectroscopy and kinetic methods. Parallel studies with an analogous λ protein phosphatase mutant were also carried out. Kinetic studies using paranitrophenyl phosphate as substrate showed a decrease in k cat of 460- and 590-fold for the calcineurin and λ protein phosphatase mutants, respectively, compared with the wild type enzymes. With a phosphopeptide substrate, mutagenesis of the conserved histidine resulted in a decrease ink cat of 1,300-fold for calcineurin. With the analogous λ protein phosphatase mutant, k catdecreased 530-fold compared with wild type λ protein phosphatase using phenyl phosphate as a substrate. EPR studies of the iron-reconstituted enzymes indicated that although both mutant enzymes can accommodate a dinuclear metal center, spectroscopic differences compared with wild type proteins suggest a perturbation of the ligand environment, possibly by disruption of a hydrogen bond between the histidine and a metal-coordinated solvent molecule.

Metalloenzymes and signal transduction: the protein serine/threonine phosphatases, a novel class of binuclear metal-containing enzymes

Abstract The serine/threonine protein phosphatases are important regulatory enzymes involved in signal transduction pathways in eukaryotic organisms. These enzymes include protein phosphatases 1, 2A, and 2B (also known as calcineurin). Recent structural data have indicated that the serine/threonine protein phosphatases are novel metalloenzymes containing a dinuclear metal ion cofactor at the active site. The dinuclear metal site is situated in a unique protein fold, a β-α-β-α-β motif which provides the majority of ligands to the metal ions. A similar fold is also seen in plant purple acid phosphatases, which also contain a dinuclear iron–zinc cofactor. In these enzymes, the two metal ions are bridged by a solvent molecule and a carboxylate group from an aspartic acid residue, juxtaposing the two metal ions to within 3.0–4.0 Å of each other. A similar motif has been identified in a number of other enzymes which exhibit phosphoesterase activity, implicating several of them as metalloenzymes which contain dinuclear metal ion cofactors.