title: Analysis of the stoichiometry of Rab protein prenylation.
abstract: Rab5 is a Ras-related GTP-binding protein that is post-translationally prenylated with the 20-carbon isoprenoid geranylgeranyl. We have developed a method to determine the stoichiometry of prenylation of Rab5, and Rab family members in general, based on the cell-free translation of these peptides in the presence or the absence of appropriate isoprenoids. Modification of cell-free synthesized Rab5 can be monitored by following the conversion of 35S-labeled peptide to a greater mobility isoform on urea-gradient sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. The mobility-shifted isoform also incorporates radiolabel in the presence of [3H]mevalonate or [3H]geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate, confirming post-translational modification with geranylgeranyl. A quantitative assessment of the conversion of mobility-shifted Rab5, promoted by prenylation, and the amount of incorporated radiolabel from [3H]geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate was achieved by excising gel slices containing radiolabeled isoforms and measuring the covalently associated radioactivity. Using this approach, we have established that 2 moles of geranylgeranyl is attached per mole of Rab5 peptide. A 2:1 molar ratio of geranylgeranyl:peptide is observed for both Rab5wt and a truncation mutant, Rab5(1-213), containing C-terminal motifs CCXX and XXCC, respectively. When Rab proteins ending in CXC are synthesized and processed in vitro, they also incorporate geranylgeranyl at a 2:1 stoichiometry, although extended times of incubation are required for full modification. Finally, a C-terminal Rab5 truncation mutant retaining only one cysteine also becomes modified, although only a minor fraction is fully processed. This method offers a novel, quantitative approach to investigate the stoichiometry of post-translational processing of cell-free synthesized peptides without the need to purify the native molecules.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Sanford
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kapadia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wessling-Resnick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002474:Cell-Free System; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007536:Isomerism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017368:Protein Prenylation; D011817:Rabbits; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020696:rab5 GTP-Binding Proteins
chemical_list: D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D020696:rab5 GTP-Binding Proteins; D003545:Cysteine