title: A single amino acid change (Asp 53 --> Ala53) converts Survivin from anti-apoptotic to pro-apoptotic.
abstract: Survivin is a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family that has been implicated in both apoptosis inhibition and cell cycle control. Recently, Survivin has attracted growing attention because of its tumor-specific expression and potential applications in tumor therapy. However, its inhibitory mechanism and subcellular localization remain controversial. Here, we report a novel Survivin mutant Surv-D53A, which displays a function opposite to Survivin and a distinctive subcellular distribution compared with its wild-type counterpart. Surv-D53A was shown to induce apoptosis in a p53-independent manner, indicating that tumor suppressor p53 is not involved in its apoptosis pathway. Surv-D53A was shown to markedly sensitize apoptosis induced by TRAIL, doxorubicin, and RIP3. We also demonstrated that similar to wild-type Survivin, Surv-D53A was localized in cytoplasm in interphase and to midbody at telophase. However, it fails to colocalize in chromosomes with Aurora-B in metaphase as wt-Survivin. Surv-D53A mutant is less stable than wt-Survivin and is degraded more rapidly by ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Additionally, we found that Surv-D53A interacts with wt-Survivin to form heterodimer or with itself to form mutant homodimer, which may account for the loss of its antiapoptotic function. Finally, unlike Survivin*Survivin, neither Surv-D53A*Survivin nor Surv-D53A*Surv-D53A is able to bind to Smac/DIABLO, which may explain the underlying mechanism for its abolishment of antiapoptotic activity of Survivin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Key Laboratory of Structural Biology, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, PR China 230027.
authors.forename: Zhiyin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Shixin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hoti
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000494:pharmacology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000494:pharmacology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D053422:Receptor-Interacting Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D000077022:Survivin; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C412403:DIABLO protein, human; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D000077022:Survivin; D053221:TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand; C505653:TNFSF10 protein, human; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D004317:Doxorubicin; D011494:Protein Kinases; C576921:AURKB protein, human; D064107:Aurora Kinase B; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C119705:RIPK3 protein, human; D053422:Receptor-Interacting Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases