title: Characterization of the biochemical and biophysical properties of the phosphatidylserine receptor (PS-R) gene product.
abstract: The PS-R gene product was originally described as a cell surface receptor that interacts with externalized phosphatidylserine (PS) on apoptotic cells, but more recent studies have shown that it plays a critical role in organ development and terminal differentiation of many cell types during embryogenesis. Despite these important developmental functions, the biochemical and molecular properties of PS-R are poorly understood. Here we have used several approaches to show that PS-R undergoes processive post-translational protein cross-linking to form covalent multimers within the nuclear compartment. Although PS-R has a potential Glu-Glu (QQ) duet that is often targeted by transglutaminase TG-2, the oligomerization of PS-R was not effected by QQ-->AA mutation, or when PS-R gene product was expressed in TG-2 (-/-) fibroblasts. Pulse-chase experiments with (35) S-methionine indicates that the PS-R undergoes an initial proteolytic cleavage, followed by progressive multimerization of the monomeric subunits over time. In summary, we report here that PS-R is modified by an unusual post-translational modification, and we speculate that homomultimer of PS-R might be playing an important function as a scaffolding protein in the nucleus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Nitu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tibrewal
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Raymond B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Birge
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019281:Dimerization; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C408123:phosphatidylserine receptor