Drosophila melanogaster embryos are a source for homogeneous and stable 26S proteasomes suitable for structural studies. For biochemical characterization, purified 26S proteasomes were resolved by two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and subunits composing the regulatory complex (RC) were identified by amino acid sequencing and immunoblotting, before corresponding cDNAs were sequenced. 17 subunits from Drosophila regulatory complexes were found to have homologues in the yeast and human RCs. An additional subunit, p37A, not yet described in RCs of other organisms, is a member of the Ubiquitin Carboxyl-terminal Hydrolase family (UCH). Analysis of electron microscopy images of 26S proteasomes-UCH-inhibitor complexes allowed for the first time to localize one of the RC's specific functions, deubiquitylating activity. The masses of 26S proteasomes with either one or two attached RCs were determined by Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) yielding a mass of 894 kD for a single RC. This value is in good agreement with the summed masses of the 18 identified RC subunits (932 kD), indicating that the number of subunits is complete. p37A and additional subunits were molecularbiologically tagged with an epitope and overexpressed in stable transfected Drosophila Schneider S2 cells. The fusion-proteins were incorporated into the proteasomes by the cells and were purified with an epitope-specific affinitychromatography. In addition to the free subunits 20S proteasomes and RCs culd be isolated, but no complete 26S proteasomes. In future these epitope-tagged complexes could serve for the localization of single subunits by means of immuno-electron microscopy
«
Drosophila melanogaster embryos are a source for homogeneous and stable 26S proteasomes suitable for structural studies. For biochemical characterization, purified 26S proteasomes were resolved by two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and subunits composing the regulatory complex (RC) were identified by amino acid sequencing and immunoblotting, before corresponding cDNAs were sequenced. 17 subunits from Drosophila regulatory complexes were found to have homologues in the yeast and human RCs....
»