Identification of Ubiquitin-specific Protease 9X (USP9X) as a Deubiquitinase Acting on Ubiquitin-Peroxin 5 (PEX5) Thioester Conjugate

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Claudia P Grou (Author) Other; Tania Francisco (Author) Other; Tony A Rodrigues (Author) Other; Marta O Freitas (Author) Other; Manuel P Pinto (Author) Other; Andreia F Carvalho (Author) Other; Pedro Domingues (Author) Other; Stephen A Wood (Author) Other; Jose E Rodriguez Borges (Author) FCUP; Clara Sa Miranda (Author) Other; Marc Fransen (Author) Other; Jorge E Azevedo (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Journal of Biological Chemistry

Vol. 287

Pages: 12815-12827

ISSN: 0021-9258

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 76 Citations

Scopus - 84 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-B2G

DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m112.340158

Abstract (EN): Peroxin 5 (PEX5), the peroxisomal protein shuttling receptor, binds newly synthesized peroxisomal matrix proteins in the cytosol and promotes their translocation across the organelle membrane. During the translocation step, PEX5 itself becomes inserted into the peroxisomal docking/translocation machinery. PEX5 is then monoubiquitinated at a conserved cysteine residue and extracted back into the cytosol in an ATP-dependent manner. We have previously shown that the ubiquitin-PEX5 thioester conjugate (Ub-PEX5) released into the cytosol can be efficiently disrupted by physiological concentrations of glutathione, raising the possibility that a fraction of Ub-PEX5 is nonenzymatically deubiquitinated in vivo. However, data suggesting that Ub-PEX5 is also a target of a deubiquitinase were also obtained in that work. Here, we used an unbiased biochemical approach to identify this enzyme. Our results suggest that ubiquitin-specific protease 9X (USP9X) is by far the most active deubiquitinase acting on Ub-PEX5, both in female rat liver and HeLa cells. We also show that USP9X is an elongated monomeric protein with the capacity to hydrolyze thioester, isopeptide, and peptide bonds. The strategy described here will be useful in identifying deubiquitinases acting on other ubiquitin conjugates.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 13