From Promiscuity to Precision: Protein Phosphatases Get a Makeover

In 1975, tau protein was isolated as a microtubule-associated factor from the porcine brain. In the previous year, a paired helical filament (PHF) protein had been identified in neurofibrillary tangles in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD), but it was not until 1986 that the PHF protein and tau were discovered to be one and the same. In the AD brain, tau was found to be abnormally hyperphosphorylated, and it inhibited rather than promoted in vitro microtubule assembly. Almost 80 disease-causing exonic missense and intronic silent mutations in the tau gene have been found in familial cases of frontotemporal dementia but, to date, no such mutation has been found in AD. The first phase I clinical trial of an active tau immunization vaccine in patients with AD was recently completed. Assays for tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma are now available, and tau radiotracers for PET are under development. In this article, we provide an overview of the pivotal discoveries in the tau research field over the past 40 years. We also review the current status of the field, including disease mechanisms and therapeutic approaches.

Tau and neurodegenerative disease: the story so far

This review summarizes the current status of protein arginine N-methylation reactions. These covalent modifications of proteins are now recognized in a number of eukaryotic proteins and their functional significance is beginning to be understood. Genes that encode those methyltransferases specific for catalyzing the formation of asymmetric dimethylarginine have been identified. The enzyme modifies a number of generally nuclear or nucleolar proteins that interact with nucleic acids, particularly RNA. Postulated roles for these reactions include signal transduction, nuclear transport, or a direct modulation of nucleic acid interactions. A second methyltransferase activity that symmetrically dimethylates an arginine residue in myelin basic protein, a major component of the axon sheath, has also been characterized. However, a gene encoding this activity has not been identified to date and the cellular function for this methylation reaction has not been clearly established. From the analysis of the sequences surrounding known arginine methylation sites, we have determined consensus methyl-accepting sequences that may be useful in identifying novel substrates for these enzymes and may shed further light on their physiological role.

RNA and Protein Interactions Modulated by Protein Arginine Methylation

https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/8090/title.pdf

Protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunits and cancer.

Segregation of homologous maternal and paternal centromeres to opposite poles during meiosis I depends on post-replicative crossing over between homologous non-sister chromatids, which creates chiasmata and therefore bivalent chromosomes. Destruction of sister chromatid cohesion along chromosome arms due to proteolytic cleavage of cohesin's Rec8 subunit by separase resolves chiasmata and thereby triggers the first meiotic division. This produces univalent chromosomes, the chromatids of which are held together by centromeric cohesin that has been protected from separase by shugoshin (Sgo1/MEI-S332) proteins. Here we show in both fission and budding yeast that Sgo1 recruits to centromeres a specific form of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Its inactivation causes loss of centromeric cohesin at anaphase I and random segregation of sister centromeres at the second meiotic division. Artificial recruitment of PP2A to chromosome arms prevents Rec8 phosphorylation and hinders resolution of chiasmata. Our data are consistent with the notion that efficient cleavage of Rec8 requires phosphorylation of cohesin and that this is blocked by PP2A at meiosis I centromeres.

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Protein phosphatase 2A protects centromeric sister chromatid cohesion during meiosis I

The B56 Family of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) Regulatory Subunits Encodes Differentiation-induced Phosphoproteins That Target PP2A to Both Nucleus and Cytoplasm

Identification of a new family of protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunits.

Assignment of human protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunit genes b56alpha, b56beta, b56gamma, b56delta, and b56epsilon (PPP2R5A-PPP2R5E), highly expressed in muscle and brain, to chromosome regions 1q41, 11q12, 3p21, 6p21.1, and 7p11.2 --> p12.

Brent McCright

Papers

The B56 Family of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) Regulatory Subunits Encodes Differentiation-induced Phosphoproteins That Target PP2A to Both Nucleus and Cytoplasm

Identification of a new family of protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunits.

Assignment of human protein phosphatase 2A regulatory subunit genes b56alpha, b56beta, b56gamma, b56delta, and b56epsilon (PPP2R5A-PPP2R5E), highly expressed in muscle and brain, to chromosome regions 1q41, 11q12, 3p21, 6p21.1, and 7p11.2 --> p12.

Identifying protein phosphatase 2A interacting proteins using the yeast two-hybrid method.