Disulfide engineering to map subunit interactions in the proteasome and other macromolecular complexes

Methods Mol Biol. 2012:832:349-62. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-474-2_24.

Abstract

In studies of protein complexes for which high-resolution structural data are unavailable, it is often still possible to determine both nearest-neighbor relationships between subunits and atomic-resolution details of these interactions. The eukaryotic 26S proteasome, a ∼2.5 MDa protein complex with at least 33 different subunits, is a prime example. Important information about quaternary organization and assembly of proteasomes has been gained using a combination of sequence alignments with related proteins of known tertiary structure, molecular modeling, and disulfide engineering to allow oxidative cross-linking between predicted polypeptide neighbors. Here, we provide detailed protocols for engineered cysteine cross-linking of yeast proteasome subunits in whole-cell extracts, in active 26S proteasome complexes first isolated by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and in subcomplexes that function as potential assembly intermediates.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Disulfides / chemistry
  • Disulfides / metabolism
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / methods*
  • Immunoblotting / methods
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed / methods
  • Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / analysis*
  • Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / chemistry*
  • Protein Structure, Quaternary
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / analysis*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / chemistry
  • Sequence Alignment

Substances

  • Disulfides
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex
  • ATP dependent 26S protease