Extraribosomal functions associated with the C terminus of the 37/67 kDa laminin receptor are required for maintaining cell viability

The 37/67 kDa laminin receptor (LAMR) is a multifunctional protein, acting as an extracellular receptor, localizing to the nucleus, and playing roles in rRNA processing and ribosome assembly. LAMR is important for cell viability; however, it is unclear which of its functions are essential. We developed a silent mutant LAMR construct, resistant to siRNA, to rescue the phenotypic effects of knocking down endogenous LAMR, which include inhibition of protein synthesis, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. In addition, we generated a C-terminal-truncated silent mutant LAMR construct structurally homologous to the Archaeoglobus fulgidus S2 ribosomal protein and missing the C-terminal 75 residues of LAMR, which displays more sequence divergence. We found that HT1080 cells stably expressing either silent mutant LAMR construct still undergo arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle when treated with siRNA. However, the expression of full-length silent mutant LAMR rescues cell viability, whereas the expression of the C-terminal-truncated LAMR does not. Interestingly, we also found that both silent mutant constructs restore protein translation and localize to the nucleus. Our findings indicate that the ability of LAMR to regulate viability is associated with its C-terminal 75 residues. Furthermore, this function is distinct from its role in cell proliferation, independent of its ribosomal functions, and may be regulated by a nonnuclear localization

Novel protein families in archaean genomes.

In a quest for novel functions in archaea, all archaean hypothetical open reading frames (ORFs), as annotated in the Swiss-Prot protein sequence database, were used to search the latest databases for the identification of characterized homologues. Of the 95 hypothetical archaean ORFs, 25 were found to be homologous to another hypothetical archaean ORF, while 36 were homologous to non-archaean proteins, of which as many as 30 were homologous to a characterized protein family. Thus the level of sequence similarity in this set reaches 64%, while the level of function assignment is only 32%. Of the ORFs with predicted functions, 12 homologies are reported here for the first time and represent nine new functions and one gene duplication at an acetyl-coA synthetase locus. The novel functions include components of the transcriptional and translational apparatus, such as ribosomal proteins, modification enzymes and a translation initiation factor. In addition, new enzymes are identified in archaea, such as cobyric acid synthase, dCTP deaminase and the first archaean homologues of a new subclass of ATP binding proteins found in fungi. Finally, it is shown that the putative laminin receptor family of eukaryotes and an archaean homologue belong to the previously characterized ribosomal protein family S2 from eubacteria. From the present and previous work, the major implication is that archaea seem to have a mode of expression of genetic information rather similar to eukaryotes, while eubacteria may have proceeded into unique ways of transcription and translation. In addition, with the detection of proteins in various metabolic and genetic processes in archaea, we can further predict the presence of additional proteins involved in these processes