Name: in vitro ubiquitination and deubiquitination assays of nucleosomal histones
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We thank Diana Adjaoud for technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2015-2020), Genome Quebec (2016-2019) and Genome Canada (2016-2019) to E.B.A. E.B.A. is a senior scholar of the Fonds de la Recherche du Qu&#233;bec-Sant&#233; (FRQ-S). L.M and N.S.K. have a PhD scholarship from the FRQ-S. H.B had a PhD scholarship from the Ministry of Higher Education and from Scientific Research of Tunisia and the Cole Foundation.

1. GSH-agarose Affinity Purification of the GST-RING1B(1-159)-BMI1(1-109) E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Complex
<ol>
	<li>Use the pGEX6p2rbs-GST-RING1B (1-159 aa) - BMI1 (1 -109aa) bacteria expression construct to transform BL21 (DE3) bacteria (see Table of Materials)23. This construct allows the expression of murine RING1B domain 1-159 fused to BMI1 domain 1-109 with GST tag in pGEX-6P-2 backbone.</li>
	<li>Perform an overnight starter culture by inoculating RIL-bacteria expressing GST-R...

<ol>
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There are several advantages of establishing robust in vitro ubiquitination and deubiquitination assays for proteins of interest. These assays can be used to: (i) establish optimal conditions and define minimal requirement for these reactions, (ii) determine enzymatic kinetic and biochemical constants, (iii) define the roles of cofactors or inhibitors that can impact these reactions, (iv) identify interaction interfaces, (v) test the impact of artificial or disease-associated mutations and (vi) establish assay conditions...

Ubiquitination is one of the most conserved post-translational modifications and is critical for a wide variety of organisms including yeast, plants and vertebrates. Ubiquitination consists of the covalent attachment of ubiquitin, a highly conserved 76 amino acid polypeptide, to target proteins and occurs in three sequential steps involving three enzymes, i.e., E1-activating, E2-conjugating and E3 ligase1,2,3. This post-translational modification plays central roles in a wide spectrum of biological processes. Indeed, the E3 ligases, which provide the specificity of the reaction, constitute a large superfamily of enzymes and are the most abundant enzymes of the ubiquitin system4,5,6. The downstream effects of protein ubiquitination depend on nature of the modification: monoubiquitination, multi-monoubiquitination, and linear or branched polyubiquitination. Monoubiquitination is rarely associated with proteasomal degradation, but instead this modification is involved in mediating various signaling events. Polyubiquitination involves the N-terminal or the lysine residues in ubiquitin molecule itself, and the destiny of a polyubiquitinated protein depends on which residue is involved in ubiquitin chain extension. It has long been known that polyubiquitination mediated by lysine 48 of ubiquitin induces proteasomal degradation. On the contrary, polyubiquitination via lysine 63 of ubiquitin is often associated with protein activation7,8,9. Similar to other important post-translational modifications, ubiquitination is reversible and ubiquitin removal from proteins is ensured by specific proteases termed deubiquitinases (DUBs), which have emerged as important regulators of cellular processes2,10. Importantly, many DUBs are highly specialized, and regulate, through deubiquitination, specific substrates, indicating that a fine balance between ubiquitination and deubiquitination is critical for protein function. E3s and DUBs, along with the proteasome degradation machinery and accessory factors, form the Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS, with &#62;1200 genes) which regulates major signaling pathways, several of which are associated with cell growth and proliferation, cell fate determination, differentiation, cell migration, and cell death. Importantly, deregulation of several signaling cascades involving ubiquitination promotes tumorigenesis and neurodegeneration diseases5,11,12,13,14.
Ubiquitination plays pervasive roles in chromatin biology and DNA-dependent processes15,16,17. For instance, monoubiquitination of histone H2A on lysine 119 (hereafter H2A K119ub) is a critical post-translational modification involved in transcriptional repression and DNA repair18,19,20,21,22. H2A K119ub is catalyzed by the Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1), which plays a key role in the maintenance of epigenetic information and is highly conserved from Drosophila to human. Canonical PRC1 is constituted notably by the RING1B and BMI1, which are the core E3 ubiquitin ligase complex responsible for the above-mentioned ubiquitination event22,23. In Drosophila, H2A monoubiquitination (H2A K118ub which corresponds to H2A K119ub in mammalians) is reversed by the DUB Calypso, which interacts with Additional Sex Comb (ASX) forming the Polycomb-repressive DUB (PR-DUB) complex24. The mammalian ortholog of calypso, BAP1, is a tumor suppressor deleted or inactivated in various human malignancies25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33. BAP1 regulates DNA-dependent processes in the nucleus and Calcium-signaling-mediated apoptosis at the endoplasmic reticulum33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42. BAP1 assembles multi-subunit protein complexes containing transcription regulators notably ASXL1, ASXL2 and ASXL3 (ASXLs), three orthologues of ASX38,43. ASXLs use the DEUBiquitinase ADaptor (DEUBAD) domain, also termed ASXM domain, to stimulate BAP1 DUB activity35,36,44. Hence, ASXLs play important roles in coordinating BAP1 DUB activity at chromatin and more broadly its tumor suppressor function.
Several methods exist to study ubiquitination and deubiquitination processes. Notably, biochemical assays using proteins purified from bacteria remain very powerful in demonstrating direct ubiquitination of, or removal of ubiquitin from, specific substrates. These experiments can be conducted to investigate a range of parameters such as the determining the requirement of minimal complexes, determining reactions kinetics, defining structure/function relationships, and understanding the impact of pathological gene mutations. Here, we provide protocols to conduct ubiquitination and deubiquitination reactions on chromatin substrates with purified components. As a model system, in vitro ubiquitination and deubiquitination of nucleosomal H2A protein is presented. Bacteria-purified proteins assembled in minimal complexes of RING1B/BMI1 and BAP1/DEUBAD are used for ubiquitination or deubiquitination of nucleosomal H2A, respectively.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Amylose agarose beads</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>#E8021</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Amicon Ultra 0.5 ml centrifugal filters 10K</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#UFC501096</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-H2AK119ub (H2Aub)</td>
			<td>Cell Signaling Technology</td>
			<td>#8240</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-Flag-agarose beads</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#A4596</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-protease cocktail</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#P8340</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BL21 (DE3) CodonPlus-RIL bacteria</td>
			<td>Agilent technologies</td>
			<td>#230240</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DMEM</td>
			<td>Wisent</td>
			<td>#319-005-CL</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Empty chromatography column</td>
			<td>Biorad</td>
			<td>#731-1550</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Flag peptide</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#F3290</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GSH-agarose beads</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#G4510</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HEK293T</td>
			<td>ATCC</td>
			<td>#CRL-3216</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Imidazole</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#I5513</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Micrococcal nuclease (MNase)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>#N3755</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ni-NTA agarose beads</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>#88221</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>N-methylmaleimide (NEM)</td>
			<td>Bioshop</td>
			<td>#ETM222</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pore syringe filter 0.45 &#956;m</td>
			<td>Sarstedt</td>
			<td>#83.1826</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Polyethylenimine (PEI)</td>
			<td>Polysciences Inc</td>
			<td>#23966-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>pGEX6p2rbs-GST-RING1B(1-159)-Bmi1(1-109)</td>
			<td>Addgene</td>
			<td>#63139</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ub Activating Enzyme (UBE1)</td>
			<td>Boston Biochem</td>
			<td>#E-305</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>UBCH5C (UBE2D3)</td>
			<td>Boston Biochem</td>
			<td>#E2-627</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

in vitro ubiquitination and deubiquitination assays of nucleosomal histones

Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification that plays important roles in various signaling pathways and is notably involved in the coordination of chromatin function and DNA-associated processes. This modification involves a sequential action of several enzymes including E1 ubiquitin-activating, E2 ubiquitin-conjugating and E3 ubiquitin-ligase and is reversed by deubiquitinases (DUBs). Ubiquitination induces degradation of proteins or alteration of protein function including modulation of enzymatic activity, protein-protein interaction and subcellular localization. A critical step in demonstrating protein ubiquitination or deubiquitination is to perform in vitro reactions with purified components. Effective ubiquitination and deubiquitination reactions could be greatly impacted by the different components used, enzyme co-factors, buffer conditions, and the nature of the substrate.&#160; Here, we provide step-by-step protocols for conducting ubiquitination and deubiquitination reactions. We illustrate these reactions using minimal components of the mouse Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1), BMI1, and RING1B, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that monoubiquitinates histone H2A on lysine 119. Deubiquitination of nucleosomal H2A is performed using a minimal Polycomb Repressive Deubiquitinase (PR-DUB) complex formed by the human deubiquitinase BAP1 and the DEUBiquitinase ADaptor (DEUBAD) domain of its co-factor ASXL2. These ubiquitination/deubiquitination assays can be conducted in the context of either recombinant nucleosomes reconstituted with bacteria-purified proteins or native nucleosomes purified from mammalian cells. We highlight the intricacies that can have a significant impact on these reactions and we propose that the general principles of these protocols can be swiftly adapted to other E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases.

GST-BMI1 and RING1B proteins are well produced in bacteria and can be readily extracted in the soluble fraction. Figure 1A shows a Coomassie blue staining for a typical purification of the GST-BMI1-RING1B complex. The GST-BMI1 and RING1B bands migrate at the expected molecular weight, ~45 kDa and ~13 kDa respectively. Notably the E3 ligase complex is highly homogenous with very low levels of bacteria proteins contaminants and/or degradation products. Moreover...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about In Vitro Ubiquitination and Deubiquitination Assays of Nucleosomal Histones at JoVE.com

In Vitro Ubiquitination and Deubiquitination Assays of Nucleosomal Histones

Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification that plays important roles in cellular processes and is tightly coordinated by deubiquitination. Defects in both reactions underlie human pathologies. We provide protocols for conducting ubiquitination and deubiquitination reaction in vitro using purified components.

Ubiquitination is a post-translational modification that plays important roles in various signaling pathways and is notably involved in the coordination ...

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