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PUMA binding induces partial unfolding within BCL-xL to disrupt p53 binding and promote apoptosis

Nature Chemical Biology volume 9, pages 163–168 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Following DNA damage, nuclear p53 induces the expression of PUMA, a BH3-only protein that binds and inhibits the antiapoptotic BCL-2 repertoire, including BCL-xL. PUMA, unique among BH3-only proteins, disrupts the interaction between cytosolic p53 and BCL-xL, allowing p53 to promote apoptosis via direct activation of the BCL-2 effector molecules BAX and BAK. Structural investigations using NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography revealed that PUMA binding induced partial unfolding of two α-helices within BCL-xL. Wild-type PUMA or a PUMA mutant incapable of causing binding-induced unfolding of BCL-xL equivalently inhibited the antiapoptotic BCL-2 repertoire to sensitize for death receptor–activated apoptosis, but only wild-type PUMA promoted p53-dependent, DNA damage–induced apoptosis. Our data suggest that PUMA-induced partial unfolding of BCL-xL disrupts interactions between cytosolic p53 and BCL-xL, releasing the bound p53 to initiate apoptosis. We propose that regulated unfolding of BCL-xL provides a mechanism to promote PUMA-dependent signaling within the apoptotic pathways.

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Figure 1: Structural and dynamic characterization of the BCL-xLΔLΔC–PUMABH3 complex in solution.
Figure 2: Mechanism of PUMA binding-induced p53 release from BCL-xL.
Figure 3: PUMA-induced p53 release from BCL-xL differentially regulates apoptotic pathways.
Figure 4: Trp71 of PUMA is required for p53-dependent, DNA damage–induced apoptosis.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J.T. Opferman and S.W.G. Tait (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) for the Mx-Cre bak−/− baxf/− animals and MCF7 SMAC-GFP cells, respectively. The prokaryotic expression vectors for PUMAβ and BCL-xLΔLΔC were kindly provided by E. Eldering (Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam) and G. Wagner (Harvard University), respectively. We would like to acknowledge D. Miller (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) for help with synchrotron data collection. Southeast Regional Collaborative Access Team (SER-CAT) supporting institutions may be found at http://www.ser.aps.anl.gov. Use of the SER-CAT Advanced Photon Source was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract no. W-31-109-Eng-38. We would like to thank Bruker BioSpin and R. Weismann and W. Bermel for access to a 950-MHz NMR spectrometer. We also thank M. Madan Babu and A. Venkatakrishnan (Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK) for stimulating discussions and comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH R01CA082491 and 1R01GM083159 (to R.W.K.), NIH R01GM52735 and R01GM96208 (to D.R.G.), NIH R01 CA157740 (to J.E.C.), the JJR Foundation (to J.E.C.), the William A. Spivak Fund (to J.E.C.), the Fridolin Charitable Trust (to J.E.C.), a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant P30CA21765 (at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital), research grant no. 5-FY11-74 from the March of Dimes Foundation (to J.E.C.) and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. J.C.F. is a recipient of the Alma and Hal Reagan Cancer Research fellowship provided by the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center.

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Author notes

  1. Jerry E Chipuk

    Present address: Present address: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, New York, USA and Department of Dermatology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, New York, USA.,

  2. richard.kriwacki@stjude.org

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Ariele Viacava Follis, John C Fisher, Mi-Kyung Yun, Christy R Grace, Li Ou, Lie Min, Stephen W White & Richard W Kriwacki

  2. Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Jerry E Chipuk, Katherine Baran & Douglas R Green

  3. College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    John C Fisher

  4. Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Amanda Nourse

  5. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

    Stephen W White & Richard W Kriwacki

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Contributions

A.V.F., J.E.C. and J.C.F. as well as D.R.G. and R.W.K. contributed equally to this work. A.V.F. performed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the paper; J.E.C. performed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the paper; J.C.F. performed experiments, analyzed data and wrote the paper; M.-K.Y., C.R.G., A.N., K.B., L.O. and L.M. performed experiments and analyzed data; and S.W.W., D.R.G. and R.W.K. analyzed data and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Douglas R Green or Richard W Kriwacki.

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Follis, A., Chipuk, J., Fisher, J. et al. PUMA binding induces partial unfolding within BCL-xL to disrupt p53 binding and promote apoptosis. Nat Chem Biol 9, 163–168 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1166

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