A metazoan ortholog of SpoT hydrolyzes ppGpp and functions in starvation responses

Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2010 Oct;17(10):1188-94. doi: 10.1038/nsmb.1906. Epub 2010 Sep 5.

Abstract

In nutrient-starved bacteria, RelA and SpoT proteins have key roles in reducing cell growth and overcoming stresses. Here we identify functional SpoT orthologs in metazoa (named Mesh1, encoded by HDDC3 in human and Q9VAM9 in Drosophila melanogaster) and reveal their structures and functions. Like the bacterial enzyme, Mesh1 proteins contain an active site for ppGpp hydrolysis and a conserved His-Asp-box motif for Mn(2+) binding. Consistent with these structural data, Mesh1 efficiently catalyzes hydrolysis of guanosine 3',5'-diphosphate (ppGpp) both in vitro and in vivo. Mesh1 also suppresses SpoT-deficient lethality and RelA-induced delayed cell growth in bacteria. Notably, deletion of Mesh1 (Q9VAM9) in Drosophila induces retarded body growth and impaired starvation resistance. Microarray analyses reveal that the amino acid-starved Mesh1 null mutant has highly downregulated DNA and protein synthesis-related genes and upregulated stress-responsible genes. These data suggest that metazoan SpoT orthologs have an evolutionarily conserved function in starvation responses.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acids / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Binding Sites
  • Catalytic Domain
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Drosophila Proteins / chemistry
  • Drosophila Proteins / genetics
  • Drosophila Proteins / physiology*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / chemistry
  • Drosophila melanogaster / genetics*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / growth & development
  • Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Genetic Complementation Test
  • Guanosine Tetraphosphate / metabolism*
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics
  • Humans
  • Hydrolysis
  • Ligases / metabolism
  • Manganese / metabolism
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Protein Conformation
  • Pyrophosphatases / chemistry
  • Pyrophosphatases / deficiency
  • Pyrophosphatases / genetics
  • Pyrophosphatases / physiology*
  • Starvation / physiopathology
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Guanosine Tetraphosphate
  • Manganese
  • guanosine-3',5'-bis(diphosphate) 3'-pyrophosphatase
  • HDDC3 protein, human
  • Pyrophosphatases
  • Ligases
  • guanosine 3',5'-polyphosphate synthetases

Associated data

  • PDB/3NQW
  • PDB/3NR1