Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 D1
ubiquitin conjugating enzyme activity
CYP3A4 ubiquitination by gp78 (the tumor autocrine motility factor receptor, AMFR) and CHIP E3 ligases.
Human liver CYP3A4 is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-anchored hemoprotein responsible for the metabolism of >50% of clinically prescribed drugs. After heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it is degraded via the ubiquitin (Ub)-dependent 26S proteasomal pathway that utilizes Ubc7p/Cue1p, but none of the canonical Ub-ligases (E3s) Hrd1p/Hrd3p, Doa10p, and Rsp5p involved in ER-associated degradation (ERAD). To identify an Ub-ligase capable of ubiquitinating CYP3A4, we examined various in vitro reconstituted mammalian E3 systems, using purified and functionally characterized recombinant components. Of these, the cytosolic domain of the ER-protein gp78, also known as the tumor autocrine motility factor receptor (AMFR), an UBC7-dependent polytopic RING-finger E3, effectively ubiquitinated CYP3A4 in vitro, as did the UbcH5a-dependent cytosolic E3 CHIP. CYP3A4 immunoprecipitation coupled with anti-Ub immunoblotting analyses confirmed its ubiquitination in these reconstituted systems. Thus, both UBC7/gp78 and UbcH5a/CHIP may be involved in CYP3A4 ERAD, although their relative physiological contribution remains to be established.