Identification and characterization of a Drosophila nuclear proteasome activator : a homolog of human 11S REggamma (PA28gamma)

• We report the cloning and characterization of aDrosophila proteasome 11 S REGγ (PA28) homolog. The 28-kDa protein shows 47% identity to the human REGγ and strongly enhances the trypsin-like activities of both Drosophila and mammalian 20 S proteasomes. Surprisingly, the DrosophilaREG was found to inhibit the proteasome's chymotrypsin-like activity against the fluorogenic peptide succinyl-LLVY-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin. Immunocytological analysis reveals that the Drosophila REG is localized to the nucleus but is distributed throughout the cell when nuclear envelope breakdown occurs during mitosis. Through site-directed mutagenesis studies, we have identified a functional nuclear localization signal present in the homolog-specific insert region. TheDrosophila PA28 NLS is similar to the oncogene c-Myc nuclear localization motif. Comparison between uninduced and innate immune induced Drosophila cells suggests that the REGγ proteasome activator has a role independent of the invertebrate immune system. Our results support the idea that γ class proteasome activators have an ancient conserved function within metazoans and were present prior to the emergence of the α and β REG classes.

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