Jc. Sanford et al., GDP DISSOCIATION INHIBITOR SERVES AS A CYTOSOLIC ACCEPTOR FOR NEWLY SYNTHESIZED AND PRENYLATED RAB5, The Journal of biological chemistry, 270(45), 1995, pp. 26904-26909
In vitro synthesis and post-translational prenylation of Rab5 is accom
plished using reticulocyte lysate supplemented with prenyl precursors
(Sanford, J. C., Pan, Y., and Wessling-Resnick, M. (1993) J. Biol. Che
m, 268, 23773-23776), When Rab5 is translated in the presence of bioti
n-lysine-tRNA, it incorporates biotin-lysine into its peptide backbone
and is efficiently prenylated; since this modification is dependent o
n guanine nucleotide binding, biotin-Rab5's functional integrity must
be maintained, Prenylated biotin-Rab5 associates with a 45-kDa reticul
ocyte GDP dissociation inhibitor (GDI), sedimenting as a similar to 70
-kDa particle on 5-20% sucrose density gradients, The GDI-Rab5 complex
can be captured using streptavidin-linked agarose beads, Only Rab5 pe
ptides that are substrates for prenylation are found to cosediment wit
h the lysate GDI on sucrose gradients, Post-translational association
of Rab5 and GDI is a novel finding, since previous reports suggested R
ab5 remains associated with Rab escort protein (REP) after prenylation
(Alexandrov, K., Horiuchi, H., Steele-Mortimer, O., Seabra, M. C., an
d Zerial, M. (1994) EMBO J. 13, 5262-5273), Since post-translational p
renylation is catalytically mediated by REP, our study suggests that a
complex between Rab5 and this factor is transient in nature, Thus, ne
wly synthesized and prenylated Rab5 is most likely escorted to its tar
get membrane by a GDI acceptor molecule. Biotin-Rab5 provides a novel
tool for future efforts to capture and characterize additional accesso
ry factors required for Rab protein function in vesicle transport.