Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: The Hao-Fountain syndrome protein USP7 regulates neuronal connectivity in the brain via a novel p53-independent ubiquitin signaling pathway
doi: 10.1101/2023.10.24.563880
Figure Lengend Snippet: USP7 targets and de-ubiquitinates Ppil4 to promote synaptogenesis. (A) Streptavidin pull-down of HEK293T lysate with overexpression of Streptavidin-binding peptide-FLAG (SFB)-tagged USP7 followed by western blot of multiple endogenous candidate substrates. 2% input lysate is shown on the left. (B, C, D) Density of dendritic spine on apical, basal and all dendrites of pyramidal-shaped neurons in (H). Two independent lentiviral shRNA knocking down Ppil4 reduced spine density compared with control shRNA targeting Luciferase (Luci). Number of neurons (apical dendrties) = 24, 27, 23, 20, 23, 18, 16 & 17 for Luci, Ppil4i.1, Ppil4i.2, Smarcal1i.1, Smarcal1i.2, Trip12i, Ring1i & Sub1i. Number of neurons (basal dendrties) = 22, 24, 26, 20, 24, 17, 15 & 16 for Luci, Ppil4i.1, Ppil4i.2, Smarcal1i.1, Smarcal1i.2, Trip12i, Ring1i & Sub1i. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001 by Dunnett’s multiple comparison test (compared to Luci). (E, F, G) Density of PSD95+ dendritic spine on apical, basal and all dendrites of cortical neurons in (H) and . Two independent lentiviral shRNA knocking down Ppil4 reduced PSD95+ spine density compared with control shRNA targeting Luciferase (Luci). Number of neurons are the same as in (B, C, D). *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001 by Dunnett’s multiple comparison test (compared to Luci). (H) Representative images show the effect of Ppil4 knockdown on dendritic spines of cortical neurons at DIV18. PSD95 puncta decorating the dendritic spines were immunostained along with GFP. Arrows show dendritic spines. Scale bar 5µm. (I) Immunoprecipitation of endogenous Ppil4 in HEK293T lysates followed by western blot of GFP-USP7 and Ppil4. 2% Input lysate is shown on the left. GFP-USP7 was co-immunoprecipiated with Ppil4. (J) Tandem Ubiquitin Binding Entities (TUBE) pull-down of neuronal lysate with USP7 loss driven by lentiviral Cre, followed by immunoblotting of Ppil4. Input lysates are shown at the bottom. Endogenous Poly-Ubiquitinated Ppil4 increased with USP7 loss (Cre WT). A.U. = aribitary unit. (K) In vitro deubiquitination assay using FLAG-immunoprecipitated Ppil4 from HEK293T cells. Incubation with recombinant His-USP7 at 37°C for 1 hour converted high-molecular weight ubiquitinated Ppil4 (dashed rectangle) into low-molecular weight Ppil4 (arrow). (L) Densitometric quantification of high-molecular weight Ppil4 over all Ppil4 signal in (K) over 3 biological replicates. **p<0.01 by 2-tail unpaired t-test. (M) Western blot of USP7 with mutations from the Hao-Fountain syndrome patients in HEK293T cells. USP7 C223A is catalytically dead. (N) Western blot of endogenous Ppil4 in HEK293T cells expressing different USP7 variants. (O) Densitometric quantification of Ppil4 signal as in (N) over 4 biological replicates. Repeated measurement one way ANOVA. *p<0.05 by Dunnett’s multiple comparison. (P) Schematic of USP7-Ppil4 signaling pathway regulating dendritic spine density in glutamatergic cortical neuron. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. See also .
Article Snippet: For assessment of the interaction between USP7 and endogenously expressed proteins, a Streptavidin-binding peptide-FLAG (SFB)-tagged USP7 construct (Addgene plasmid #99393) was transfected into HEK293T cells via PEI transfection.
Techniques: Over Expression, Binding Assay, Western Blot, shRNA, Luciferase, Comparison, Immunoprecipitation, In Vitro, Incubation, Recombinant, Molecular Weight, Expressing