A novel prenyltransferase for a small GTP-binding protein having a C-terminal Cys-Ala-Cys structure.

smg p25A/rab3A p25 is a member of the small GTP-binding protein superfamily which is implicated in intracellular vesicle transport. smg p25A has a cDNA-predicted C-terminal structure of Cys-Ala-Cys. The protein purified from bovine brain membranes is geranylgeranylated at both the two cysteine residues and carboxyl-methylated at the C-terminal cysteine residue. Two types of prenyltransferase for small GTP-binding proteins have thus far been reported: ras p21 farnesyltransferase (ras p21 FT) and rhoA p21 geranylgeranyltransferase (rhoA p21 GGT). Neither of them geranylgeranylated smg p25A having a C-terminal Cys-Ala-Cys structure. In this paper, a smg p25A GGT was partially purified from bovine brain cytosol and separated from the ras p21 FT and rhoA p21 GGT by column chromatographies. smg p25A GGT transferred the geranylgeranyl moiety from geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate to both the two cysteine residues in the C-terminal Cys-Ala-Cys structure of smg p25A. smg p25A GGT did not use farnesyl pyrophosphate as a substrate and was also inactive on c-Ha-ras p21 and rhoA p21 with either farnesyl pyrophosphate or geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate as a substrate. These results indicate that there are at least three types of prenyltransferase for small GTP-binding proteins in mammalian tissues.