Characterization of botulinum C3-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of rho proteins and identification of mammalian C3-like ADP-ribosyltransferase.

The exoenzyme C3 produced by Clostridium botulinum catalyzes ADP-ribosylation of rho gene products which belong to a family of small molecular-weight GTP-binding proteins. The C3 enzyme-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of rho proteins partially purified from bovine brain was markedly activated by certain types of detergents or phospholipids and by endogenous factors present in the brain cytosol. Rho A protein that had been expressed in E. coli and subsequential purified was readily ADP-ribosylated by the C3 enzyme even in the absence of the activating factors. These results suggest that partially purified rho proteins contain an inhibitor, probably rho GDI (GDP-dissociation inhibitor for rho p21), of C3-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation. The activity of an endogenous enzyme, having the same substrate as botulinum C3 enzyme, was also found in brain cytosol. The enzyme activity was partially purified and characterized. The enzyme appeared to have a molecular mass of approximately 20,000 on a gel filtration and displayed unique properties similar to those observed with the botulinum C3 enzyme. The alpha-subunits of alpha beta gamma-trimeric G proteins which served as the substrates of cholera or pertussis toxin were not ADP-ribosylated by the brain enzyme.