Methods to analyze S-nitrosylation of proteins involved in apoptosis

Methods Mol Biol. 2009:559:117-30. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-017-5_9.

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule that plays a key role in various physiological and pathological processes. One of the well-established mechanisms by which NO regulates the function of various target proteins is through S-nitrosylation. NO readily reacts with thiol (SH) groups in the cysteine residues of target proteins to form nitrosothiol (S-NO) groups. This posttranslational modification of proteins can positively or negatively regulate various signaling pathways including apoptosis. Likewise, S-nitrosylation of various apoptosis-regulatory proteins has been demonstrated to modify the apoptotic response to various stimuli. We have shown that NO nitrosylates important antiapoptotic proteins, such as Bcl-2 and FLIP, and prevents their downregulation via the ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation pathway. To detect protein S-nitrosylation, we isolated the protein by immunoprecipitation and analyzed cysteine nitrosylation by Western blotting or spectrofluorometry.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis*
  • Blotting, Western / methods*
  • Humans
  • Immunoprecipitation / methods*
  • Nitric Oxide / analysis
  • Nitric Oxide / metabolism*
  • Proteins / analysis*
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / analysis
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / metabolism

Substances

  • Proteins
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2
  • Nitric Oxide