A TR-FRET-Based Functional Assay for Screening Activators of CARM1

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Abstract

Epigenetics is an emerging field that demands selective cell-permeable chemical probes to perturb, especially in vivo, the activity of specific enzymes involved in modulating the epigenetic codes. Coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) is a coactivator of estrogen receptor α (ERα), the main target in human breast cancer. We previously showed that twofold overexpression of CARM1 in MCF7 breast cancer cells increased the expression of ERα-target genes involved in differentiation and reduced cell proliferation, thus leading to the hypothesis that activating CARM1 by chemical activators might be therapeutically effective in breast cancer. Selective, potent, cell-permeable CARM1 activators will be essential to test this hypothesis. Here we report the development of a cell-based, time-resolved (TR) FRET assay that uses poly(A) binding protein 1 (PABP1) methylation to monitor cellular activity of CARM1. The LanthaScreen TR-FRET assay uses MCF7 cells expressing GFP-PABP1 fusion protein through BacMam gene delivery system, methyl-PABP1 specific antibody, and terbium-labeled secondary antibody. This assay has been validated as reflecting the expression and/or activity of CARM1 and optimized for high throughput screening to identify CARM1 allosteric activators. This TR-FRET platform serves as a generic tool for functional screening of cell-permeable, chemical modulators of CARM1 for elucidation of its in vivo functions.

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Most cited references 36

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Dana W. Aswad, D Chen, Rachel S Koh … (1999)

The p160 family of coactivators, SRC-1, GRIP1/TIF2, and p/CIP, mediate transcriptional activation by nuclear hormone receptors. Coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1), a previously unidentified protein that binds to the carboxyl-terminal region of p160 coactivators, enhanced transcriptional activation by nuclear receptors, but only when GRIP1 or SRC-1a was coexpressed. Thus, CARM1 functions as a secondary coactivator through its association with p160 coactivators. CARM1 can methylate histone H3 in vitro, and a mutation in the putative S-adenosylmethionine binding domain of CARM1 substantially reduced both methyltransferase and coactivator activities. Thus, coactivator-mediated methylation of proteins in the transcription machinery may contribute to transcriptional regulation.