Topology of the yeast Ras converting enzyme as inferred from cysteine accessibility studies

The Ras converting enzyme (Rce1p) is an endoprotease that is involved in the post-translational processing of the Ras GTPases and other isoprenylated proteins. Its role in Ras biosynthesis marks Rce1p as an anticancer target. By assessing the chemical accessibility of cysteine residues substituted throughout the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rce1p sequence, we have determined that yeast Rce1p has eight segments that are protected from chemical modification. Notably, the three residues that are essential for yeast Rce1p function (E156, H194, and H248) are all chemically inaccessible and associated with separate protected segments. By specifically assessing the chemical reactivity and glycosylation potential of the NH2 and COOH termini of Rce1p, we further demonstrate that Rce1p has an odd number of transmembrane spans. Substantial evidence that the most NH2-terminal segment functions as a transmembrane segment with the extreme NH2 terminus projecting into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen is presented. Because each of the remaining seven segments is too short to contain two spans and is flanked by chemically reactive positions, we infer that these segments are not transmembrane segments but rather represent compact structural features and/or hydrophobic loops that penetrate but do not fully span the bilayer (i.e., re-entrant helices). We thus propose a topological model in which yeast Rce1p contains a single transmembrane helix localized at its extreme NH2 terminus and one or more re-entrant helices and/or compact structural domains that populate the cytosolic face of the ER membrane. Lastly, we demonstrate that the natural cysteine residues of Rce1p are chemically inaccessible and fully dispensable for in vivo enzyme activity, formally eliminating the possibility of a cysteine-based enzymatic mechanism for this protease.