DeoxyNAD and deoxyADP-ribosylation of proteins

Recently, two deoxyribose analogs of beta NAD+ (2'-deoxy and 3'-deoxyNAD+) have been synthesized and purified in this laboratory. Whereas 2'-deoxyNAD+ was an efficient substrate for arg-specific mon(ADP-ribosyl) transferases, it was not a substrate for poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Instead, it was a non-competitive inhibitor of beta NAD+ in the ADP-ribose polymerization reaction catalyzed by PARP. Thus, 2'-deoxyNAD+ has been utilized to distinguish between mono(ADP-ribose) and poly(ADP-ribose) acceptor proteins. 2'-deoxyNAD+ has also been used to characterize the arg-specific mono(2'-deoxyADP-ribosyl)ation reaction of PARP with cholera toxin or avian mono(ADP-ribosyl)transferase. By contrast, 3'-deoxyNAD+ can effectively be utilized as a substrate by PARP. However, while the estimated Km and Kcat of polymerization with 3'-deoxyNAD+ were 20 microM and 0.11 moles/sec, the Km and Kcat with beta NAD+ as a substrate were 59 microM and 1.29 moles/sec, respectively. Determination of the average size of 3'-deoxyADP-ribose polymers indicated that chains no larger than four residues are synthesized with this substrate. Thus, the utilization of 3'-deoxyNAD+ has facilitated the electrophoretic identification of poly(ADP-ribose) acceptor proteins in mammalian chromatin.