GAPDH Mediates Nitrosylation of Nuclear Proteins

S-nitrosylation by nitric oxide (NO) is a major mode of signaling to cellular proteins1, including prominent nuclear proteins such as HDAC22 and PARP13. The high reactivity of the NO group with protein thiols implies the existence of selective targeting mechanisms. Specificity of NO signaling is often achieved by the binding of NO synthase (NOS) to target proteins, either directly4 or through scaffolding proteins such as PSD-955 and CAPON6. As the three principal isoforms of NOS - neuronal NOS (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS), and inducible NOS (iNOS) - are primarily non-nuclear, the mechanisms by which nuclear proteins are selectively nitrosylated have been elusive. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is physiologically nitrosylated at its Cys150 residue, conferring upon it the ability to bind to Siah1, which possesses a nuclear localization signal and conveys nitrosylated GAPDH (SNO-GAPDH) to the nucleus7. We now show that SNO-GAPDH physiologically transnitrosylates nuclear proteins, including the deacetylating enzyme SIRT1, histone deacetylase-2 (HDAC2), and DNA-activated protein kinase (DNA-PK). Our findings reveal a novel mechanism for targeted nitrosylation of nuclear proteins and suggest that protein-protein transfer of NO groups may be a general mechanism in cellular signal transduction.