The Protein Phosphatase-1 (PP1) Regulator, Nuclear Inhibitor of PP1 (NIPP1), Interacts with the Polycomb Group Protein, Embryonic Ectoderm Development (EED), and Functions as a Transcriptional Repressor

The nuclear protein NIPP1 (nuclear inhibitor of protein Ser/Thr phosphatase-1) interacts with the splicing factors SAP155 and CDC5L and is involved in a late step of spliceosome assembly. In addition, NIPP1 is an interactor of protein phosphatase-1 and a COOH-terminal NIPP1 fragment displays an RNase E like endoribonuclease activity. A yeast two-hybrid screening resulted in the identification of the Polycomb group protein EED (embryonic ectoderm development), an established transcriptional repressor, as a novel NIPP1 interactor. NIPP1 only interacted with full-length EED, whereas two EED interaction domains were mapped to the central and COOH-terminal thirds of NIPP1. The NIPP1-EED interaction was potentiated by the binding of (d)G-rich nucleic acids to the central domain of NIPP1. Nucleic acids also decreased the potency of NIPP1 as an inhibitor of PP1, but they did not prevent the formation of a ternary NIPP1.EED.PP1 complex. EED had no effect on the function of NIPP1 as a splicing factor or as an endoribonuclease. However, similar to EED, NIPP1 acted as a transcriptional repressor of targeted genes and this NIPP1 effect was mediated by the EED interaction domain. Also, the histone deacetylase 2 was present in a complex with NIPP1. Our data are in accordance with a role for NIPP1 as a DNA-targeting protein for EED and associated chromatin-modifying enzymes.