Phosphotransferase Activity Research Articles

Systematic Quantification of GPCR/cAMP-Controlled Protein Kinase A Interactions.

The diffusible second messenger cyclic AMP (cAMP) originates from multiple G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) cascades activating the intracellular key effector protein kinase A (PKA). Spatially and temporally restricted cAMP-fluxes are directly sensed by macromolecular PKA complexes. The consequences are alterations of molecular interactions, which lead to activation of compartmentalized PKA phosphotransferase activities, regulating a vast array of cellular functions. To decode cell-type and cell-compartment specific PKA functions, the spatio-temporal dynamics of small molecule:protein interactions, protein:protein interactions (PPIs), cAMP-mobilization, and phosphotransferase activities need to be determined directly in the appropriate cellular context. A collection of cell-based reporters has been developed to either visualize or quantitatively measure kinase activities or PKA complex formation/dissociation. In this review, we list a collection of unimolecular and bimolecular PKA biosensors, followed by the specification of the modular design of a Renilla luciferase based protein-fragment complementation assay (PCA) platform for measuring PKA network interactions. We discuss the application spectrum of the PCA reporter to identify, quantify, and dissect dynamic and transient PKA complexes downstream of specific GPCR activities. We specify the implementation of a PCA PKA platform to systematically quantify the concurrent involvement of receptor-cAMP signaling, post-translational modifications, and kinase subunit mutations/perturbations in PKA activation. The systematic quantification of transient PKA network interactions will contribute to a better understanding how GPCR-recognized input signals are streamlined through the compartmentalized and cAMP-interacting PKA signalosome.

A Two-Component Regulatory System in Transcriptional Control of Photosystem Stoichiometry: Redox-Dependent and Sodium Ion-Dependent Phosphoryl Transfer from Cyanobacterial Histidine Kinase Hik2 to Response Regulators Rre1 and RppA.

Two-component systems (TCSs) are ubiquitous signaling units found in prokaryotes. A TCS consists of a sensor histidine kinase and a response regulator protein as signal transducers. These regulatory systems mediate acclimation to various environmental changes by coupling environmental cues to gene expression. Hik2 is a sensor histidine kinase and its gene is found in all cyanobacteria. Hik2 is the homolog of Chloroplast Sensor Kinase (CSK), a protein involved in redox regulation of chloroplast gene expression during changes in light quality in plants and algae. Here we describe biochemical characterization of the signaling mechanism of Hik2 and its phosphotransferase activity. Results presented here indicate that Hik2 undergoes autophosphorylation on a conserved histidine residue, and becomes rapidly dephosphorylated by the action of response regulators Rre1 and RppA. We also show that the autophosphorylation of Hik2 is specifically inhibited by sodium ions.

Genome-Wide Search for Translated Upstream Open Reading Frames in Arabidopsis Thaliana.

Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are open reading frames that occur within the 5' UTR of an mRNA. uORFs have been found in many organisms. They play an important role in gene regulation, cell development, and in various metabolic processes. It is believed that translated uORFs reduce the translational efficiency of the main coding region. However, only few uORFs are experimentally characterized. In this paper, we use ribosome footprinting together with a semi-supervised approach based on stacking classification models to identify translated uORFs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our approach identified 5360 potentially translated uORFs in 2051 genes. GO terms enriched in genes with translated uORFs include catalytic activity, binding, transferase activity, phosphotransferase activity, kinase activity, and transcription regulator activity. The reported uORFs occur with a higher frequency in multi-isoform genes, and some uORFs are affected by alternative transcript start sites or alternative splicing events. Association rule mining revealed sequence features associated with the translation status of the uORFs. We hypothesize that uORF translation is a complex process that might be regulated by multiple factors. The identified uORFs are available online at:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zdutupedxafhly8/AABFsdNR5zDfiozB7B4igFcja?dl=0. This paper is the extended version of our research presented at ISBRA 2015.

Regulatory roles of conserved phosphorylation sites in the activation T-loop of the MAP kinase ERK1.

The catalytic domains of most eukaryotic protein kinases are highly conserved in their primary structures. Their phosphorylation within the well-known activation T-loop, a variable region between protein kinase catalytic subdomains VII and VIII, is a common mechanism for stimulation of their phosphotransferase activities. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1), a member of the extensively studied mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, serves as a paradigm for regulation of protein kinases in signaling modules. In addition to the well-documented T202 and Y204 stimulatory phosphorylation sites in the activation T-loop of ERK1 and its closest relative, ERK2, three additional flanking phosphosites have been confirmed (T198, T207, and Y210 from ERK1) by high-throughput mass spectrometry. In vitro kinase assays revealed the functional importance of T207 and Y210, but not T198, in negatively regulating ERK1 catalytic activity. The Y210 site could be important for proper conformational arrangement of the active site, and a Y210F mutant could not be recognized by MEK1 for phosphorylation of T202 and Y204 in vitro. Autophosphorylation of T207 reduces the catalytic activity and stability of activated ERK1. We propose that after the activation of ERK1 by MEK1, subsequent slower phosphorylation of the flanking sites results in inhibition of the kinase. Because the T207 and Y210 phosphosites of ERK1 are highly conserved within the eukaryotic protein kinase family, hyperphosphorylation within the kinase activation T-loop may serve as a general mechanism for protein kinase down-regulation after initial activation by their upstream kinases.

Analysis of the Inhibitory Elements in the p5 Peptide Fragment of the CDK5 Activator, p35, CDKR1 Protein.

Besides the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, it is well documented that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), a critical neuronal protein kinase in nervous system development, function, and survival, when deregulated and hyperactivated induces Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease-like phenotypes in mice. In a recent study, we demonstrated that p5, a small, truncated fragment of 24 amino acid residues derived from the CDK5 activator protein 35 (NCK5A, p35), selectively inhibited deregulated CDK5 hyperactivity and ameliorated AD phenotypes in model mice. In this study, we identified the most inhibitory elements in the p5 peptide fragment. Each amino acid residue in p5 was systematically replaced with its homologous residues that may still be able to functionally substitute. The effects of these p5 peptide analogs were studied on the phosphotransferase activities of CDK5/p35, CDK5/p25, ERK1, and GSK3β. The mimetic p5 peptide (A/V substitution at the C-terminus of the peptide) in the sequence, KNAFYERALSIINLMTSKMVQINV (p5-MT) was the most effective inhibitor of CDK5 kinase activity of 79 tested mimetic peptides including the original p5 peptide, KEAFWDRCLSVINLMSSKMLQINA (p5-WT). Replacement of the residues in C-terminus end of the peptide affected CDK5 phosphotransferase activity most significantly. These peptides were strong inhibitors of CDK5, but not the related proline-directed kinases, ERK1 and GSK3β.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exopolyphosphatase Is Also a Polyphosphate: ADP Phosphotransferase.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa exopolyphosphatase (paPpx; EC 3.6.1.11) catalyzes the hydrolysis of polyphosphates (polyP), producing polyPn−1 plus inorganic phosphate (Pi). In a recent work we have shown that paPpx is involved in the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa. The present study was aimed at performing the biochemical characterization of this enzyme. We found some properties that were already described for E. coli Ppx (ecPpx) but we also discovered new and original characteristics of paPpx: (i) the peptide that connects subdomains II and III is essential for enzyme activity; (ii) NH4 + is an activator of the enzyme and may function at concentrations lower than those of K+; (iii) Zn2+ is also an activator of paPpx and may substitute Mg2+ in the catalytic site; and (iv) paPpx also has phosphotransferase activity, dependent on Mg2+ and capable of producing ATP regardless of the presence or absence of K+ or NH4 + ions. In addition, we detected that the active site responsible for the phosphatase activity is also responsible for the phosphotransferase activity. Through the combination of molecular modeling and docking techniques, we propose a model of the paPpx N-terminal domain in complex with a polyP chain of 7 residues long and a molecule of ADP to explain the phosphotransferase activity.

The role of the novel ion channel TRPM7 in B cell activation (IRM12P.655)

Abstract The process of B cell spreading and the formation of signalling BCR microclusters are critical to the effective activation of B cells. These processes are dependent on the actin cytoskeleton; however the molecular pathways leading to reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton upon B cell encounter with membrane-bound antigen are poorly understood. Recent work has highlighted a potential role for the novel ion channel protein Transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 7 (TRPM7) in actomyosin reorganization. Intriguingly, this protein also contains a kinase domain, and thus, TRPM7 may play an important role in receptor-mediated signal transduction by phosphorylating downstream effector molecules. Interestingly, studies in B cells have implicated TRPM7 kinase in the regulation of phospholipase C (PLC), a key BCR signalling molecule and critical regulator of B cell spreading and the formation of BCR microclusters. Here, we show that TRPM7 plays a critical role in the early events of B cell activation through both its ion channel and kinase functions. B cells deficient in TRPM7 or expressing a point mutation which abolishes phosphotransferase activity show increased antigen accumulation and prolonged BCR signalling. Our data suggests this is likely due to altered actomyosin organization and defective antigen internalization.

The extracytoplasmic linker peptide of the sensor protein SaeS tunes the kinase activity required for staphylococcal virulence in response to host signals.

Bacterial pathogens often employ two-component systems (TCSs), typically consisting of a sensor kinase and a response regulator, to control expression of a set of virulence genes in response to changing host environments. In Staphylococcus aureus, the SaeRS TCS is essential for in vivo survival of the bacterium. The intramembrane-sensing histidine kinase SaeS contains, along with a C-terminal kinase domain, a simple N-terminal domain composed of two transmembrane helices and a nine amino acid-long extracytoplasmic linker peptide. As a molecular switch, SaeS maintains low but significant basal kinase activity and increases its kinase activity in response to inducing signals such as human neutrophil peptide 1 (HNP1). Here we show that the linker peptide of SaeS controls SaeS’s basal kinase activity and that the amino acid sequence of the linker peptide is highly optimized for its function. Without the linker peptide, SaeS displays aberrantly elevated kinase activity even in the absence of the inducing signal, and does not respond to HNP1. Moreover, SaeS variants with alanine substitution of the linker peptide amino acids exhibit altered basal kinase activity and/or irresponsiveness to HNP1. Biochemical assays reveal that those SaeS variants have altered autokinase and phosphotransferase activities. Finally, animal experiments demonstrate that the linker peptide-mediated fine tuning of SaeS kinase activity is critical for survival of the pathogen. Our results indicate that the function of the linker peptide in SaeS is a highly evolved feature with very optimized amino acid sequences, and we propose that, in other SaeS-like intramembrane sensing histidine kinases, the extracytoplasmic linker peptides actively fine-control their kinases.

Flavaglines Stimulate Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin Type 6 (TRPM6) Channel Activity.

Magnesium (Mg2+) is essential for enzymatic activity, brain function and muscle contraction. Blood Mg2+ concentrations are tightly regulated between 0.7 and 1.1 mM by Mg2+ (re)absorption in kidney and intestine. The apical entry of Mg2+ in (re)absorbing epithelial cells is mediated by the transient receptor potential melastatin type 6 (TRPM6) ion channel. Here, flavaglines are described as a novel class of stimulatory compounds for TRPM6 activity. Flavaglines are a group of natural and synthetic compounds that target the ubiquitously expressed prohibitins and thereby affect cellular signaling. By whole-cell patch clamp analyses, it was demonstrated that nanomolar concentrations of flavaglines increases TRPM6 activity by ∼2 fold. The stimulatory effects were dependent on the presence of the alpha-kinase domain of TRPM6, but did not require its phosphotransferase activity. Interestingly, it was observed that two natural occurring TRPM6 mutants with impaired insulin-sensitivity, TRPM6-p.Val1393Ile and TRPM6-p.Lys1584Glu, are not sensitive to flavagline stimulation. In conclusion, we have identified flavaglines as potent activators of TRPM6 activity. Our results suggest that flavaglines stimulate TRPM6 via the insulin receptor signaling pathway.

Abstract 3460: Regulatory roles of conserved phosphorylation sites in the activation loop of the MAP kinase

Abstract The catalytic domains of most eukaryotic protein kinases are highly conserved in their primary structures. Phosphorylation of the activation loop, a variable region between kinase catalytic Subdomains VII and VIII, is a common mechanism for stimulation of protein phosphotransferase activity. Our investigation of the distribution and evolutionary conservation of phosphorylation sites in 492 typical human protein kinase catalytic domains revealed that about 75% of 303 known activating phosphosites are located within the activation loop. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1), which belongs to the highly studied mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, serves as a paradigm for regulation of protein kinases in signaling modules. In addition to the well-documented T202 and Y204 stimulatory phosphorylation sites in the activation loop of ERK1 and its closest relative ERK2, three additional flanking phosphosites have been confirmed (T198, T207 and Y210 from ERK1) by high throughput mass spectrometry. T207 and Y210 correspond to conserved phosphosites located just prior to the Subdomain VIII APE motif in many other protein-serine/threonine kinases including CDKs, CAMKs, PKB/Akts and PKCs, which may implicate a common regulatory role for of these phosphosites in a wide range of kinases. To investigate the possible roles of these obscure phosphosites in many protein kinases, we mutated T198, T207 and Y210 of ERK1 individually and in combinations. In vitro kinase assays with myelin basic protein (MBP) using the purified ERK1 phosphosite mutants indicated the functional importance of T207 and Y210, but not T198 in regulating ERK1 catalytic activity. By single substitution of the T207 to alanine, the activity of ERK1 towards MBP decreased dramatically without affecting the phosphorylation of the ERK1 at the T202 and Y204 sites by MEK1. However, the T207E mutant could not mimic phosphorylation of this site and also produced a less active form of ERK1. The Y210 site could be important for proper folding of ERK1 in this regulatory region, since the mutation of this residue caused decreases in protein solubility, and the Y210F mutant was not recognized by MEK1 for phosphorylation in vitro. Preliminary data indicated that ERK1 autophosphorylates at T207 phosphosite, after the phosphorylation of the T202 and Y204 sites by MEK1. We hypothesize that phosphorylation of the T207 site is required for full activation of the ERK1, and that subsequent slower phosphorylation of the Y210 sites may result in autoinactivation of the kinase. Hyper-phosphorylation within the kinase activation loop may serve as a general mechanism for protein kinases to achieve transient full stimulation by autophosphorylation following the initial activation by other upstream kinases, which is then reversed by inhibitory tyrosine autophosphorylation just prior to Subdomain VIII. Citation Format: Shenshen Lai, Steven Pelech. Regulatory roles of conserved phosphorylation sites in the activation loop of the MAP kinase. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3460. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3460

Considering effects of nanosecond pulsed electric fields on proteins

Most, if not all, effects of intense, pulsed electric fields are analyzed in terms of electrical charging of plasma membranes and/or subcellular membranes. However, not all cell responses from nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) are fully explained by poration of cell membranes. Observations that nsPEFs induce a Ca2-dependent dissipation of the mitochondria membrane potential (ΔΨm), which is enhanced when high frequency components are present in fast rise–fall waveforms, are not compatible with a poration event. Ca2+ is shown to have little or no effect on propidium iodide uptake as a measure of plasma membrane poration and consequently intracellular membranes. Since most if not all Ca2+-regulated events are mediated by proteins, actions of nsPEFs on a protein(s) that regulate and/or affect the mitochondria membrane potential are possible. To show that nsPEFs can directly affect proteins, nsPEFs non-thermally inactivated the catalytic (phosphotransferase) activity of the catalytic subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase, which is the prototype of the protein kinase superfamily that share a common catalytic mechanism and whose functions are highly dependent on their structure. These studies present indirect and direct evidences that nsPEFs can affect proteins and their functions, at least in part, by affecting their structure.

Discovery of InsP6-kinases as InsP6-dephosphorylating enzymes provides a new mechanism of cytosolic InsP6 degradation driven by the cellular ATP/ADP ratio.

InsP6 (inositol hexakisphosphate), the most abundant inositol phosphate in metazoa, is pyrophosphorylated to InsP7 [5PP-InsP5 (diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate)] by cytosolic and nuclear IP6Ks (InsP6 kinases) and to 1PP-InsP5 by another InsP6/InsP7 kinase family. MINPP1 (multiple inositol-polyphosphate phosphatase 1), the only known InsP6 phosphatase, is localized in the ER (endoplasmic reticulum) and lysosome lumina. A mechanism of cytosolic InsP6 dephosphorylation has remained enigmatic so far. In the present study, we demonstrated that IP6Ks change their kinase activity towards InsP6 at a decreasing ATP/ADP ratio to an ADP phosphotransferase activity and dephosphorylate InsP6. Enantio-selective analysis revealed that Ins(2,3,4,5,6)P5 is the main InsP5 product of the IP6K reaction, whereas the exclusive product of MINPP1 activity is the enantiomer Ins(1,2,4,5,6)P5. Whereas lentiviral RNAi-based depletion of MINPP1 at falling cellular ATP/ADP ratios had no significant impact on Ins(2,3,4,5,6)P5 production, the use of the selective IP6K inhibitor TNP [N2-(m-trifluorobenzyl),N6-(p-nitrobenzyl)purine] abolished the production of this enatiomer in different typesof cells. Furthermore, by analysis of rat tissue and human blood samples all (main and minor) dephosphorylation products of InsP6 were detected invivo. In summary, we identified IP6Ks as novel nuclear and cytosolic InsP6- (and InsP5-) dephosphorylating enzymes whose activity is sensitively driven by a decrease in the cellular ATP/ADP ratio, thus suggesting a role for IP6Ks as cellular adenylate energy 'sensors'.

Axonal transport defects in Alzheimer's disease.

A large body of evidences indicates that axonal transport (AT) defects play an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer' disease (AD). AT, a critical cellular process for the maintenance and function of a neuron, requires components of the cytoskeletons as "tracks", motor proteins and ATP as "driving force", adaptor proteins to ensure the specific connection of the transported cargoes and motor proteins as well as active regulation. In AD pathology, AD-linked pathologic factors respectively perturb the four basic components of AT through different signaling pathways to cause AT defects. Mitochondrial transport, which is different from other transport cargoes, is also impaired via special pathways in AD. In this paper, we review the inhibitory effects of those factors on AT and their possible pathways, indicating these factors act in overlapping, synergistic, and circulating ways. Given the contributions of AT defects to AD, recent therapeutic studies focus on microtubule-stabilizing (MT-stabilizing) agents and alteration in phosphotransferase activities, and we propose more therapeutic strategies targeting AT defects.

Metal-free cAMP-dependent protein kinase can catalyze phosphoryl transfer.

X-ray structures of several ternary product complexes of the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKAc) have been determined with no bound metal ions and with Na+ or K+ coordinated at two metal-binding sites. The metal-free PKAc and the enzyme with alkali metals were able to facilitate the phosphoryl transfer reaction. In all studied complexes, the ATP and the substrate peptide (SP20) were modified into the products ADP and the phosphorylated peptide. The products of the phosphotransfer reaction were also found when ATP-γS, a nonhydrolyzable ATP analogue, reacted with SP20 in the PKAc active site containing no metals. Single turnover enzyme kinetics measurements utilizing 32P-labeled ATP confirmed the phosphotransferase activity of the enzyme in the absence of metal ions and in the presence of alkali metals. In addition, the structure of the apo-PKAc binary complex with SP20 suggests that the sequence of binding events may become ordered in a metal-free environment, with SP20 binding first to prime the enzyme for subsequent ATP binding. Comparison of these structures reveals conformational and hydrogen bonding changes that might be important for the mechanism of catalysis.

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tarwi (Lupinus mutabilis Sweet), a potential platform for the production of plant-made proteins

A robust, reproducible method of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was developed for Lupinus mutabilis Sweet (tarwi), a large-seeded Andean legume. Initially, a regeneration and transformation protocol was developed using a plasmid which contained a bifunctional fusion gene conferring both β-glucuronidase (gus) and neomycin phosphotransferase activities, under the control of a constitutive 35S35SAMV promoter. The tissue explants consisted of longitudinal slices from embryonic axes of imbibed, mature seed. Using a series of tissue culture media for cocultivation, shoot initiation, shoot elongation, and rooting, kanamycin-resistant transgenic plants were recovered from approximately 1% of the explants. This transformation protocol was further used with a construct that contained the human adenosine deaminase (hADA) gene under the control of a legumin seed-specific promoter, also with a kanamycin resistance cassette for chemical selection. Changes made during the course of this study, which included adjustments to the antibiotic concentration during the shoot elongation and rooting phases plus the incorporation of techniques to improve ventilation in the tissue culture system, resulted in major improvements in shoot quality and, most significantly, rooting. The outcome was an increased frequency of transgenic plant recovery (7.4%), with a low (9.6%) rate of plants that escaped selection. The inheritance of the hADA gene was documented and showed the expected Mendelian segregation pattern. The produced hADA protein was a fully functional enzyme and localized only in the seed, as expected. Thus, this legume species is an excellent candidate for a nonfood plant host platform for the production of plant-made proteins.

Toward a Global View of the Conformational Landscape of the Human Kinome

The human genome contains about 500 protein kinases, which play a central role in the regulation of the majority of cellular pathways. Mutations in kinase genes - often resulting in dysregulation of their phosphotransferase activity - are a frequent cause of disease, including many types of cancer. Kinases are especially flexible proteins, and undergo significant conformational changes during their catalytic and regulatory cycles. This conformational heterogeneity is also of fundamental importance in determining the binding affinity and selectivity of inhibitory ligands, their susceptibility to resistance mutations, and the discovery of putative allosteric binding sites. Markov state models have recently emerged as a practical computational approach to the enumeration of protein conformational states, and can be constructed by aggregating the data from multiple, independent, short molecular dynamics trajectories in a statistical fashion. We aim to apply this technique to the entire human kinome, simulating each protein kinase catalytic domain using a range of high performance compute resources, including the distributed simulation framework, Folding@Home. In combination with recent developments in GPU-accelerated simulation algorithms, this approach allows us to obtain aggregate trajectory lengths on the order of milliseconds. An automated software pipeline provides the ability to quickly generate multiple starting configurations for each kinase, while a central database of publicly available kinase data has been set up and used for tasks such as the selection of catalytic domain sequences and the assignment of relative priorities to each kinase. In parallel with our computational approach, we are working towards expressing a diverse range of kinases in bacterial systems, and scaling up a fluorescence-based assay to plate format for direct measurement of kinase inhibitor binding affinities. Our poster will present preliminary results from these efforts.

Rv3168 Phosphotransferase Activity Mediates Kanamycin Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a worldwide epidemic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with an estimated one-third of the human population currently affected. Treatment of this disease with aminoglycoside antibiotics has become less effective owing to antibiotic resistance. Recent determination of the crystal structure of the M. tuberculosis Rv3168 protein suggests a structure similar to that of Enterococcus faecalis APH(3')-IIIa, and that this protein may be an aminoglycoside phosphotransferase. To determine whether Rv3168 confers antibiotic resistance against kanamycin, we performed dose-response antibiotic resistance experiments using kanamycin. Expression of the Rv3168 protein in Escherichia coli conferred antibiotic resistance against 100 μM kanamycin, a concentration that effected cell growth arrest in the parental E. coli strain and an E. coli strain expressing the Rv3168(D249A) mutant, in which the catalytic Asp249 residue was mutated to alanine. Furthermore, we detected phosphotransferase activity of Rv3168 against kanamycin as a substrate. Moreover, docking simulation of kanamycin into the Rv3168 structure suggests that kanamycin fits well into the substrate binding pocket of the protein, and that the phosphorylation-hydroxyl-group of kanamycin was located at a position similar to that in E. faecalis APH(3')-IIIa. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the Rv3168 mediates kanamycin resistance in M. tuberculosis, likely through phosphotransferase targeting of kanamycin.

New Functional Aspects of the Atypical Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase VHZ

LDP3 (VHZ) is the smallest classical protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) known to date and was originally misclassified as an atypical dual-specificity phosphatase. Kinetic isotope effects with steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetics of VHZ and mutants with p-nitrophenol phosphate have revealed several unusual properties. VHZ is significantly more active than previously reported but remains one of the least active PTPs. Highly unusual for a PTP, VHZ possesses two acidic residues (E134 and D65) in the active site. D65 occupies the position corresponding to the typical general acid in the PTP family. However, VHZ primarily utilizes E134 as the general acid, with D65 taking over this role when E134 is mutated. This unusual behavior is facilitated by two coexisting, but unequally populated, substrate binding modes. Unlike most classical PTPs, VHZ exhibits phosphotransferase activity. Despite the presence of the Q-loop that normally prevents alcoholysis of the phosphoenzyme intermediate in other classical PTPs, VHZ readily phosphorylates ethylene glycol. Although mutations of Q-loop residues affect this phosphotransferase activity, mutations on the IPD loop that contains the general acid exert more control over this process. A single P68V substitution on this loop completely abolishes phosphotransferase activity. The ability of native VHZ to catalyze transphosphorylation may lead to an imbalance of intracellular phosphorylation, which could explain the correlation of its overexpression with several types of cancer.

The Enzymology of Cytosolic Pyrimidine 5’-Nucleotidases: Functional Analysis and Physiopathological Implications.

In mammals, cellular 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT) activity (EC 3.1.3.5) encompasses a number of genetically and structurally distinct enzyme forms, either membrane-bound or soluble, mainly cytosolic, that are characterized by broad specificity towards nucleoside 5'-monophosphate substrates differing in base (purine/pyrimidine) and/or sugar (oxy/deoxy-ribose) moieties. In particular, among the cytosolic 5'-NTs active towards pyrimidine nucleotides are cN-III and cdN, ubiquitously distributed in mammalian tissues and treated as a single entity in the early days. cN-III was first linked to a genetic defect , hereditary pyrimidine nucleotidase deficiency, associated to a nonspherocyt ic hemolytic anemia disorder of still unclear mechanism but metabolically characterized by abnormally high levels of pyrimidine compounds and ribonucleoproteins in erythrocytes, as evidenced by occurrence of basophilic stippling on blood smearings. Since the first review on pyrimidine-specific nucleotidases (Amici, A.; Magni, G., Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 2002, 397(2), 184- 190), excellent overviews on the topic appeared in the literature. In the present contribution, the major findings on these two enzymatic proteins, cN-III and cdN, will be described with particular emphasis on the relationships between their structure and function, as well as on their roles in normal and pathological conditions. The catalytic mechanism of both specific hydrolytic and phosphotransferase activities, possessed by both enzymes, will be discussed also in the light of recent solution of both cN-III and cdN three-dimensional structures. This review also focuses on possible therapeutic approaches involving cellular 5'-NTs in detoxifying common antiviral and antineoplastic drugs.

Enzymatic Properties and Physiological Roles of Cytosolic 5’-Nucleotidase II.

Cytosolic 5'-nucleotidase II (cN-II) is an intracellular 5'-nucleotidase characterized by substrate specificity. It preferentially hydrolyzes 6-hydroxypurine nucleotides such as IMP and GMP over AMP or UMP. cN-II is allosterically activated by ATP and inhibited by inorganic phosphate. It also has phosphotransferase activity and transfers phosphate moieties from IMP or GMP to nonphysiological nucleoside analogues used to treat some viral infections or malignancies. The cN-II gene has a strikingly conserved primary structure from humans to nematodes and its activity has been detected in various animals including snails. Its activity is highest in the livers of birds, crocodiles, lizards and snakes. The activity in chicken liver increases 2-fold by feeding a high-protein diet. These results suggest that cN-II participates, through IMP dephosphorylation, in production of uric acid as the main end product of aminonitrogen in these animals. Some studies suggest that cN-II participates in dephosphorylation of IMP accumulated in cells of some tissues to diffusible inosine for reutilization by other tissues. It has also been proposed that cN-II, together with purine nucleoside phosphorylase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, constitutes the "oxypurine cycle", thus regulating intracellular phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP) concentrations. As for intracellular dephosphorylation of AMP, another intracellular 5'-nucleotidase, cN-I, is supposed to participate, because it hydrolyzes AMP more preferentially than IMP or GMP. However, for the tissues, in which the expression of cN-I is very low or undetectable, e.g. liver or brain tissues, results have been obtained that suggest the participation of cN-II in intracellular dephosphorylation of AMP.