pp60src-mediated phosphorylation of connexin 43, a gap junction protein.

Several laboratories have demonstrated a decrease in gap junctional communication in cells transformed by the src oncogene of the Rous sarcoma virus. The decrease in gap junctional communication was associated with tyrosine phosphorylation of the gap junction protein, connexin 43 (Cx43). This study was initiated to determine if the phosphorylation of Cx43 is the result of a direct kinase-substrate interaction between the highly active tyrosine kinase, pp60v-src, and Cx43. Previous biochemical studies have been limited by the low levels of Cx43 protein in fibroblast cell lines. To obtain larger quantities of Cx43, we constructed a recombinant baculovirus expressing Cx43 in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf-9) cells and subsequently purified the expressed Cx43 by immunoaffinity chromatography. We observed that this partially purified Cx43 was phosphorylated on tyrosine in vitro in the presence of kinase-active pp60src. Phosphotryptic peptide mapping indicated that the in vitro phosphorylated Cx43 contained phosphopeptides which comigrated with a subset of tryptic peptides prepared from Cx43 phosphorylated in vivo. Furthermore, coinfection of Sf-9 cells with recombinant baculoviruses encoding pp60v-src and Cx43 resulted in the accumulation of phosphotyrosine in Cx43. Taken together, the evidence presented in this paper demonstrates that kinase active pp60c-src is capable of phosphorylating Cx43 in a direct manner. Since the presence of phosphotyrosine on Cx43 is correlated with the down-regulation of gap-junctional communication, these results suggest that pp60v-src regulates gap junctional gating activity via tyrosine phosphorylation of Cx43.

Retinoid-enhanced gap junctional communication is achieved by increased levels of connexin 43 mRNA and protein.

Natural and synthetic retinoids are potent inhibitors of experimental carcinogenesis in animals and cause reversion of premalignant lesions in humans. In the model C3H 10T1/2 cell system, retinoids enhance postconfluent growth control, reversibly inhibit carcinogen-induced transformation, and enhance gap junctional intercellular communication. These effects are highly correlated. 10T1/2 cells were found to express low levels of connexin 43, a gap junctional protein first found in the heart. After treatment of confluent 10T1/2 cells with the synthetic retinoid tetrahydrotetramethylnapthalenylpropenylbenzoic acid (TTNPB), levels of connexin 43 mRNA and protein increased within 6 h of treatment, while elevation of junctional communication was detected within 12-18 h. The maximally effective concentration of TTNPB (10(-8) M) caused an approximate 10-fold elevation of connexin 43 gene transcripts after 72 h. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using a polyclonal antibody to the synthetic C-terminal region of connexin 43 demonstrated that TTNPB induced many fluorescent plaques in regions of cell-cell contact. These results provide a molecular basis for the retinoid-enhanced junctional communication in 10T1/2 cells. It is proposed that one action of retinoids is to modulate the intercellular transfer of signal molecules. These could mediate many of the physiological actions of retinoids on growth control and carcinogenesis.

Exposure of an arginine-rich protein at surface of cells in S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle.

Phenylglyoxal (PG) is shown to be a cell surface probe specific for arginine moieties in protein: (1) It does not enter the cell as evidenced by lack of PG in the cytoplasm. (2) It does not cause excessive cell leakage as measured by release of 51Cr. (3) It reacts with positively-charged groups in proteins at the cell surface but not with those of phospholipids at the surface; since pronase removes PG from the surface, but phospholipase C does not. (4) Under the conditions used in these experiments, it reacts virtually exclusively with arginine moieties in protein (Freedman et al., '68; Takahashi, '68; Werber and Sokolovsky, '72). Synchronized cells were exposed to radioactive PG to assess quantity of arginine moieties in protein at the surface. There is a sharp decrease in arginine at the cell surface at entry into G1 phase from M and a 24-fold increase upon entry into S phase. There is a slight drop in exposed arginine in late S phase followed by an increase to 26 times the G1 level immediately prior to mitosis. Lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination of tyrosine moieties in protein at the surface of synchronized cells shows a very gradual increase in protein as the cells move through the cycle and increase in size. Since the increase in arginine moieties in protein at the surface does not reflect a similar increase in total protein at the surface, an arginine-rich protein appears to be exposed at the cell surface during the division-related phases of the cell cycle.