Unique biochemical properties of the protein tyrosine phosphatase activity of PTEN-demonstration of different active site structural requirements for phosphopeptide and phospholipid phosphatase activities of PTEN.

Missense PTEN mutations of the active site residues Asp-92, Cys-124 and Gly-129 contribute to Cowden syndrome. How their mutations affect phospholipid phosphatase activity and tumor suppressor function of PTEN has been defined. In this study, we investigated how their mutations affect the kinetics and catalytic mechanism of PTEN phosphoprotein phosphatase activity. Our data suggest that PTEN catalysis of phosphoprotein dephosphorylation follows a two-step mechanism with Cys-124 transiently phosphorylated to form the phosphoenzyme intermediate. In spite of this, we were unable to trap the genuine phosphoenzyme intermediate; instead, we unexpectedly discovered a novel phosphotransfer reaction in which the phosphate group is transferred from a tyrosyl phosphopeptide to PTEN to form a unique phosphorylated protein. Even though the finding is novel, the phosphotransfer reaction is likely an in vitro non-enzymatic reaction. Kinetic analysis revealed that mutation of Asp-92 has negligible impacts on phosphopeptide phosphatase activity of PTEN, suggesting that Asp-92 does not participate in the phosphopeptide dephosphorylation reaction. The results also imply that allosteric regulators facilitating the recruitment of Asp-92 to participate in catalysis will increase the activity of PTEN in dephosphorylating phosphoprotein and phosphopeptide substrates. Furthermore, kinetic analysis revealed that the G129E mutation has different effects on phospholipid and phosphoprotein phosphatase activities. Taken together, the data show that while the two phosphatase activities of PTEN follow a similar catalytic mechanism, they have notable differences in the requirements of the active site structure.

Expression, generation, and purification of unphosphorylated and phospho-Ser-380/Thr-382/Thr-383 form of recombinant PTEN phosphatase.

The dual specificity phosphatase PTEN exerts its tumour suppressor and cell-migration regulatory functions by dephosphorylating the phospholipid substrate, phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P(3)), and phosphotyrosine protein substrates. PTEN functions are regulated by phospholipid binding, interactions with other cellular proteins and phosphorylation at multiple sites. Precisely, how the phosphorylation and binding events modulate PTEN activity and structure remains mostly unclear. Detailed studies of this issue require the availability of significant quantity of both the unphosphorylated and phosphorylated forms of purified recombinant PTEN. Here, we describe the successful expression and purification of recombinant rat PTEN using a baculovirus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cell expression system. The recombinant PTEN was purified to near homogeneity using four sequential column chromatographic steps. The specific enzymatic activity of the purified preparation in dephosphorylating PI(3,4,5,)P(3) and the artificial phosphotyrosine substrate poly(Glu/Tyr) are 6.7 nmol/min/microg and 0.006 pmol/min/microg, respectively. Intriguingly, similar to PTEN expressed in mammalian cells, the recombinant PTEN was phosphorylated in the infected insect cells at Ser-380, Thr-382, and Thr-383 at the C-terminal tail. Treatment with alkaline phosphatase fully dephosphorylated these sites. After the treatment, the unphosphorylated PTEN and alkaline phosphatase could be separated by ion exchange column chromatography. The availability of the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms of recombinant PTEN permits future investigations into the three-dimensional structures of the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms of PTEN, and the role of phosphorylation in regulating PTEN activity, phospholipid- and protein-binding affinities.

PTEN catalysis of phospholipid dephosphorylation reaction follows a two-step mechanism in which the conserved aspartate-92 does not function as the general acid--mechanistic analysis of a familial Cowden disease-associated PTEN mutation.

PTEN exerts its tumour suppressor function by dephosphorylating the phospholipid second messenger phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP(3)). Herein, we demonstrate that the PTEN-catalysed PIP(3) dephosphorylation reaction involves two-steps: (i) formation of a phosphoenzyme intermediate (PE) in which Cys-124 in the active site is thiophosphorylated, and (ii) hydrolysis of PE. For protein tyrosine- and dual-specificity phosphatases, catalysis requires the participation of a conserved active site aspartate as the general acid in Step 1. Its mutation to alanine severely limits PE formation. However, mutation of the homologous Asp-92 in PTEN does not significantly limit PE formation, indicating that Asp-92 does not act as the general acid. G129E is a common germline PTEN mutations found in Cowden syndrome patients. Mechanistic analysis reveals that this mutation inactivates PTEN by both significantly slowing down Step 1 and abolishing the ability to catalyse Step 2. Taken together, our results highlight the mechanistic similarities and differences between PTEN and the conventional protein phosphatases and reveal how a disease-associated mutation inactivates PTEN.