ABSTRACT
Inhibitor-1 is converted into a potent inhibitor of native protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) when Thr35 is phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). However, PKA-phosphorylated form of inhibitor-1 displayed a weak activity in inhibition of recombinant PP1. The mechanism for the impaired activity of PKA-phosphorylated inhibitor-1 toward inhibition of recombinant PP1 remained elusive. By using NMR spectroscopy in combination with site-directed mutagenesis and inhibitory assay, we found that the interaction between recombinant PP1 and the consensus PP1-binding motif of PKA-thiophosphorylated form of inhibitor-1 was unexpectedly weak. Unlike binding to native PP1, the subdomains 1 (residues around and including the phosphorylated Thr35) and 2 (the consensus PP1-binding motif) of PKA-thiophosphorylated form of inhibitor-1 do not exhibit a synergistic effect in inhibition of recombinant PP1. This finding implied that a slight structural discrepancy exists between native and recombinant PP1, resulting in PKA-thiophosphorylated form of inhibitor-1 displaying a different affinity to native and recombinant enzyme.
Subject(s)
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Protein Phosphatase 1/chemistry , Proteins/chemistry , Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases/chemistry , Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases/metabolism , Models, Molecular , Phosphorylation , Protein Binding , Protein Conformation , Protein Phosphatase 1/metabolism , Proteins/metabolism , Structure-Activity RelationshipABSTRACT
Inhibitor-1 is an acid- and heat-stable protein. It can be turned into a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) after phosphorylation at Thr35 by c-AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Although it has been known that pre-phosphorylation is essential for inhibition of PP1, the structure-function relationship of Thr(35)-phosphorylated inhibitor-1, such as whether or not PKA-phosphorylation pre-triggers conformational changes in inhibitor-1, remains unclear. In this study, we performed structural characterization of Thr(35)-phosphoroylated inhibitor-1 by using multi-dimensional heternuclear NMR spectroscopy. The result of structural comparison between Thr(35)-phosphoroylated and non-phosphorylated inhibitor-1 indicated that PKA-phosphorylation has no significant effect on the global conformation of free-state inhibitor-1. This finding may support the inference that regulation of the interactions between inhibitor-1 and PP1 through PKA-phosphorylation mainly depends on the phosphate group instead of phosphorylation-induced conformational change.
Subject(s)
Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases/metabolism , Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular/methods , Proteins/chemistry , Circular Dichroism , Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel , PhosphorylationABSTRACT
Inhibitor-1alpha is one of the isoforms of human protein phosphatase inhibitor-1. It is a product of alternative splicing of inhibitor-1 gene and lacks 51 internal amino acids from residue 84 to 134 of inhibitor-1. Here we have characterized the structural and biochemical properties of inhibitor-1alpha. Structural analysis of recombinant inhibitor-1alpha by NMR spectroscopy revealed that inhibitor-1alpha adopts a predominantly random coil conformation. Excluding the region from residue 84 to 134 of inhibitor-1, the structural features of inhibitor-1 and inhibitor-1alpha are almost the same as each other. The IC(50) value of inhibitor-1alpha in inhibition of Protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) is comparable to that of inhibitor-1, indicating that inhibitor-1alpha is a potent inhibitor of PP1 when Thr-35 is phosphorylated by PKA. For phosphorylation by PKA and dephosphorylation by protein phosphatase-1, -2A, and -2B, the measured kinetic parameters of inhibitor-1alpha are very close to those of inhibitor-1. Taken together, these results suggest that inhibitor-1alpha preserves the structure of inhibitor-1, the PP1 inhibitory activity and the functional specificities toward phosphorylation by PKA and dephosphorylation by protein phosphatase-1, -2A, and -2B.
