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Title: Phosphorylation of the protein kinase A catalytic subunit is induced by cyclic AMP deficiency and physiological stresses in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Journal Article · · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
;  [1];  [1]
  1. Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States)

Research highlights: {yields} cAMP deficiency induces phosphorylation of PKA catalytic subunit (Pka1) in S. pombe. {yields} Pka1 phosphorylation is further induced by physiological stresses. {yields} Pka1 phosphorylation is not induced in cells lacking the PKA regulatory subunit. {yields} Results suggest that cAMP-independent Pka1 phosphorylation is stimulatory in nature. -- Abstract: In the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is not essential for viability under normal culturing conditions, making this organism attractive for investigating mechanisms of PKA regulation. Here we show that S. pombe cells carrying a deletion in the adenylate cyclase gene, cyr1, express markedly higher levels of the PKA catalytic subunit, Pka1, than wild type cells. Significantly, in cyr1{Delta} cells, but not wild type cells, a substantial proportion of Pka1 protein is hyperphosphorylated. Pka1 hyperphosphorylation is strongly induced in cyr1{Delta} cells, and to varying degrees in wild type cells, by both glucose starvation and stationary phase stresses, which are associated with reduced cAMP-dependent PKA activity, and by KCl stress, the cellular adaptation to which is dependent on PKA activity. Interestingly, hyperphosphorylation of Pka1 was not detected in either cyr1{sup +} or cyr1{Delta} S. pombe strains carrying a deletion in the PKA regulatory subunit gene, cgs1, under any of the tested conditions. Our results demonstrate the existence of a cAMP-independent mechanism of PKA catalytic subunit phosphorylation, which we propose could serve as a mechanism for inducing or maintaining specific PKA functions under conditions in which its cAMP-dependent activity is downregulated.

OSTI ID:
22202762
Journal Information:
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 399, Issue 4; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English