Abstract
Eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) kinase, the enzyme that inactivates eEF2, is controlled by phosphorylation. Previous work showed that stress-activated protein kinase 4 (SAPK4, also called p38δ) inhibits eEF2 kinase in vitro by phosphorylating Ser-359, while ribosomal protein S6 kinases inhibit eEF2 kinase by phosphorylating Ser-366 [Knebel, Morrice and Cohen (2001) EMBO J. 20, 4360-4369; Wang, Li, Williams, Terada, Alessi and Proud (2001) EMBO J. 20, 4370-4379]. In the present study we have examined the effects of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on the phosphorylation of eEF2 kinase. We demonstrate that Ser-359, Ser-366 and two novel sites (Ser-377 and Ser-396) are all phosphorylated in human epithelial KB cells, but only the phosphorylation of Ser-359 and Ser-377 increases in response to these agonists and correlates with the dephosphorylation (activation) of eEF2. Ser-377 is probably a substrate of MAPKAP-K2/K3 (mitogen-activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase 2/kinase 3) in cells, because eEF2 kinase is phosphorylated efficiently by these protein kinases in vitro and phosphorylation of this site, induced by TNF-α and low (but not high) concentrations of anisomycin, is prevented by SB 203580, which inhibits SAPK2a/p38, their 'upstream' activator. The phosphorylation of Ser-359 induced by high concentrations of anisomycin is probably catalysed by SAPK4/p38δ in cells, because no other stress-activated, proline-directed protein kinase tested phosphorylates this site in vitro and phosphorylation is insensitive to SB 203580. Interestingly, the phosphorylation of Ser-359 induced by TNF-α or low concentrations of anisomycin is suppressed by SB 203580, indicating that phosphorylation is also mediated by a novel pathway. Since the phosphorylation of Ser-377 does not inhibit eEF2 kinase in vitro, our results suggest that anisomycin or TNF-α inhibit eEF2 kinase via the phosphorylation of Ser-359.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 525-532 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Biochemical Journal |
Volume | 367 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Oct 2002 |
Keywords
- Elongation
- mRNA translation
- p38
- SB 203580
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology