YakA, a protein kinase required for the transition from growth to development in Dictyostelium

Development ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 125 (12) ◽  
pp. 2291-2302 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.M. Souza ◽  
S. Lu ◽  
A. Kuspa

When Dictyostelium cells starve they arrest their growth and induce the expression of genes necessary for development. We have identified and characterized a protein kinase, YakA, that is essential for the proper regulation of both events. Amino acid sequence and functional similarities indicate that YakA is a homolog of Yak1p, a growth-regulating protein kinase in S. cerevisiae. Purified YakA expressed in E. coli is able to phosphorylate myelin basic protein. YakA-null cells are smaller and their cell cycle is accelerated relative to wild-type cells. When starved, YakA-null cells fail to decrease the expression of the growth-stage gene cprD, and do not induce the expression of genes required for the earliest stages of development. YakA mRNA levels increase during exponential growth and reach a maximum at the point of starvation, consistent with a role in mediating starvation responses. YakA mRNA also accumulates when cells are grown in medium conditioned by cells grown to high density, suggesting that yakA expression is under the control of an extracellular signal that accumulates during growth. Expression of yakA from a conditional promoter causes cell-cycle arrest in nutrient-rich medium and promotes developmental events, such as the expression of genes required for cAMP signaling. YakA appears to regulate the transition from growth to development in Dictyostelium.

Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (14) ◽  
pp. 3263-3274 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.M. Souza ◽  
A.M. da Silva ◽  
A. Kuspa

When nutrients are depleted, Dictyostelium cells undergo cell cycle arrest and initiate a developmental program that ensures survival. The YakA protein kinase governs this transition by regulating the cell cycle, repressing growth-phase genes and inducing developmental genes. YakA mutants have a shortened cell cycle and do not initiate development. A suppressor of yakA that reverses most of the developmental defects of yakA- cells, but none of their growth defects was identified. The inactivated gene, pufA, encodes a member of the Puf protein family of translational regulators. Upon starvation, pufA- cells develop precociously and overexpress developmentally important proteins, including the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, PKA-C. Gel mobility-shift assays using a 200-base segment of PKA-C's mRNA as a probe reveals a complex with wild-type cell extracts, but not with pufA- cell extracts, suggesting the presence of a potential PufA recognition element in the PKA-C mRNA. PKA-C protein levels are low at the times of development when this complex is detectable, whereas when the complex is undetectable PKA-C levels are high. There is also an inverse relationship between PufA and PKA-C protein levels at all times of development in every mutant tested. Furthermore, expression of the putative PufA recognition elements in wild-type cells causes precocious aggregation and PKA-C overexpression, phenocopying a pufA mutation. Finally, YakA function is required for the decline of PufA protein and mRNA levels in the first 4 hours of development. We propose that PufA is a translational regulator that directly controls PKA-C synthesis and that YakA regulates the initiation of development by inhibiting the expression of PufA. Our work also suggests that Puf protein translational regulation evolved prior to the radiation of metazoan species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6565
Author(s):  
Jennifer H. Foster ◽  
Eveline Barbieri ◽  
Linna Zhang ◽  
Kathleen A. Scorsone ◽  
Myrthala Moreno-Smith ◽  
...  

Pevonedistat is a neddylation inhibitor that blocks proteasomal degradation of cullin–RING ligase (CRL) proteins involved in the degradation of short-lived regulatory proteins, including those involved with cell-cycle regulation. We determined the sensitivity and mechanism of action of pevonedistat cytotoxicity in neuroblastoma. Pevonedistat cytotoxicity was assessed using cell viability assays and apoptosis. We examined mechanisms of action using flow cytometry, bromodeoxyuridine (BrDU) and immunoblots. Orthotopic mouse xenografts of human neuroblastoma were generated to assess in vivo anti-tumor activity. Neuroblastoma cell lines were very sensitive to pevonedistat (IC50 136–400 nM). The mechanism of pevonedistat cytotoxicity depended on p53 status. Neuroblastoma cells with mutant (p53MUT) or reduced levels of wild-type p53 (p53si-p53) underwent G2-M cell-cycle arrest with rereplication, whereas p53 wild-type (p53WT) cell lines underwent G0-G1 cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. In orthotopic neuroblastoma models, pevonedistat decreased tumor weight independent of p53 status. Control mice had an average tumor weight of 1.6 mg + 0.8 mg versus 0.5 mg + 0.4 mg (p < 0.05) in mice treated with pevonedistat. The mechanism of action of pevonedistat in neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro appears p53 dependent. However, in vivo studies using mouse neuroblastoma orthotopic models showed a significant decrease in tumor weight following pevonedistat treatment independent of the p53 status. Novel chemotherapy agents, such as the NEDD8-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor pevonedistat, deserve further study in the treatment of neuroblastoma.


2004 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 5662-5667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola J. Mason ◽  
Jim Fiore ◽  
Takashi Kobayashi ◽  
Katherine S. Masek ◽  
Yongwon Choi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The production of interleukin-12 (IL-12) is critical to the development of innate and adaptive immune responses required for the control of intracellular pathogens. Many microbial products signal through Toll-like receptors (TLR) and activate NF-κB family members that are required for the production of IL-12. Recent studies suggest that components of the TLR pathway are required for the production of IL-12 in response to the parasite Toxoplasma gondii; however, the production of IL-12 in response to this parasite is independent of NF-κB activation. The adaptor molecule TRAF6 is involved in TLR signaling pathways and associates with serine/threonine kinases involved in the activation of both NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). To elucidate the intracellular signaling pathways involved in the production of IL-12 in response to soluble toxoplasma antigen (STAg), wild-type and TRAF6−/− mice were inoculated with STAg, and the production of IL-12(p40) was determined. TRAF6−/− mice failed to produce IL-12(p40) in response to STAg, and TRAF6−/− macrophages stimulated with STAg also failed to produce IL-12(p40). Studies using Western blot analysis of wild-type and TRAF6−/− macrophages revealed that stimulation with STAg resulted in the rapid TRAF6-dependent phosphorylation of p38 and extracellular signal-related kinase, which differentially regulated the production of IL-12(p40). The studies presented here demonstrate for the first time that the production of IL-12(p40) in response to toxoplasma is dependent upon TRAF6 and p38 MAPK.


1999 ◽  
Vol 340 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa DANAIE ◽  
Michael ALTMANN ◽  
Michael N. HALL ◽  
Hans TRACHSEL ◽  
Stephen B. HELLIWELL

The essential cap-binding protein (eIF4E) of Saccharomycescerevisiae is encoded by the CDC33 (wild-type) gene, originally isolated as a mutant, cdc33-1, which arrests growth in the G1 phase of the cell cycle at 37 °C. We show that other cdc33 mutants also arrest in G1. One of the first events required for G1-to-S-phase progression is the increased expression of cyclin 3. Constructs carrying the 5ʹ-untranslated region of CLN3 fused to lacZ exhibit weak reporter activity, which is significantly decreased in a cdc33-1 mutant, implying that CLN3 mRNA is an inefficiently translated mRNA that is sensitive to perturbations in the translation machinery. A cdc33-1 strain expressing either stable Cln3p (Cln3-1p) or a hybrid UBI4 5ʹ-CLN3 mRNA, whose translation displays decreased dependence on eIF4E, arrested randomly in the cell cycle. In these cells CLN2 mRNA levels remained high, indicating that Cln3p activity is maintained. Induction of a hybrid UBI4 5ʹ-CLN3 message in a cdc33-1 mutant previously arrested in G1 also caused entry into a new cell cycle. We conclude that eIF4E activity in the G1-phase is critical in allowing sufficient Cln3p activity to enable yeast cells to enter a new cell cycle.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 4045-4052 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Garrett ◽  
M M Menold ◽  
J R Broach

Null mutations in the gene YAK1, which encodes a protein with sequence homology to known protein kinases, suppress the cell cycle arrest phenotype of mutants lacking the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (A kinase). That is, loss of the YAK1 protein specifically compensates for loss of the A kinase. Here, we show that the protein encoded by YAK1 has protein kinase activity. Yak1 kinase activity is low during exponential growth but is induced at least 50-fold by arrest of cells prior to the completion of S phase. Induction is not observed by arrest at stages later in the cell cycle. Depending on the arrest regimen, induction can occur either by an increase in Yak1 protein levels or by an increase in Yak1 specific activity. Finally, an increase in Yak1 protein levels causes growth arrest of cells with attenuated A kinase activity. These results suggest that Yak1 acts in a pathway parallel to that of the A kinase to negatively regulate cell proliferation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 1309-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iwona Migdal ◽  
Yulia Ilina ◽  
Markus J. Tamás ◽  
Robert Wysocki

ABSTRACT Cells slow down cell cycle progression in order to adapt to unfavorable stress conditions. Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) responds to osmotic stress by triggering G1 and G2 checkpoint delays that are dependent on the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Hog1. The high-osmolarity glycerol (HOG) pathway is also activated by arsenite, and the hog1Δ mutant is highly sensitive to arsenite, partly due to increased arsenite influx into hog1Δ cells. Yeast cell cycle regulation in response to arsenite and the role of Hog1 in this process have not yet been analyzed. Here, we found that long-term exposure to arsenite led to transient G1 and G2 delays in wild-type cells, whereas cells that lack the HOG1 gene or are defective in Hog1 kinase activity displayed persistent G1 cell cycle arrest. Elevated levels of intracellular arsenite and “cross talk” between the HOG and pheromone response pathways, observed in arsenite-treated hog1Δ cells, prolonged the G1 delay but did not cause a persistent G1 arrest. In contrast, deletion of the SIC1 gene encoding a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor fully suppressed the observed block of G1 exit in hog1Δ cells. Moreover, the Sic1 protein was stabilized in arsenite-treated hog1Δ cells. Interestingly, Sic1-dependent persistent G1 arrest was also observed in hog1Δ cells during hyperosmotic stress. Taken together, our data point to an important role of the Hog1 kinase in adaptation to stress-induced G1 cell cycle arrest.


1998 ◽  
Vol 335 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50
Author(s):  
Dong-Hua CHEN ◽  
Chin-Tin CHEN ◽  
Yong ZHANG ◽  
Mei-Ann LIU ◽  
Roberto CAMPOS-GONZALEZ ◽  
...  

We have shown previously that oncogenic Ras induces cell cycle arrest in activated Xenopus egg extracts [Pan, Chen and Lin (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 5968–5975]. The cell cycle arrest correlates with the stimulation of a protein kinase activity that phosphorylates histone H2b in vitro (designated p96h2bk) [Chen and Pan (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 28034–28043]. We report here that p96h2bk is likely to be p96ram, a protein of approx. 96 kDa that immunoreacts with a monoclonal antibody (Mk-1) raised against a synthetic peptide derived from a sequence highly conserved in Erk1/Erk2 (where Erk is extracellular-signal-regulated kinase). This is supported by two lines of evidence. First, activation/inactivation of p96h2bk correlates with upward/downward bandshifts of p96ram in polyacrylamide gels. Secondly, both p96h2bk and p96ram can be immunoprecipitated by antibody Mk-1. We also studied the activity of p96h2bk/p96ram in Xenopus oocytes and eggs. p96h2bk/p96ram was inactive in stage 6 oocytes, was active in unfertilized eggs, and became inactive again in eggs after fertilization. Since stage 6 oocytes are at G2-phase of the cell cycle, unfertilized eggs arrest at M-phase and eggs exit M-phase arrest after fertilization, the results thus indicate that p96h2bk/p96ram activity is cell cycle dependent. Moreover, microinjection of oncogenic Ras into fertilized eggs at the one-cell stage arrests the embryos at the two-cell stage, and this induced arrest is correlated with an inappropriate activation of p96h2bk/p96ram. The data are consistent with the concept that inappropriate activation of p96h2bk/p96ram plays a role in the cell cycle arrest induced by oncogenic Ras.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Kido ◽  
Eun-Ryeong Hahm ◽  
Valeria Cagnon ◽  
Mário Maróstica ◽  
Shivendra Singh

Abstract Objectives Piceatannol (PIC) is a polyphenolic and resveratrol analog that is found in many vegetables consumed by humans. Like resveratrol, PIC has beneficial effects on health due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-proliferative features. However, the molecular targets of PIC in prostate cancer (PCa), which is the second most common cancer in men worldwide, are still poorly understood. Preventing cancer through dietary sources is a promising strategy to control diseases. Therefore, the aim of present study was to investigate the molecular mechanistic of actions of PIC in PCa cell lines with different genetic background common to human prostate cancer. Methods Human PCa cell lines (PC-3, 22Rv1, LNCaP, and VCaP) were treated with different doses of PIC (5–40 µM) and used for cell viability assay, measurement of total free fatty acids (FFA) and lactate, and cell cycle distribution. Results PIC treatment dose- and time-dependently reduced viability in PC-3 (androgen-independent, PTEN null, p53 null) and VCaP cells (androgen-responsive, wild-type PTEN, mutant p53). Because metabolic alterations, such as increased glucose and lipid metabolism are implicated in pathogenesis of in PCa, we tested if PIC could affect these pathways. Results from lactate and total free fatty acid assays in VCaP, 22Rv1 (castration-resistant, wild-type PTEN, mutant p53), and LNCaP (androgen-responsive, PTEN null, wild-type p53) revealed no effect of PIC on these metabolisms. However, PIC treatment delayed cell cycle progression in G0/G1 phase concomitant with the induction of apoptosis in both LNCaP and 22Rv1 cells, suggesting that growth inhibitory effect of PIC in PCa is associated with cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death at least LNCaP and 22Rv1 cells. Conclusions While PIC treatment does not alter lipid or glucose metabolism, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction are likely important in anti-cancer effects of PIC. Funding Sources São Paulo Research Foundation (2018/09793-7).


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