Calmodulin-stimulated protein kinase activity from rat pancreas.

Previous work from our laboratory has demonstrated that neurohumoral stimulation of the exocrine pancreas is associated with the phosphorylation of the Mr 29,000 ribosomal protein S6. In a cell-free system using pancreatic postmicrosomal supernatant as the kinase donor, we found that the following co-factors stimulate the phosphorylation of the Mr 29,000 ribosomal protein: calcium with calmodulin, calcium with phosphatidyl serine, and cAMP. These findings suggest that the pancreas contains a calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaM-PK) that can phosphorylate the Mr 29,000 ribosomal protein. A CaM-PK activity was partially purified sequentially by ion exchange, gel filtration, and calmodulin-affinity chromatography. Phosphorylation of the Mr 29,000 ribosomal protein by the partially purified CaM-PK was dependent on the presence of both calcium and calmodulin and not on the other co-factors. The CaM-PK fraction contained a phosphoprotein of Mr 51,000 whose phosphorylation was also dependent on calcium and calmodulin. When 125I-calmodulin-binding proteins from the CaM-PK fraction were identified using electrophoretic transfers of SDS-polyacrylamide gels, a single Mr 51,000 protein was labeled. The preparation enriched in CaM-PK activity contained an Mr 51,000 protein that underwent phosphorylation in a calcium-calmodulin-dependent manner and an Mr 51,000 calmodulin-binding protein. It is therefore possible that the CaM-PK may comprise a calmodulin-binding phosphoprotein component of Mr 51,000.

Purification and properties of a multifunctional calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase from rat pancreas.

A calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (Ca/calmodulin protein kinase) was purified from rat pancreas using hydrophobic chromatography followed by gel filtration and affinity chromatography. Ca/calmodulin protein kinase from pancreas resembled previously described multifunctional Ca/calmodulin protein kinases from other tissues with respect to substrate specificity, autophosphorylation on serine and threonine residues, and catalytic and hydrodynamic properties. While Ca/calmodulin protein kinase from other tissues contains subunits of 53-60 kDa with variable proportions of a smaller 50-52 kDa subunit, pancreatic Ca/calmodulin protein kinase was found to contain a single component of 51 kDa. Experiments mixing brain Ca/calmodulin protein kinase with pancreatic homogenate suggest that the absence of a larger subunit in the pancreatic Ca/calmodulin protein kinase is not due to proteolytic degradation during enzyme preparation. Ca/calmodulin protein kinase binding to 125I-labeled calmodulin in solution was demonstrated using the photoaffinity cross-linker, N-hydroxysuccinimidyl-4-azidobenzoate. 125I-labeled calmodulin binding to Ca/calmodulin protein kinase was also demonstrated using filters containing Ca/calmodulin protein kinase transferred from polyacrylamide gels after two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Finally, the ribosomal substrate for Ca/calmodulin protein kinase was identified as the ribosomal protein, S6. The purification procedure presented in this study promises to be useful in characterizing Ca/calmodulin protein kinase in other tissues and in clarifying the role of these enzymes in cellular function.

Calcium-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase in hyperplastic human parathyroid glands.

The function of the parathyroid gland is closely linked to intracellular and extracellular Ca2+ concentrations. As a step toward understanding the mechanism of action of Ca2+ on the parathyroid, we examined hyperplastic human parathyroid tissue for Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase activity. In parathyroid homogenates, Ca2+ stimulates the phosphorylation of substrate protein in the presence of calmodulin or phospholipid. The calmodulin (CaM)-stimulated activity is present in a soluble fraction of parathyroid and can be separated from other protein kinase activities by gel filtration chromatography. The concentration dependence of CaM kinase on Ca2+ and CaM was determined using the gel filtration. The Ka values for CaM and calcium were 100 nM and 5 microM, respectively. The fraction containing the CaM kinase activity had a calculated mol wt of 5.5 X 10(5). It contained a protein with a mol wt of 4.9 X 10(4) whose phosphorylation was Ca2+ CaM dependent and a CaM-binding protein of mol wt 4.9 X 10(4) which we suggest may be the catalytic subunit of a type II Ca2+-CaM dependent protein kinase. Hyperplastic human parathyroid tissue contains a type II Ca2+-CaM dependent protein kinase which may serve an important function in Ca2+-directed metabolism.