A cGMP-dependent protein kinase is implicated in wild-type motility in C. elegans.

In mammals, cyclic GMP and cGMP-dependent protein kinases (cGKs) have been implicated in the regulation of many neuronal functions including long-term potentiation and long-term depression of synaptic efficacy. To develop Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system for studying the neuronal function of the cGKs, we cloned and characterized the cgk-1 gene. A combination of approaches showed that cgk-1 produces three transcripts, which differ in their first exon but are similar in length. Northern analysis of C. elegans RNA, performed with a probe designed to hybridize to all three transcripts, confirmed that a major 3.0 kb cgk-1 transcript is present at all stages of development. To determine if the CGK-1C protein was a cGMP-dependent protein kinase, CGK-1C was expressed in SF:9 cells and purified. CGK-1C shows a K(a) of 190 +/- 14 nM for cGMP and 18.4 +/- 2 microM for cAMP. Furthermore, CGK-1C undergoes autophosphorylation in a cGMP-dependent manner and is inhibited by the commonly used cGK inhibitor, KT5823. To determine which cells expressed CGK-1C, a 2.4-kb DNA fragment from the promoter of CGK-1C was used to drive GFP expression. The CGK-1C reporter construct is strongly expressed in the ventral nerve cord and in several other neurons as well as the marginal cells of the pharynx and intestine. Finally, RNA-mediated interference of CGK-1 resulted in movement defects in nematode larvae. These results provide the first demonstration that cGMP-dependent protein kinase is present in neurons of C. elegans and show that this kinase is required for normal motility.

The cloning of a Caenorhabditis elegans guanylyl cyclase and the construction of a ligand-sensitive mammalian/nematode chimeric receptor.

Substantial guanylyl cyclase activity was detected in membrane fractions prepared from Caenorhabditis elegans (100 pmol cGMP/min/mg at 20 degrees C or 500 pmol cGMP/min/mg at 37 degrees C), suggesting the potential existence of orphan cyclase receptors in the nematode. Using degenerate primers, a cDNA clone encoding a putative membrane form of the enzyme (GCY-X1) was obtained. The apparent cyclase was most closely related to the mammalian natriuretic peptide receptor family, and retained cysteine residues conserved within the extracellular domain of the mammalian receptors. Expression of the cDNA in COS-7 cells resulted in low, but detectable guanylyl cyclase activity (about 2-fold above vector alone). The extracellular and protein kinase homology domain of the mammalian receptor (GC-B) for C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) was fused to the catalytic domain of GCY-X1 and expressed in COS-7 cells to determine whether ligand-dependent regulation would now be obtained. The resulting chimeric protein (GC-BX1) was active, and CNP elevated cGMP in a concentration-dependent manner. Subsequently, a search of the genome data base demonstrated the existence of at least 29 different genes from C. elegans that align closely with the catalytic domain of GCY-X1, and thus an equally large number of different regulatory ligands may exist.

The major catalytic subunit isoforms of cAMP-dependent protein kinase have distinct biochemical properties in vitro and in vivo.

Two isoforms of the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, Calpha and Cbeta1, are known to be widely expressed in mammals. Although much is known about the structure and function of Calpha, few studies have addressed the possibility of a distinct role for the Cbeta proteins. The present study is a detailed comparison of the biochemical properties of these two isoforms, which were initially expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. Cbeta1 demonstrated higher Km values for some peptide substrates than did Calpha, but Cbeta1 was insensitive to substrate inhibition, a phenomenon that was observed with Calpha at substrate concentrations above 100 microM. Calpha and Cbeta1 displayed distinct IC50 values for the alpha and beta isoforms of the protein kinase inhibitor, protein kinase inhibitorpeptide, and the type IIalpha regulatory subunit (RIIalpha). Of particular interest, purified type II holoenzyme containing Cbeta1 exhibited a 5-fold lower Ka value for cAMP (13 nM) than did type II holoenzyme containing Calpha (63 nM). This latter result was extended to in vivo conditions by employing a transcriptional activation assay. In these experiments, luciferase reporter activity in COS-1 cells expressing RIIalpha2Cbeta12 holoenzyme was half-maximal at 12-fold lower concentrations of 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP and 5-fold lower concentrations of forskolin than in COS-1 cells expressing RIIalpha2Calpha2 holoenzyme. These results provide evidence that type II holoenzyme formed with Cbeta1 is preferentially activated by cAMP in vivo and suggest that activation of the holoenzyme is determined in part by interactions between the regulatory and catalytic subunits that have not been described previously.

Evidence for the importance of hydrophobic residues in the interactions between the cAMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit and the protein kinase inhibitors.

The protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs) are potent inhibitors of the catalytic (C) subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. In this study, the interaction between Phe10 of PKI and the C subunit residues Tyr235 and Phe239 was investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. Previous peptide studies as well as the crystal structure suggested that these residues may play a key role in C-PKI binding. The C subunit codons for Tyr235 and Phe239 were changed singly and in combination to serine codons. The mutated C alpha proteins were overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The purified C alpha Y235S, C alpha F239S, and C alpha Y235S/F239S proteins did not exhibit any differences in their Km(app) for the peptide substrate Kemptide (Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly) or Vmax(app), with respect to wild-type C alpha. All of the C subunit mutants displayed less than 2-fold changes in their Km(app) for ATP. The PKI alpha isoform displayed increased IC50 values for C alpha Y235S (71-fold), C alpha F239S (150-fold), and C alpha Y235S/F239S (1800-fold). Similarly, the PKI beta 1 protein showed increased IC50 values against the C alpha Y235S, C alpha F239S, and C alpha Y235S/F239S proteins, 9.4-, 11-, and 44-fold, respectively. In addition, the PKI alpha F10 codon was altered to an alanine codon, and this mutation decreased its ability to inhibit C alpha kinase activity, but did not affect its ability to inhibit C alpha Y235S/F239S. The mutation of Tyr235 and Phe239 to serines, however, did not alter the ability of the type II R subunit to inhibit phosphotransferase activity. These results suggest that C alpha Y235 and C alpha F239 are important for specific inhibition by both PKI alpha and PKI beta but not the type II R subunit and that mutations at these residues would be useful for in vivo analysis of C-PKI interactions.

Glutamic acid 203 of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit participates in the inhibition by two isoforms of the protein kinase inhibitor.

Although the protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs) are known to be potent and specific inhibitors of the catalytic (C) subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase, little is known about their physiological roles. Glutamate 203 of the C alpha isoform (C alpha E203) has been implicated in the binding of the arginine 15 residue of the skeletal isoform of PKI (PKI alpha R15) (Knighton, D. R., Zheng, J., Ten Eyck, L. F., Xuong, N., Taylor, S.S., and Sowadski, J. M. (1991) Science 253, 414-420). To investigate the role of C alpha E203 in the binding of PKI and in vivo C-PKI interactions, in vitro mutagenesis was used to change the C alpha E203 codon of the murine C alpha cDNA to alanine and glutamine codons. Initially, the C alpha E203 mutant proteins were expressed and purified from Escherichia coli. C alpha E203 is not essential for catalysis as all of the C subunit mutants were enzymatically active. The mutation of Glu203 did increase the apparent Km for Leu-Arg-Arg-Ala-Ser-Leu-Gly (Kemptide) severalfold but did not affect the apparent Km for ATP. The Vmax(app) was not affected by the mutation of C alpha E203. The mutation of C alpha E203 compromised the ability of PKI alpha (5-24), PKI alpha, and PKI beta to inhibit phosphotransferase activity. PKI alpha was altered using in vitro mutagenesis to probe the role of Arg15 in interacting with C alpha E203. The PKI alpha R15A mutant was reduced in its inhibition of C alpha. Preliminary studies of the expression of these C alpha mutants in COS cells gave similar results. These results suggest that the C alpha E203 mutants may be useful in assessing the role of PKI in vivo.

Determination of protein expression and plasmid copy number from cloned genes in Escherichia coli by flow injection analysis using an enzyme indicator vector.

On-line determination of expression rates from cloned genes in Escherichia coli and of plasmid copy number would be useful for monitoring accumulation of non-secreted proteins. As an initial model for monitoring gene expression in intact cells, a non-gene-fusion enzyme-based indicator plasmid has been constructed containing the phoA gene coding for alkaline phosphatase (AP) in pUCIS and pACYC184. The activity of AP can be rapidly determined in permeabilized cells. A flow injection analysis (FIA) assay has been developed which allows the direct real-time measurement of the AP activity during cell growth. A model target gene coding for E. coli cyanase (cynS) has been inserted in order to determine the ratio between the expression of the target and indicator, AP. A linear relationship has been found between plasmid copy number and AP activity for the high-copy pUC vector. To minimize indicator expression, transcription terminators have been inserted between the cynS and phoA genes, altering the target-to-indicator ratio by 10- to 40-fold. These vectors may be useful for the rapid continuous determination of plasmid copy number and target gene expression for nonsecreted proteins and would overcome the limitations of in situ probe biosensors for real-time determination of the accumulation of proteins from cloned genes in E. coli.