Philipp Skroblin

Direct Binding Between Orai1 and AC8 Mediates Dynamic Interplay Between Ca2+ and cAMP Signaling

A signaling complex enables the compartmentalized regulation of cyclic AMP signaling by calcium entering through a specific channel. Bound to Signal in Close Quarters Interplay between the calcium and the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathways is crucial to numerous physiological events. Although membrane-bound calcium-sensitive adenylyl cyclases (ACs) are sensitive to submicromolar concentrations of calcium in vitro, in cells they are highly selective in responding to store-operated calcium (SOC) entry rather than to calcium released from intracellular stores or entering the cell through ionophores. Here, Willoughby et al. used a combination of live-cell imaging techniques and biochemical approaches to resolve this conundrum and showed that AC8, which is stimulated by calcium-bound calmodulin, forms a direct protein-protein interaction with Orai1, the pore-forming component of the channel that mediates SOC entry. The existence of AC8 in a complex with SOC channels provides a mechanism for the compartmentalized regulation of cAMP signaling by specific subcellular calcium signals. The interplay between calcium ion (Ca2+) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling underlies crucial aspects of cell homeostasis. The membrane-bound Ca2+-regulated adenylyl cyclases (ACs) are pivotal points of this integration. These enzymes display high selectivity for Ca2+ entry arising from the activation of store-operated Ca2+ (SOC) channels, and they have been proposed to functionally colocalize with SOC channels to reinforce crosstalk between the two signaling pathways. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we have identified a direct interaction between the amino termini of Ca2+-stimulated AC8 and Orai1, the pore component of SOC channels. High-resolution biosensors targeted to the AC8 and Orai1 microdomains revealed that this protein-protein interaction is responsible for coordinating subcellular changes in both Ca2+ and cAMP. The demonstration that Orai1 functions as an integral component of a highly organized signaling complex to coordinate Ca2+ and cAMP signals underscores how SOC channels can be recruited to maximize the efficiency of the interplay between these two ubiquitous signaling pathways.

A-kinase anchoring proteins as potential drug targets

A‐kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) crucially contribute to the spatial and temporal control of cellular signalling. They directly interact with a variety of protein binding partners and cellular constituents, thereby directing pools of signalling components to defined locales. In particular, AKAPs mediate compartmentalization of cAMP signalling. Alterations in AKAP expression and their interactions are associated with or cause diseases including chronic heart failure, various cancers and disorders of the immune system such as HIV. A number of cellular dysfunctions result from mutations of specific AKAPs. The link between malfunctions of single AKAP complexes and a disease makes AKAPs and their interactions interesting targets for the development of novel drugs.

Reciprocal Regulation of Aquaporin-2 Abundance and Degradation by Protein Kinase A and p38-MAP Kinase

Arginine-vasopressin (AVP) modulates the water channel aquaporin-2 (AQP2) in the renal collecting duct to maintain homeostasis of body water. AVP binds to vasopressin V2 receptors (V2R), increasing cAMP, which promotes the redistribution of AQP2 from intracellular vesicles into the plasma membrane. cAMP also increases AQP2 transcription, but whether altered degradation also modulates AQP2 protein levels is not well understood. Here, elevation of cAMP increased AQP2 protein levels within 30 minutes in primary inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells, in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells ectopically expressing AQP2, and in mouse kidneys. Accelerated transcription or translation did not explain this increase in AQP2 abundance. In IMCD cells, cAMP inhibited p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) via activation of protein kinase A (PKA). Inhibition of p38-MAPK associated with decreased phosphorylation (serine 261) and polyubiquitination of AQP2, preventing proteasomal degradation. Our results demonstrate that AVP enhances AQP2 protein abundance by altering its proteasomal degradation through a PKA- and p38-MAPK-dependent pathway.

Glycogen synthase kinase 3beta interaction protein functions as an A-kinase anchoring protein.

A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) include a family of scaffolding proteins that target protein kinase A (PKA) and other signaling proteins to cellular compartments and thereby confine the activities of the associated proteins to distinct regions within cells. AKAPs bind PKA directly. The interaction is mediated by the dimerization and docking domain of regulatory subunits of PKA and the PKA-binding domain of AKAPs. Analysis of the interactions between the dimerization and docking domain and various PKA-binding domains yielded a generalized motif allowing the identification of AKAPs. Our bioinformatics and peptide array screening approaches based on this signature motif identified GSKIP (glycogen synthase kinase 3β interaction protein) as an AKAP. GSKIP directly interacts with PKA and GSK3β (glycogen synthase kinase 3β). It is widely expressed and facilitates phosphorylation and thus inactivation of GSK3β by PKA. GSKIP contains the evolutionarily conserved domain of unknown function 727. We show here that this domain of GSKIP and its vertebrate orthologues binds both PKA and GSK3β and thereby provides a mechanism for the integration of PKA and GSK3β signaling pathways.

A key phosphorylation site in AC8 mediates regulation of Ca2+-dependent cAMP dynamics by an AC8-AKAP79-PKA signalling complex

Summary Adenylyl cyclase (AC) isoforms can participate in multimolecular signalling complexes incorporating A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). We recently identified a direct interaction between Ca2+-sensitive AC8 and plasma membrane-targeted AKAP79/150 (in cultured pancreatic insulin-secreting cells and hippocampal neurons), which attenuated the stimulation of AC8 by Ca2+ entry (Willoughby et al., 2010). Here, we reveal that AKAP79 recruits cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) to mediate the regulatory effects of AKAP79 on AC8 activity. Modulation by PKA is a novel means of AC8 regulation, which may modulate or apply negative feedback to the stimulation of AC8 by Ca2+ entry. We show that the actions of PKA are not mediated indirectly via PKA-dependent activation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) B56&dgr; subunits that associate with the N-terminus of AC8. By site-directed mutagenesis we identify Ser-112 as an essential residue for direct PKA phosphorylation of AC8 (Ser-112 lies within the N-terminus of AC8, close to the site of AKAP79 association). During a series of experimentally imposed Ca2+ oscillations, AKAP79-targeted PKA reduced the on-rate of cAMP production in wild-type but not non-phosphorylatable mutants of AC8, which suggests that the protein–protein interaction may provide a feedback mechanism to dampen the downstream consequences of AC8 activation evoked by bursts of Ca2+ activity. This fine-tuning of Ca2+-dependent cAMP dynamics by targeted PKA could be highly significant for cellular events that depend on the interplay of Ca2+ and cAMP, such as pulsatile hormone secretion and memory formation.

A-kinase anchoring proteins coordinate inflammatory responses to cigarette smoke in airway smooth muscle

β2-Agonist inhibitors can relieve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) symptoms by stimulating cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling. A-kinase-anchoring proteins (AKAPs) compartmentalize cAMP signaling by establishing protein complexes. We previously reported that the β2-agonist fenoterol, direct activation of protein kinase A (PKA), and exchange factor directly activated by cAMP decrease cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-induced release of neutrophil attractant interleukin-8 (IL-8) from human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. In the present study, we tested the role of AKAPs in CSE-induced IL-8 release from ASM cells and assessed the effect of CSE on the expression levels of different AKAPs. We also studied mRNA and protein expression of AKAPs in lung tissue from patients with COPD. Our data show that CSE exposure of ASM cells decreases AKAP5 and AKAP12, both capable of interacting with β2-adrenoceptors. In lung tissue of patients with COPD, mRNA levels of AKAP5 and AKAP12 were decreased compared with lung tissue from controls. Using immunohistochemistry, we detected less AKAP5 protein in ASM of patients with COPD Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage II compared with control subjects. St-Ht31, which disrupts AKAP-PKA interactions, augmented CSE-induced IL-8 release from ASM cells and diminished its suppression by fenoterol, an effect mediated by disturbed ERK signaling. The modulatory role of AKAP-PKA interactions in the anti-inflammatory effects of fenoterol in ASM cells and the decrease in expression of AKAP5 and AKAP12 in response to cigarette smoke and in lungs of patients with COPD suggest that cigarette smoke-induced changes in AKAP5 and AKAP12 in patients with COPD may affect efficacy of pharmacotherapy.

AKAPS Act in a Two-Step Mechanism of Memory Acquisition

Defining the molecular and neuronal basis of associative memories is based upon behavioral preparations that yield high performance due to selection of salient stimuli, strong reinforcement, and repeated conditioning trials. One of those preparations is the Drosophila aversive olfactory conditioning procedure where animals initiate multiple memory components after experience of a single cycle training procedure. Here, we explored the analysis of acquisition dynamics as a means to define memory components and revealed strong correlations between particular chronologies of shock impact and number experienced during the associative training situation and subsequent performance of conditioned avoidance. Analyzing acquisition dynamics in Drosophila memory mutants revealed that rutabaga (rut)-dependent cAMP signals couple in a divergent fashion for support of different memory components. In case of anesthesia-sensitive memory (ASM) we identified a characteristic two-step mechanism that links rut-AC1 to A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAP)-sequestered protein kinase A at the level of Kenyon cells, a recognized center of olfactory learning within the fly brain. We propose that integration of rut-derived cAMP signals at level of AKAPs might serve as counting register that accounts for the two-step mechanism of ASM acquisition.

The A-kinase anchoring protein (AKAP) glycogen synthase kinase 3β interaction protein (GSKIP) regulates β-catenin through its interactions with both protein kinase A (PKA) and GSK3β

The A-kinase anchoring protein (AKAP) GSK3β interaction protein (GSKIP) is a cytosolic scaffolding protein binding protein kinase A (PKA) and glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β). Here we show that both the AKAP function of GSKIP, i.e. its direct interaction with PKA, and its direct interaction with GSK3β are required for the regulation of β-catenin and thus Wnt signaling. A cytoplasmic destruction complex targets β-catenin for degradation and thus prevents Wnt signaling. Wnt signals cause β-catenin accumulation and translocation into the nucleus, where it induces Wnt target gene expression. GSKIP facilitates control of the β-catenin stabilizing phosphorylation at Ser-675 by PKA. Its interaction with GSK3β facilitates control of the destabilizing phosphorylation of β-catenin at Ser-33/Ser-37/Thr-41. The influence of GSKIP on β-catenin is explained by its scavenger function; it recruits the kinases away from the destruction complex without forming a complex with β-catenin. The regulation of β-catenin by GSKIP is specific for this AKAP as AKAP220, which also binds PKA and GSK3β, did not affect Wnt signaling. We find that the binding domain of AKAP220 for GSK3β is a conserved GSK3β interaction domain (GID), which is also present in GSKIP. Our findings highlight an essential compartmentalization of both PKA and GSK3β by GSKIP, and ascribe a function to a cytosolic AKAP-PKA interaction as a regulatory factor in the control of canonical Wnt signaling. Wnt signaling controls different biological processes, including embryonic development, cell cycle progression, glycogen metabolism, and immune regulation; deregulation is associated with diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory, and Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases.

The A-kinase Anchoring Protein GSKIP Regulates GSK3β Activity and Controls Palatal Shelf Fusion in Mice

A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) represent a family of structurally diverse proteins, all of which bind PKA. A member of this family is glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) interaction protein (GSKIP). GSKIP interacts with PKA and also directly interacts with GSK3β. The physiological function of the GSKIP protein in vivo is unknown. We developed and characterized a conditional knock-out mouse model and found that GSKIP deficiency caused lethality at birth. Embryos obtained through Caesarean section at embryonic day 18.5 were cyanotic, suffered from respiratory distress, and failed to initiate breathing properly. Additionally, all GSKIP-deficient embryos showed an incomplete closure of the palatal shelves accompanied by a delay in ossification along the fusion area of secondary palatal bones. On the molecular level, GSKIP deficiency resulted in decreased phosphorylation of GSK3β at Ser-9 starting early in development (embryonic day 10.5), leading to enhanced GSK3β activity. At embryonic day 18.5, GSK3β activity decreased to levels close to that of wild type. Our findings reveal a novel, crucial role for GSKIP in the coordination of GSK3β signaling in palatal shelf fusion.

Neurochondrin is an atypical RIIα-specific A-kinase anchoring protein.

Protein kinase activity is regulated not only by direct strategies affecting activity but also by spatial and temporal regulatory mechanisms. Kinase signaling pathways are coordinated by scaffolding proteins that orchestrate the assembly of multi-protein complexes. One family of such scaffolding proteins are the A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). AKAPs share the commonality of binding cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). In addition, they bind further signaling proteins and kinase substrates and tether such multi-protein complexes to subcellular locations. The A-kinase binding (AKB) domain of AKAPs typically contains a conserved helical motif that interacts directly with the dimerization/docking (D/D) domain of the regulatory subunits of PKA. Based on a pull-down proteomics approach, we identified neurochondrin (neurite-outgrowth promoting protein) as a previously unidentified AKAP. Here, we show that neurochondrin interacts directly with PKA through a novel mechanism that involves two distinct binding regions. In addition, we demonstrate that neurochondrin has strong isoform selectivity towards the RIIα subunit of PKA with nanomolar affinity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Inhibitors of Protein Kinases.