|
|
||||||||


*
Laboratoire dImmunologie Cellulaire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 7627, Centre Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, CERVI, Paris, France;
Unité Claude Bernard C20, Département dHématologie, Centre Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Centre dExamen et de Recherche en Virologie et Immunologie, Paris, France; and
Laboratoire dImmunologie Moléculaire, Département dImmunologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Analysis of the amino acid sequence of Sam68 reveals additional typical
features of a signaling protein with numerous tyrosine in its
carboxyl-terminal domain and at least five proline-rich regions (1).
Initially described as a tyrosine-phosphorylated protein associated
with Src both in normal and in Src-transformed fibroblasts blocked in
mitosis (7, 10), numerous other partnerships with different Src
homology (SH) 2 and SH3 domain-containing signaling molecules were
documented afterward. They include phospholipase C
-1, Grb2, Grap (a
Grb2-like protein), the p21ras GTPase-activating
protein, the regulatory subunit of PI3-kinase,
p47phox, Tec kinase family, SHP-1,
Cbl, Jak3, and Nck (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20). The functional consequences of these
interactions are still unclear, but an adaptor function for Sam68
downstream of Src kinase-associated receptors has been proposed. One
can thus speculate about a function for Sam68 as a link between Src
kinase-dependent pathways on the one hand and RNA metabolism on the
other. The finding that Sam68 phosphorylation can affect its binding to
RNA further supports this hypothesis (21).
Sam68 tyrosine phosphorylation is induced in T lymphocytes after stimulation of the Ag-specific receptor (TCR) (16, 20, 22). It was suggested that in activated T cells, tyrosine-phosphorylated Sam68 may also serve as an adaptor protein, linking the protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) of the Src family Fyn and Lck and the second class of T cell-specific PTK ZAP-70 to some of the downstream effectors listed above (11, 16). However, the phosphorylation status of Sam68 in T cells is presumably complex since a constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of the protein has also been seen in different transformed T cell lines (16, 22, 23). Whether Sam68 phosphorylation is involved in the determination of the transformed phenotype is unknown, but interestingly, as has been evoked in one study, it seems to be able to affect the cell cycle in these T lymphocytes (16).
Taken together, these findings led us to consider the study of the mechanisms involved in this constitutive phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells as important. Our recent report suggested a distinct relationship between the two Src kinases and Sam68 phosphorylation in Jurkat T cells (22). We demonstrate in this work that only overexpression of Fyn triggers the constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells in vivo. Investigating the subcellular distribution of tyrosine-phosphorylated Sam68 in these cells, we also show that phospho-Sam68 molecules are present in the nucleus. In parallel, we demonstrate that Fyn localization at the cell membrane is essential for the constitutive phosphorylation of Sam68 in this cell compartment and also that a Sam68 mutant unable to localize in the nucleus is still phosphorylated. Overall, our results suggest that the specific participation of Fyn in the constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells originally occurs in a cell membrane compartment and is necessary for phospho-Sam68 to be expressed in the nucleus.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The hybridoma T cell line, T8.1, has already been described (24). It was maintained in DMEM medium (Life Technologies, Cergy-Pontoise, France) supplemented with 10% FCS, antibiotics (50 U/ml penicillin, 50 µg/ml streptomycin, 1 mg/ml geneticin), 400 nM methotrexate, 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, and 50 µM 2-ME. Tag Jurkat cells, a derivative of the human T cell leukemia Jurkat stably transfected with the SV40 large T Ag (25), were grown in RPMI 1640 medium (Flow Laboratories, Irvine, CA) supplemented with 10% FCS, antibiotics (50 U/ml penicillin, 50 µg/ml streptomycin), 2 mM L-glutamine, and 1 mM sodium pyruvate.
Antibodies
The CD3
-specific mAb UCHT1 was produced as ascitic fluid. The
anti-phosphotyrosine mAb 4G10 and the polyclonal Ab specific for
the N-terminal region of Lck were from Upstate Biotechnology (UBI, Lake
Placid, NY). The rabbit polyclonal Ab specific for Sam68 used for
immunoprecipitation experiments has already been described (22). A
polyclonal Ab against the C terminus of the molecule, obtained from
Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA), was used for blotting
experiments. The Fyn mAb used for Western blotting experiments was from
Transduction Laboratories (Lexington, KY), and the Fyn polyclonal Ab
used for immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation experiments from
UBI.
Plasmids and constructs
A full-length cDNA encoding wild-type murine Fyn in pBluescript
SK+ vector was a kind gift from S. Richard (McGill
University, Montreal, Canada) (11). The Fyn insert was isolated with
EcoRI and XhoI, blunted with the klenow fragment
of DNA polymerase I, and subcloned into the mammalian vector
pSR
-puro (26), which conferred resistance to puromycine. A cDNA
encoding dead kinase Fyn with a point mutation at the ATP binding site
(K299 M) in pSR
was kindly given by Dr. N. Fusaki (Science
University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan) (27). A cDNA encoding wild-type
mouse Lck, kindly provided by S. Fischer (INSERM U363, Institut Cochin
de Génétique Moléculaire, Paris, France), was
subcloned into the EcoRI site of pSR
-puro. The
Fyn-
N-ter mutant (without the first six amino acids at the N
terminus) was generated by PCR using the following oligonucleotides as
primers, 5'-GGAATTCGATGAAGGATAAAGAAGCAGCGAA-3' and
5'-GGAATTCTCACAGGTTTTCACCGGGCTG-3', and wild-type Fyn as a template.
The PCR product was digested with EcoRI and then inserted
into pSR
-puro. A full-length cDNA encoding human Sam68 in pSV2
vector was a kind gift from D. F. Schweighoffer
(Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, Vitry sur Seine, France). It was digested
with KpnI and SacI, blunted with the klenow
fragment of DNA polymerase I, and subcloned into the SmaI
site of the pEGFP-C1 vector (Clontech Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA)
containing the gene encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP).
Sam68-
NLS fused to EGFP was constructed by digesting the plasmid
containing Sam68-EGFP with HindIII and cloning the resulting
fragment in HindIII restriction site of pEGFP-C1. This
removed the DNA sequence C terminal of the HindIII site in
Sam68 containing the nuclear localization signal (NLS) (3).
Cell transfection
For stable transfections of T8.1 hybridoma cells, 10 x 106 cells were mixed with 30 µg of plasmid DNA in 0.5 ml of a buffer containing 120 mM KCl, 150 µM CaCl2, 10 mM K2HPO4/KH2PO4, 2 mM EGTA, 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM ATP, 5 mM glutathione, and 25 mM HEPES, and electroporated at 250 V, 960 µF in a Gene Pulse cuvette (Bio-Rad, Ivry sur Seine, France). After 48 h in growth medium, cells were seeded at 104 cells/well in flat-bottom 96-well plates and placed under selection in the presence of 1 µg/ml puromycin (Sigma-Aldrich Chimie, St Quentin Fallavier, France). Puromycin-resistant clones were analyzed by SDS-PAGE for protein expression. Transient transfections of Jurkat cells were performed by electroporating (at 320 V, 960 µF) 10 x 106 cells with 20 µg of plasmid DNA. Transfected cells were cultured in 6 ml of growth medium for 48 h before use.
Whole cell lysate and subcellular fractionation
For whole cell lysate preparation, T cells (10 x
106) were washed once in 1 ml of RPMI medium and lysed at
4°C for 1 h in a lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 140 mM
NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 50 U/ml aprotinin, 1 mM PMSF, 1 mM sodium
orthovanadate, 50 mM sodium fluoride) containing 1% (v/v) Nonidet P-40
detergent. Nuclei and cellular debris were removed by centrifugation at
10,000 x g for 10 min, and the amount of proteins
present in each postnuclear supernatant was determined. In some
experiments, cells were stimulated before lysis. After a wash in RPMI
medium, cells (10 x 106) were equilibrated for 15 min
at 37°C and stimulated for 2 min at 37°C in the presence of the
CD3
-specific mAb UCHT1 (1/500 dilution of an ascitic fluid) in a
final volume of 500 µl. Activation was stopped by brief
centrifugation before lysis. For subcellular fractionation, cells were
harvested by centrifugation and washed once with cold PBS. The pellet
was resuspended in ice-cold hypotonic buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 1
mM EDTA, 50 U/ml aprotinin, 1 mM PMSF, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 50 mM
sodium fluoride), incubated on ice for 15 min, and homogenized with a
Dounce homogenizer (15 strokes, pestle B). Nuclei were collected by
centrifugation at 400 x g for 15 min at 4°C. The
supernatant (cytoplasmic and particulate fractions) was centrifuged at
100,000 x g for 30 min at 4°C. The high speed
supernatant was designed as cytoplasmic fraction. The pellet, designed
as membrane-enriched fraction, was lysed at 4°C for 1 h in the
Nonidet P-40-containing buffer. Pelleted nuclei were resuspended in a
buffer containing 20 mM HEPES, pH 7.9, 25% glycerol, 500 mM NaCl, 1.5
mM MgCl2, 0.5 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM DTT, 50 U/ml aprotinin, 1 mM
PMSF, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 50 mM sodium fluoride, and nuclear
protein extracted on ice for 30 min. Nuclear extract was obtained by
centrifugation at 100,000 x g for 30 min at 4°C. All
samples were diluted in Laemmli buffer (500 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 10%
SDS, 10% glycerol, 5% 2-ME, 10% bromophenol blue) and boiled for 3
min.
Western blot analysis and immunoprecipitation
Proteins (60 µg) were loaded onto 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gels, and electrophoretically transferred for 75 min at 65 V to a nitrocellulose membrane (Schleicher and Schuell, Dassel, Germany). Immunoblotting was then performed with the anti-phosphotyrosine mAb 4G10 (0.2 µg/ml), anti-Fyn mAb (1 µg/ml), anti-Sam68, or anti-Lck polyclonal Abs (1/800 dilution), followed by peroxidase-labeled goat anti-mouse or goat anti-rabbit antiserum (Bio-Rad). Reaction was revealed with an enhanced chemoluminescence system (ECL; Amersham, Paris, France), according to the suppliers instructions. Scanning densitometry of the films was performed with the Bio-Rads densitometer GS-670, and results were analyzed with the Molecular Analyst/PC image analysis software (Bio-Rad).
For Sam68 immunoprecipitation, whole cell lysates from 10 x 106 cells or from 500 µg of nuclear extract were incubated for 2 h at 4°C with 30 µl of protein A-Sepharose beads (Sigma-Aldrich Chimie) previously incubated 2 h at 4°C with the Sam68 rabbit antiserum. After four washes in the lysis buffer, immune complexes were recovered by boiling for 3 min in Laemmli buffer and analyzed by Western blot.
In vitro kinase assay
Fyn or Lck was immunoprecipitated from 20 x
106 cells lysed in the Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer. After a
preclearing on protein A-Sepharose, lysates were precipitated with the
specific antisera and 30 µl of protein A-Sepharose. After four washes
in the lysis buffer, beads were kept on ice until use. GST-Sam68 fusion
protein, obtained as reported (22), was used as a substrate. It was
purified by affinity chromatography on glutathione-Sepharose beads
(Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden). Fusion protein complexes were
washed three times in a lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 140 mM
NaCl, 1 mM EDTA) containing 1% (v/v) Nonidet P-40 detergent. Kinase
immunoprecipitates and fusion protein complexes (1 µg of GST-Sam68)
were then resuspended in a phosphorylation buffer containing 50 mM
PIPES, pH 6.8, 10 mM MnCl2, 10 mM MgCl2, 50
µM sodium orthovanadate, 50 U/ml aprotinin, and 1 mM PMSF, mixed
together, and briefly centrifuged. The reaction was started by the
addition on the pellet of 30 µl of phosphorylation buffer
supplemented with 10 µM ATP and 10 µCi [
-32P]ATP
(4500 Ci/mmol; ICN Biomedicals France, Orsay, France). After 10 min at
room temperature, the reaction was stopped by the addition of 6 µl of
Laemmli sample buffer 6x and boiling. Proteins were separated by 10%
SDS-PAGE, and the gel was dried and subjected to autoradiography on
x-ray film.
Immunofluorescence
For Fyn immunofluorescence analysis, cells were allowed to adhere in RPMI 1640 without serum on slide coverslips for 1 h at 37°C. Cells were then fixed for 10 min at room temperature in 3% paraformaldehyde, followed by three washes in PBS. Slide coverslips were then incubated with 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS for 10 min at room temperature to permeabilize the cells. After three washes in PBS, anti-Fyn (1/100 dilution) diluted in PBS-BSA (1 mg/ml) was added for a 1-h incubation period at room temperature, followed by an FITC-conjugated F(ab')2 fragment donkey anti-rabbit IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA) for 1 h at room temperature. After extensive washing in PBS, the slide coverslips were then mounted onto glass slide using a poly(vinyl alcohol) solution (Mowiol, Sigma-Aldrich Chimie). Fluorescence microscopy was performed with a Leitz DM IRB inverted microscope (Leica, Wetzlar, Germany) equipped with fluorescein filters using a x100 oil objective. Fluorescence images were collected with a cooled CDD camera (Sensys 400; Photometrics, Tucson, AZ) and the Image Pro software (Media Cybernetics, Silver Spring, MD). For image processing and presentation, digital images (12 bits scale) were deconvolved using the Slidebook software (Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Denver, CO). Digital files were printed directly. Fluorescence of cells transfected with EGFP constructs was directly analyzed with the inverted microscope on viable cells seeded in their culture medium on a glass coverslip mounted on 30-mm petri dishes.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
A constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 has already been
observed in different established T cell lines (16, 22, 23). T cell Src
kinases are believed to play a key role in this phenomenon, especially
Fyn, as suggested by the observation that Sam68 is highly
phosphorylated in a human T cell leukemia virus type 1-transformed T
cell overexpressing Fyn (16). To directly investigate this issue, we
transfected wild-type Fyn in the murine hybridoma T cell line T8.1 and
established stable transfectants overexpressing the PTK in which we
analyzed the constitutive phosphorylation of Sam68. A series of clones
with different levels of Fyn was obtained. Shown in Fig. 1
A are the blots with three
clones, Fyn-WT11, Fyn-WT3, and Fyn-WT7, in which we analyzed Fyn and
Sam68 expression as well as the phosphorylation of Sam68 after
immunoprecipitating the molecule. The constitutive phosphorylation of
Sam68 was low in T8.1 cells, but a marked tyrosine phosphorylation of
the molecule was observed in the cells overexpressing Fyn. Sam68
levels, measured in whole cell lysates and in Sam68 immunoprecipitates,
showed no difference between the three clones (see Fig. 1
A).
By plotting the values obtained by scanning densitometry for the Fyn
protein and phospho-Sam68, we could see a close relationship between
the fold increase of the two parameters in the different clones (see
Fig. 1
B). Taken together, these findings demonstrate a
direct relationship between Fyn expression and the constitutive
tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 in T lymphocytes.
|
A role for Lck, the second Src kinase present in T cells, in
mediating the constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 is more
elusive since Sam68 phosphorylation is apparently maintained in Jurkat
T cells without Lck (22). As for Fyn, we investigated whether
phospho-Sam68 levels were induced by overexpressing Lck in the T8.1
cell model. Stable transfectants expressing different levels of Lck
were established. Shown in Fig. 2
are the
results obtained with five different clones, which we compared with
clone Fyn-WT7, used in this study as a positive control. After
measuring the levels of Lck and Sam68 by Western blot analysis of whole
cellular lysates (Fig. 2
A), the constitutive phosphorylation
of Sam68 was analyzed by blotting the lysates with the
anti-phosphotyrosine mAb 4G10 (Fig. 2
B). The highly
phosphorylated band (arrow) corresponding to Sam68 was evident in
Fyn-WT7 lysates. It was clearly missing in the clones transfected with
Lck, especially in Lck-G3 and Lck-H8, two clones exhibiting a clear
phosphoprotein increase after Lck overexpression. This finding was
confirmed by blotting Sam68 immunoprecipitates with the
anti-phosphotyrosine mAb (Fig. 2
A).
|
|
We also performed in vitro kinase assays with Fyn and Lck
immunoprecipitates. The purpose of this experiment was to control the
kinase activities in the clones overexpressing the two Src PTKs and
also to evaluate their capacity to phosphorylate Sam68 in vitro by
using as a substrate Sam68, itself produced as a GST fusion protein.
Fig. 4
A shows an
autoradiography of the gel obtained after immunoprecipitating Fyn and
Lck from Fyn-WT7 and Lck-G3, the two clones expressing the highest
level of Fyn and Lck, respectively, and untransfected T8.1 cells. We
observed a phosphorylation of the recombinant protein only when Fyn or
Lck was immunoprecipitated from the clones overexpressing the
corresponding PTKs. A marked autophosphorylation of the PTKs was also
noticeable in these samples. The 66-kDa 32P-labeled protein
strongly phosphorylated in Fyn immunoprecipitates from clone Fyn-WT7
most likely corresponds to endogeneous Sam68. A Coomassie blue staining
of the same gel in Fig. 4
B shows that the same amount of
GST-Sam68 fusion protein was loaded in the different lanes. This
finding demonstrates that both Fyn and Lck are able to phosphorylate
Sam68 in kinase assays in sharp contrast to the in vivo
results.
|
Sam68 has a NLS (3), and it has been shown to accumulate in the
nucleus of different cell types (1, 2, 3, 4, 17). Furthermore, the N-terminal
region of Fyn contains residues that are necessary for Fyn
myristylation (Gly-2), and also palmitylation (Cys-3 and Cys-6) of the
molecule, both required to target the protein to membranes (28, 29, 30, 31, 32). It
was therefore interesting to investigate in which cell compartment
phosphorylated Sam68 was expressed or accumulated in T cells
overexpressing Fyn, and whether Fyn membrane localization was essential
for this process. To investigate these issues, we constructed a Fyn
mutant without the first six amino acids. This mutant (Fyn-
N-ter)
was stably transfected in T8.1 cells, and two clones (Fyn-
N-ter A6
and Fyn-
N-ter A12) overexpressing the molecule (see Fig. 5
B, middle panel)
were studied. We first analyzed Fyn localization by immunofluorescence.
As shown in Fig. 5
A, Fyn exhibited a main localization at
the cell membrane and in the adjacent cortical region in clone Fyn-WT7
surexpressing wild-type Fyn. Similar results were obtained with the
other clones overexpressing Fyn (data not shown). A punctate staining
was also detected intracellularly in many cells in a region most
probably corresponding to the microtubule organization center. Note
that the Fyn labeling was barely detectable in untransfected T8.1 cells
(not shown). A diffuse cytoplasmic labeling was obtained with the two
clones overexpressing Fyn-
N-ter surrounding the nucleus and
replacing the usual membrane staining. We found no significant increase
in Sam68 phosphorylation in the whole cell lysates of cells
overexpressing Fyn-
N-ter (Fig. 5
B, upper
panel) or after immunoprecipitating the molecule (Fig. 5
C). We checked in parallel experiments that the
Fyn-
N-ter mutant was fully active in in vitro kinase assays (not
shown).
|
N-ter
A12 were also performed to compare the cellular distribution of the
molecule in the different clones (Fig. 5These data demonstrate that Fyn membrane targeting is required to trigger the constitutive phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells, including in the nucleus. They also show that the phosphorylation of Sam68 in this cell compartment, where it is predominantly expressed, is dependent of Fyn cellular levels.
The delocalization of Sam68 from the nucleus does not impair Sam68 phosphorylation
Truncated Sam68 molecules fused to GFP have been used successfully
to demonstrate the role of the NLS of Sam68 in the predominant
localization of the protein into the nucleus (3). Since our previous
data strongly suggested that Sam68 phosphorylation was a process
occurring outside the nucleus, studies were performed to analyze the
tyrosine phosphorylation of a mutated form of Sam68 without the NLS
(Sam68-
NLS). The mutated protein was fused to GFP to follow first
its localization in vivo. Constructs encoding wild-type Sam68 fused to
GFP and GFP alone were used as controls.
Shown in Fig. 6
are images obtained by
analyzing the fluorescence of living Jurkat T cells 48 h after
electroporation with the different constructs. As expected, Sam68-GFP
gave a strong staining inside the nucleus (overlapping images were
obtained by parallel staining with a cell-permeant bisbenzimide DNA
stain, not shown). Note the punctate nuclear staining observed in some
cells (less than 5%). Sam68-
NLS-GFP was clearly expressed outside
the nucleus and frequently in vesicular and randomly distributed
structures. A diffuse staining in the whole cell was obtained when
using the control GFP construct.
|
NLS-GFP
protein after immunoprecipitating the molecule from Jurkat cells
stimulated or not with a CD3
-specific mAb (Fig. 7
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
PTKs from the Src family can physically interact with Sam68 (7, 10, 11, 16, 23, 35). This has been documented clearly by in vitro experiments performed with GST-fusion proteins, and showing that the SH3 and the SH2 domains of Src PTKs, including Fyn and Lck, precipitate Sam68. Different studies have also shown a direct relationship between Src PTK expression in a given cell system and Sam68 phosphorylation. Different examples can be cited as NIH3T3 cells overexpressing Src (7, 10), Hela cells cotransfected with constructs encoding Fyn and Sam68 (11), or Hayai T cells expressing high levels of Fyn (16). On this basis, Sam68 is actually considered as a privileged substrate of Src kinases. Accordingly, we show in the present study that it is a very good substrate for Fyn and Lck in vitro. Nevertheless, it is clear from our data that Fyn, but not Lck, is implicated in the constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells in vivo, further supporting our previous observations in JCaM1 cells, a Jurkat cell mutant without Lck (22). How can we explain this difference?
Transfected Lck could be negatively regulated in vivo. Indeed, some
T8.1 cell clones overexpressing the PTK displayed no obvious change in
their whole tyrosine phosphorylation pattern. However, numerous
proteins were phosphorylated in others with no parallel induction of
Sam68 phosphorylation (see Fig. 2
B). This hypothesis was
further excluded by the experiments performed with Jurkat cells, in
which both kinases induced intense phosphorylations, while only Fyn
triggered a strong phosphorylation of Sam68 (see Fig. 3
, A
and B). We found interestingly a slight increase of
phospho-Sam68 levels in Jurkat cells transfected with a Fyn dead kinase
mutant. Although very low as compared with the phosphorylation induced
by the wild type, it may reveal some kinase-independent function of Fyn
in regulating the phosphorylation status of Sam68 in T cells.
In contrast to Lck, instead of being concentrated at the cell membrane of T lymphocytes, Fyn was reported to be expressed also inside the cell, in the centromeric region (36). We suspected initially that this particular localization might account for the specific role played by Fyn in vivo. We found, however, that the PTK was mainly localized at the cell membrane of the transfected cells. It can be further speculated that Fyn and Lck are differently distributed in the cell membrane, but no evidence has yet been provided confirming this assumption. On the contrary, it was reported recently that both are present in membrane detergent-soluble and insoluble fractions of T lymphocytes (37), especially in the so-called glycolipid-enriched microdomains enriched in Src family kinases (38, 39). It is thus conceivable that some physical constraints at the molecular level would favor an interaction of Sam68 with Fyn. Accordingly, Lck was not consistently present in Sam68 immunoprecipitated from cells overexpressing the PTK (not shown). It is worth noting that the SH3 domains of Fyn and Lck have not exactly the same basic fold (40). Thus, they may differ in their ability to bind proline-rich-containing proteins such as Sam68 in in vivo situations. Moreover, Fyn and Lck may be not obligatory adaptable to different substrates, as clearly demonstrated recently in the case of Pyk2, a member of the focal adhesion kinase family PTK, which is a specific substrate of Fyn (41).
Sam68 is very rapidly tyrosine phosphorylated after CD3 stimulation. By
using Lck-negative cells, we previously reported that Lck plays a role
in this tyrosine phosphorylation of Sam68 after CD3 triggering,
probably activating ZAP-70 to phosphorylate the molecule (22). This
suggests that two distinct pathways are involved in the constitutive
and the CD3-induced phosphorylation of Sam68 in T cells, and also
possibly that Fyn does not participate in Sam68 phosphorylation in
activated T cells. But we do not know if Fyn is really dispensable in
such circumstances. We cannot exclude for instance that a role for Fyn
may be to facilitate the recruitment of Sam68 in the activated
receptors in the close proximity of activated ZAP-70 molecules, since
both Fyn and ZAP-70 have been shown to bind TCR activation motifs (42, 43) and since phosphorylated ZAP-70 can also bind Fyn directly (44).
Whatever the case may be, as discussed above, one should admit that in
this situation Sam68 is presumably not phosphorylated by Lck. This
remains to be demonstrated. An adaptor function for Sam68, after TCR
activation, in early signaling pathways downstream of nonreceptor PTK
like Fyn or Lck in T cells has been put forward (11, 16, 20). This is
based on our knowledge that Sam68 in its tyrosine-phosphorylated form
has the capacity to bind several essential SH2-containing signaling
molecules in vitro, but also in vivo, as recently
shown for phospholipase C
-1 and p21ras
GTPase-activating protein (19, 20). An influence of Sam68 on the
corresponding metabolic pathways has not been firmly proven yet and we
did not find any clear effect of Sam68 expression on CD3/TCR-induced
calcium response in preliminary experiments (V. L., unpublished
results); it is nevertheless tempting to imagine a distinct
participation of constitutively phosphorylated Sam68 molecules in these
pathways compared with the phosphorylated form that appears after
CD3/TCR stimulation.
Sam68 is a member of the GRP33-Sam68-GLD-1 (GSG) family of protein
(also known as STAR, for signal transduction and activator of RNA, or
SGQ, for Sam68, GLD-1, and Qk1 family) characterized by a larged
conserved domain (the so-called GSG domain) comprising a unique KH
domain (8, 45). The GSG domain is necessary to mediate RNA binding (1, 7, 8, 21, 46, 47, 48) and oligomerization of the molecule (6, 49). Its
exact function is unknown, but is probably essential since genetic
alterations of different members of the GSG family in this domain,
affecting RNA binding and/or dimerization, are accompanied by an
altered phenotype (49, 50). No such alterations have been reported for
Sam68, but studies have demonstrated that both RNA binding and
multimerization of the molecule are inhibited after phosphorylation (6, 21), showing that it is probably crucial in regulating Sam68 biological
function(s). Since Sam68 has a dual localization in a cell membrane
compartment and mainly in the nucleus, our knowledge of where the
molecule is phosphorylated is therefore essential. By performing
immunoblotting experiments on fractionated T cells, we observed that
Sam68 was expressed both in the highly enriched cell membrane fraction,
where Fyn is present, and in the nucleus. From a quantitative point of
view, we estimated that a majority of Sam68 was in the nuclear
fraction, a conclusion that was further supported by fluorescence
analysis showing a very bright staining of the nucleus with the
Sam68-GFP construct (see Fig. 6
) or by using Sam68-specific Abs (data
not shown). One should note that, using fluorescence, Sam68 was
difficult to detect outside the nucleus, especially at the plasma
membrane. Moreover, the Sam68
NLS-GFP molecule used in this work was
mainly expressed in vesicular structures, suggesting that Sam68 is not
specifically targeted to the plasma membrane when its NLS is missing.
Whatever it may be, we show that the nuclear fraction of Sam68 was
highly tyrosine phosphorylated in cells overexpressing Fyn. We also
demonstrate that Fyn membrane localization is required.
Posttranslational addition of myristate or palmitate is known to target
Src PTKs to membranes (51). Consequently, our results using a truncated
form of the molecule lacking the first N-terminal residues necessary
for these modifications also suggest that the constitutive
phosphorylation of Sam68 initially occurs in this cell compartment and
not into the nucleus. Our observation that a Sam68 mutant unable to
localize in the nucleus is still phosphorylated also strongly supports
this assumption. It should be noted that Fyn overexpression does not
modify the level of Sam68 in the different cellular fractions (see Fig. 5
D). This may indicate that the level of Sam68 inside and
outside the nucleus is tightly regulated by a mechanism that does not
involve Fyn itself. Interestingly, it was reported recently that the
localization of Sam68 in the nucleus of fibroblasts from Src knockout
mice was unchanged (4), suggesting that the localization of the
molecule is independent of Src expression. However, more careful
analysis would be necessary to formally conclude on this point and also
to determine whether Sam68 phosphorylation at or near the cell membrane
may influence its relocalization in the nucleus. When considering this
problem, it is interesting to note that the NLS in Sam68 lies near the
C terminus in the tyrosine-rich region of the molecule. Like other NLS,
whose function is regulated by protein-protein interaction (52), the
function of the NLS in Sam68 may be thus directly regulated by the
state of phosphorylation of the molecule and its subsequent interaction
with SH2-signaling proteins. Using our T cell models, experiments are
now under progress to study these aspects of Sam68 metabolism. We
believe that such approach would help to understand the relationship
between the proposed adaptor function of Sam68 and its potential role
in RNA metabolism.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Georges Bismuth, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 7627, Centre Hospitalier Pitié-Salpétrière/Centre dExamen et de Recherche en Virologie et Immunologie, 83 Blvd de lHopital, 75013, Paris, France. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: KH, K homology domain; GFP, green fluorescent protein; GSG, GRP33-Sam68-GLD-1; NLS, nuclear localization signal; PTK, protein tyrosine kinase; SH, Src homology. ![]()
Received for publication December 21, 1998. Accepted for publication April 5, 1999.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
-1. Mol. Cell. Biol. 15:186.[Abstract]
promoter: an efficient and versatile mammalian cDNA expression system composed of the simian virus 40 early promoter and the R-U5 segment of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 long terminal repeat. Mol. Cell. Biol. 8:466.This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
O. Cen, M. M. Gorska, S. J. Stafford, S. Sur, and R. Alam Identification of UNC119 as a Novel Activator of SRC-type Tyrosine Kinases J. Biol. Chem., February 28, 2003; 278(10): 8837 - 8845. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. P. Scott, F. Zappacosta, E. Y. Kim, R. S. Annan, and W. T. Miller Identification of Novel SH3 Domain Ligands for the Src Family Kinase Hck. WISKOTT-ALDRICH SYNDROME PROTEIN (WASP), WASP-INTERACTING PROTEIN (WIP), AND ELMO1 J. Biol. Chem., July 26, 2002; 277(31): 28238 - 28246. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. A. F. Vara, M. A. D. Caceres, A. Silva, and J. Martin-Perez Src Family Kinases Are Required for Prolactin Induction of Cell Proliferation Mol. Biol. Cell, July 1, 2001; 12(7): 2171 - 2183. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Donnadieu, V. Lang, G. Bismuth, W. Ellmeier, O. Acuto, F. Michel, and A. Trautmann Differential Roles of Lck and Itk in T Cell Response to Antigen Recognition Revealed by Calcium Imaging and Electron Microscopy J. Immunol., May 1, 2001; 166(9): 5540 - 5549. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Gilbert, F. Barabe, E. Rollet-Labelle, S. G. Bourgoin, S. R. McColl, B. B. Damaj, and P. H. Naccache Evidence for a Role for SAM68 in the Responses of Human Neutrophils to Ligation of CD32 and to Monosodium Urate Crystals J. Immunol., April 1, 2001; 166(7): 4664 - 4671. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |