Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays essential roles in cell proliferation, survival and metabolism by forming at least two functional distinct multi-protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. External growth signals can be received and interpreted by mTORC2 and further transduced to mTORC1. On the other hand, mTORC1 can sense inner-cellular physiological cues such as amino acids and energy states and can indirectly suppress mTORC2 activity in part through phosphorylation of its upstream adaptors, IRS-1 or Grb10, under insulin or IGF-1 stimulation conditions. To date, upstream signaling pathways governing mTORC1 activation have been studied extensively, while the mechanisms modulating mTORC2 activity remain largely elusive. We recently reported that Sin1, an essential mTORC2 subunit, was phosphorylated by either Akt or S6K in a cellular context-dependent manner. More importantly, phosphorylation of Sin1 at T86 and T398 led to a dissociation of Sin1 from the functional mTORC2 holo-enzyme, resulting in reduced Akt activity and sensitizing cells to various apoptotic challenges. Notably, an ovarian cancer patient-derived Sin1-R81T mutation abolished Sin1-T86 phosphorylation by disrupting the canonical S6K-phoshorylation motif, thereby bypassing Sin1-phosphorylation-mediated suppression of mTORC2 and leading to sustained Akt signaling to promote tumorigenesis. Our work therefore provided physiological and pathological evidence to reveal the biological significance of Sin1 phosphorylation-mediated suppression of the mTOR/Akt oncogenic signaling, and further suggested that misregulation of this process might contribute to Akt hyper-activation that is frequently observed in human cancers.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; metabolism ; Animals ; Humans ; Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 ; Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2 ; Models, Biological ; Multiprotein Complexes ; metabolism ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphothreonine ; metabolism ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; metabolism

No abstract available.
Humans* ; Keratinocytes* ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases* ; Serine* ; Threonine*

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a gene that, upon mutation, causes autosomal-dominant familial Parkinson's disease (PD). Yeast two-hybrid screening revealed that Snapin, a SNAP-25 (synaptosomal-associated protein-25) interacting protein, interacts with LRRK2. An in vitro kinase assay exhibited that Snapin is phosphorylated by LRRK2. A glutathione-S-transferase (GST) pull-down assay showed that LRRK2 may interact with Snapin via its Ras-of-complex (ROC) and N-terminal domains, with no significant difference on interaction of Snapin with LRRK2 wild type (WT) or its pathogenic mutants. Further analysis by mutation study revealed that Threonine 117 of Snapin is one of the sites phosphorylated by LRRK2. Furthermore, a Snapin T117D phosphomimetic mutant decreased its interaction with SNAP-25 in the GST pull-down assay. SNAP-25 is a component of the SNARE (Soluble NSF Attachment protein REceptor) complex and is critical for the exocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Incubation of rat brain lysate with recombinant Snapin T117D, but not WT, protein caused decreased interaction of synaptotagmin with the SNARE complex based on a co-immunoprecipitation assay. We further found that LRRK2-dependent phosphorylation of Snapin in the hippocampal neurons resulted in a decrease in the number of readily releasable vesicles and the extent of exocytotic release. Combined, these data suggest that LRRK2 may regulate neurotransmitter release via control of Snapin function by inhibitory phosphorylation.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Exocytosis ; Female ; HEK293 Cells ; Humans ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutant Proteins/metabolism ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphothreonine/metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Protein Interaction Mapping ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/*metabolism ; Qa-SNARE Proteins/metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25/*metabolism ; Synaptotagmins/metabolism ; Vesicle-Associated Membrane Protein 2/metabolism ; Vesicular Transport Proteins/chemistry/*metabolism

Translationally controlled tumor proteins (TCTP) and SNF1- related protein kinase (SnRK1) are conserved and widely present in eukaryotic cells. TCTP regulates cell division, plant growth and development, and mediates plant resistance against pathogen infection. SnRK1 participates in a range of physiological processes including sugar metabolism and resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Previous work in our laboratory demonstrated that wheat TCTP can respond to Puccinia triticina infection and induce host defense responses. In order to further investigate the mechanism of TaTCTP in wheat resistance to Puccinia triticina infection, we used TAP (tandem affinity purification) and mass spectrometry to screen the potential interactants of TaTCTP. A SNF1- related protein kinase (SnRK1) was identified as a potential interacting protein of TaTCTP. The results of yeast two-hybrid assay showed that TCTP could interact with SnRK1 in yeast, and the yeast carrying TCTP and SnRK1 could grow on SD/-Leu/-Trp/-His/-Ade (SD/-LWHA) medium. The fluorescence signal of the interaction between TCTP and SnRK1 was found to be distributed in the cytoplasm in the Bi-fluorescense complementation experiment. Co-IP experiments further showed that TCTP and SnRK1 could interact in plant cells. This study lays an important foundation for further studying the mechanism of TaTCTP in the interaction between wheat and Puccinia triticina, and it play a great influence on further improving the molecular mechanism of wheat resistant to Puccinia triticina.
Basidiomycota ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; Protein Biosynthesis ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; Triticum

2-Hydroxybutyric acid (2-HBA) is an important intermediate for synthesizing biodegradable materials and various medicines. Chemically synthesized racemized 2-HBA requires deracemization to obtain optically pure enantiomers for industrial application. In this study, we designed a cascade biosynthesis system in Escherichia coli BL21 by coexpressing L-threonine deaminase (TD), NAD-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) for production of optically pure (S)-2-HBA from bulk chemical L-threonine (L-Thr). To coordinate the production rate and the consumption rate of the intermediate 2-oxobutyric acid in the multi-enzyme cascade catalytic reactions, we explored promoter engineering to regulate the expression levels of TD and FDH, and developed a recombinant strain P21285FDH-T7V7827 with a tunable system to achieve a coordinated multi-enzyme expression. The recombinant strain P21285FDH-T7V7827 was able to efficiently produce (S)-2-HBA with the highest titer of 143 g/L and a molar yield of 97% achieved within 16 hours. This titer was approximately 1.83 times than that of the highest yield reported to date, showing great potential for industrial application. Our results indicated that constructing a multi-enzyme-coordinated expression system in a single cell significantly contributed to the biosynthesis of hydroxyl acids.
Escherichia coli/genetics* ; Formate Dehydrogenases ; Hydroxybutyrates ; Threonine Dehydratase

Leucine dehydrogenase (LDH) is the key rate-limiting enzyme in the production of L-2-aminobutyric acid (L-2-ABA). In this study, we modified the C-terminal Loop region of this enzyme to improve the specific enzyme activity and stability for efficient synthesis of L-2-ABA. Using molecular dynamics simulation of LDH, we analyzed the change of root mean square fluctuation (RMSF), rationally designed the Loop region with greatly fluctuated RMSF, and obtained a mutant EsLDHD2 with a specific enzyme activity 23.2% higher than that of the wild type. Since the rate of the threonine deaminase-catalyzed reaction converting L-threonine into 2-ketobutyrate was so fast, the multi-enzyme cascade catalysis system became unbalanced. Therefore, the LDH and the formate dehydrogenase were double copied in a new construct E. coli BL21/pACYCDuet-RM. Compared with E. coli BL21/pACYCDuet-RO, the molar conversion rate of L-2-ABA increased by 74.6%. The whole cell biotransformation conditions were optimized and the optimal pH, temperature and substrate concentration were 7.5, 35 °C and 80 g/L, respectively. Under these conditions, the molar conversion rate was higher than 99%. Finally, 80 g and 40 g L-threonine were consecutively fed into a 1 L reaction mixture under the optimal conversion conditions, producing 97.9 g L-2-ABA. Thus, this strategy provides a green and efficient synthesis of L-2-ABA, and has great industrial application potential.
Aminobutyrates ; Escherichia coli/genetics* ; Leucine Dehydrogenase/genetics* ; Threonine Dehydratase

Humans ; Phosphorylation ; Serine ; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; Spasms, Infantile

2,5-dimethylpyrazine (2,5-DMP) is of important economic value in food industry and pharmaceutical industry, and is now commonly produced by chemical synthesis. In this study, a recombinant Escherichia coli high-efficiently converting L-threonine to 2,5-DMP was constructed by combination of metabolic engineering and cofactor engineering. To do this, the effect of different threonine dehydrogenase (TDH) on 2,5-DMP production was investigated, and the results indicate that overexpression of EcTDH in E. coli BL21(DE3) was beneficial to construct a 2,5-DMP producer with highest 2,5-DMP production. The recombinant strain E. coli pRSFDuet-tdh(Ec) produced (438.3±23.7) mg/L of 2,5-DMP. Furthermore, the expression mode of NADH oxidase (NoxE) from Lactococcus cremoris was optimized, and fusion expression of EcTDH and LcNoxE led to balance the intracellular NADH/NAD⁺ level and to maintain the high survival rate of cells, thus further increasing 2,5-DMP production. Finally, the accumulation of by-products was significantly decreased because of disruption of shunt metabolic pathway, thereby increasing 2,5-DMP production and the conversion ratio of L-threonine. Combination of these genetic modifications resulted in an engineered E. coli Δkbl ΔtynA ΔtdcB ΔilvA pRSFDuet-tdhEcnoxELc-PsstT (EcΔkΔAΔBΔA/TDH(Ec)NoxE(Lc)-PSstT) capable of producing (1 095.7±81.3) mg/L 2,5-DMP with conversion ratio of L-threonine of 76% and a yield of 2,5-DMP of 28.8% in 50 mL transformation system with 5 g/L L-threonine at 37 °C and 200 r/min for 24 h. Therefore, this study provides a recombinant E. coli with high-efficiently catalyzing L-threonine to biosynthesize 2,5-DMP, which can be potentially used in biosynthesis of 2,5-DMP in industry.
Escherichia coli/genetics* ; Lactococcus ; Metabolic Engineering ; Pyrazines ; Threonine

The leucine-rich repeat kinase2 (LRRK2) has been identified to be the gene causing autosomal dominant inherited Parkinson's disease(PD)8. The clinical features of this type of PD are similar to those of idiopathic PD, but the pathological changes are diverse. The mutation types and frequencies of the LRRK2 distribute unevenly in different populations. LRRK2 is a large complex protein with multiple functions and expresses widely in human body. Sequence alignment shows that LRRK2 might be a multiple function kinase for substrate phosphorylation and might also act as a scaffolding protein. Further study on the physiological function and pathogenic mechanism of LRRK2 will help to find out the possible pathogenesis and new treatment for PD.
Animals ; Continental Population Groups ; genetics ; Humans ; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 ; Mutation ; Parkinson Disease ; genetics ; pathology ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sequence Alignment

Adolescent ; Adult ; DNA ; genetics ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2 ; Male ; Mutation ; Parkinsonian Disorders ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics