title: Stress-activated protein kinase/c-jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylates tau protein.
abstract: A proportion of the neuronal microtubule-associated protein (MAP) tau is highly phosphorylated in foetal and adult brain, whereas the majority of tau in the neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's patients is hyperphosphorylated; many of the phosphorylation sites are serines or threonines followed by prolines. Several kinases phosphorylate tau at such sites in vitro. We have now shown that purified recombinant stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase, a proline-directed kinase of the MAP kinase extended family, phosphorylates recombinant tau in vitro on threonine and serine residues. Western blots using antibodies to phosphorylation-dependent tau epitopes demonstrated that phosphorylation occurs in both of the main phosphorylated regions of tau protein. Unlike glycogen synthase kinase-3, the c-Jun N-terminal kinase readily phosphorylates Thr205 and Ser422, which are more highly phosphorylated in Alzheimer tau than in foetal or adult tau. Glycogen synthase kinase-3 may preferentially phosphorylate the sites found physiologically, in foetal and to a smaller extent in adult tau, whereas stress-activated/c-Jun N-terminal kinase and/or other members of the extended MAP kinase family may be responsible for pathological proline-directed phosphorylations. Inflammatory processes in Alzheimer brain might therefore contribute directly to the pathological formation of the hyperphosphorylated tau found in neurofibrillary tangles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England.
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Utton
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Gibb
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yates
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Anderton
mesh_terms: D000918:Antibody Specificity; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D000939:Epitopes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048670:MAP Kinase Kinase 4; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012694:Serine / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000378:metabolism*; D013912:Threonine / Q000378:metabolism; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D016875:tau Proteins; D013912:Threonine; D012694:Serine; D011494:Protein Kinases; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D011493:Protein Kinase C; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048670:MAP Kinase Kinase 4; D020929:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases