title: The Caenorhabditis elegans sex-determining protein FEM-2 and its human homologue, hFEM-2, are Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase phosphatases that promote apoptosis.
abstract: In Caenorhabditis elegans, fem-1, fem-2, and fem-3 play pivotal roles in sex determination. Recently, a mammalian homologue of the C. elegans sex-determining protein FEM-1, F1Aalpha, has been described. Although there is little evidence to link F1Aalpha to sex determination, F1Aalpha and FEM-1 both promote apoptosis in mammalian cells. Here we report the identification and characterization of a human homologue of the C. elegans sex-determining protein FEM-2, hFEM-2. Similar to FEM-2, hFEM-2 exhibited PP2C phosphatase activity and associated with FEM-3. hFEM-2 shows striking similarity (79% amino acid identity) to rat Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase phosphatase (rCaMKPase). hFEM-2 and FEM-2, but not PP2Calpha, were demonstrated to dephosphorylate CaM kinase II efficiently in vitro, suggesting that hFEM-2 and FEM-2 are specific phosphatases for CaM kinase. Furthermore, hFEM-2 and FEM-2 associated with F1Aalpha and FEM-1 respectively. Overexpression of hFEM-2, FEM-2, or rCaMKPase all mediated apoptosis in mammalian cells. The catalytically active, but not the inactive, forms of hFEM-2 induced caspase-dependent apoptosis, which was blocked by Bcl-XL or a dominant negative mutant of caspase-9. Taken together, our data suggest that hFEM-2 and rCaMKPase are mammalian homologues of FEM-2 and they are evolutionarily conserved CaM kinase phosphatases that may have a role in apoptosis signaling.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 30 Medical Drive, Singapore 117609, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: K O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: V C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; C517679:unc-43 protein, C elegans; C097435:Fem-2 protein, C elegans; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases