title: PDK1 regulates growth through Akt and S6K in Drosophila.
abstract: The insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 signaling pathway promotes growth in invertebrates and vertebrates by increasing the levels of phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate through the activation of p110 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. Two key effectors of this pathway are the phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) and Akt/PKB. Although genetic analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans has implicated Akt as the only relevant PDK1 substrate, cell culture studies have suggested that PDK1 has additional targets. Here we show that, in Drosophila, dPDK1 controls cellular and organism growth by activating dAkt and S6 kinase, dS6K. Furthermore, dPDK1 genetically interacts with dRSK but not with dPKN, encoding two substrates of PDK1 in vitro. Thus, the results suggest that dPDK1 is required for dRSK but not dPKN activation and that it regulates insulin-mediated growth through two main effector branches, dAkt and dS6K.
authors.affiliation: Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rintelen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stocker
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hafen
mesh_terms: D064413:3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinases; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D019893:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D064413:3-Phosphoinositide-Dependent Protein Kinases; C494917:Akt1 protein, Drosophila; C578560:Pdk1 protein, Drosophila; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D019893:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases