title: Dimerization of the type 4 cAMP-specific phosphodiesterases is mediated by the upstream conserved regions (UCRs).
abstract: The cAMP-specific PDE4 family consists of four genes, each expressed as several splice variants. These variants are termed long and short forms depending on the presence or absence of two unique N-terminal domains called upstream conserved regions 1 and 2 (UCR1 and 2). UCR1 and UCR2 have been shown to form a module necessary for the activation of PDE4 upon phosphorylation by the cAMP-dependent kinase (PKA). Here we have uncovered PDE4 oligomerization as a novel function for the UCR1/UCR2 module. Using several different approaches including gel filtration, sucrose density gradient centrifugation, pull-down of differentially tagged PDE constructs, and yeast two-hybrid assay, we show that the long PDE4 splice variant PDE4D3 behaves as a dimer, whereas the short splice variant PDE4D2 is a monomer. Internal deletions of either the C-terminal portion of UCR1 or the N-terminal portion of UCR2 abolishes dimerization of PDE4D3 indicating that both domains are involved in this intermolecular interaction. The dimerization, however, is structurally distinguishable from a previously described intramolecular interaction involving the same domains. PKA phosphorylation and site-directed mutagenesis shown to ablate the latter do not interfere with dimerization. Therefore, dimerization of the long PDE4 forms may be an additional function of the UCR domains that further explains differences in the regulatory properties between the long and short PDE4 splice variants.
authors.affiliation: Division of Reproductive Biology, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305-5317, USA.
authors.forename: Wito
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conti
mesh_terms: D015105:3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002498:Centrifugation; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism*; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4; D017931:DNA Primers; D019281:Dimerization; D051379:Mice; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D015105:3',5'-Cyclic-AMP Phosphodiesterases; D054703:Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4