title: Characterization of a novel plant PP2C-like protein Ser/Thr phosphatase as a calmodulin-binding protein.
abstract: Protein phosphatases regulated by calmodulin (CaM) mediate the action of intracellular Ca2+ and modulate functions of various target proteins by dephosphorylation. In plants, however, the role of Ca2+ in the regulation of protein dephosphorylation is not well understood due to a lack of information on characteristics of CaM-regulated protein phosphatases. Screening of a cDNA library of the moss Physcomitrella patens by using 35S-labeled calmodulin as a ligand resulted in identification of a gene, PCaMPP, that encodes a protein serine/threonine phosphatase with 373 amino acids. PCaMPP had a catalytic domain with sequence similarity to type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) with six conserved metal-associating amino acid residues and also had an extra C-terminal domain. Recombinant GST fusion proteins of PCaMPP exhibited Mn2+-dependent phosphatase activity, and the activity was inhibited by pyrophosphate and 1 mm Ca2+ but not by okadaic acid, orthovanadate, or beta-glycerophosphate. Furthermore, the PCaMPP activity was increased 1.7-fold by addition of CaM at nanomolar concentrations. CaM binding assays using deletion proteins and a synthetic peptide revealed that the CaM-binding region resides within the basic amphiphilic amino acid region 324-346 in the C-terminal domain. The CaM-binding region had sequence similarity to amino acids in one of three alpha-helices in the C-terminal domain of human PP2Calpha, suggesting a novel role of the C-terminal domains for the phosphatase activity. These results provide the first evidence showing possible regulation of PP2C-related phosphatases by Ca2+/CaM in plants. Genes similar to PCaMPP were found in genomes of various higher plant species, suggesting that PCaMPP-type protein phosphatases are conserved in land plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan. daisuket@pop.lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Takezawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000378:metabolism; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D018745:Genome, Plant; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D000071636:Protein Phosphatase 2C
chemical_list: D002147:Calmodulin; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; D000071636:Protein Phosphatase 2C