title: Identification of the region in Cdc42 that confers the binding specificity to activated Cdc42-associated kinase.
abstract: The Rho family small G-protein Cdc42 has been implicated in a diversity of biological functions. Multiple downstream effectors have been identified. How Cdc42 discriminates the interaction with its multiple downstream effectors is not known. Activated Cdc42-associated tyrosine kinase (ACK) is a very specific effector of Cdc42. To delineate the Cdc42 signaling pathway mediated by ACK, we set about to identify the specific ACK-binding region in Cdc42. We utilized TC10, another member of the Rho family of G-proteins that is 66.7% identical to Cdc42, to construct TC10/Cdc42 chimeras for screening the specific ACK-binding region in Cdc42. A region between switch I and switch II has been identified as the specific ACK-binding (AB) region. The replacement of the AB region with the corresponding region in TC10 resulted in the complete loss of ACK-binding ability but did not affect the binding to WASP, suggesting that the AB region confers the binding specificity to ACK. On the other hand, replacement of the corresponding region of TC10 with the AB region enabled TC10 to acquire ACK-binding ability. Eight residues are different between the AB region and the corresponding region of TC10. The mutational analysis indicated that all eight residues contribute to the binding to ACK2. The assays for the Cdc42-mediated activation of ACK2 indicated that the AB region is essential for Cdc42 to activate ACK2 in cells. Thus, our studies have defined a specific ACK-binding region in Cdc42 and have provided a molecular basis for generating ACK binding-defective mutants of Cdc42 to delineate ACK-mediated signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, Pennsylvania 17822, USA.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chandra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Childress
authors.forename: Wannian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D019556:COS Cells; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000378:metabolism; D016244:Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate) / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D017354:Point Mutation; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013997:Time Factors; D014162:Transfection; D020764:cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D016244:Guanosine 5'-O-(3-Thiotriphosphate); D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C403262:TNK2 protein, human; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases; C503256:RHOQ protein, human; D020764:cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins