title: Akt/protein kinase B-dependent phosphorylation and inactivation of WEE1Hu promote cell cycle progression at G2/M transition.
abstract: The serine/threonine kinase Akt is known to promote cell growth by regulating the cell cycle in G1 phase through activation of cyclin/Cdk kinases and inactivation of Cdk inhibitors. However, how the G2/M phase is regulated by Akt remains unclear. Here, we show that Akt counteracts the function of WEE1Hu. Inactivation of Akt by chemotherapeutic drugs or the phosphatidylinositide-3-OH kinase inhibitor LY294002 induced G2/M arrest together with the inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdc2. Because the increased Cdc2 phosphorylation was completely suppressed by wee1hu gene silencing, WEE1Hu was associated with G2/M arrest induced by Akt inactivation. Further analyses revealed that Akt directly bound to and phosphorylated WEE1Hu during the S to G2 phase. Serine-642 was identified as an Akt-dependent phosphorylation site. WEE1Hu kinase activity was not affected by serine-642 phosphorylation. We revealed that serine-642 phosphorylation promoted cytoplasmic localization of WEE1Hu. The nuclear-to-cytoplasmic translocation was mediated by phosphorylation-dependent WEE1Hu binding to 14-3-3theta but not 14-3-3beta or -sigma. These results indicate that Akt promotes G2/M cell cycle progression by inducing phosphorylation-dependent 14-3-3theta binding and cytoplasmic localization of WEE1Hu.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Naoya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuruo
mesh_terms: D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology*; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D016195:G2 Phase; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011485:Protein Binding; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C499349:WEE1 protein, human; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt