title: A novel N-terminal hydrophobic motif mediates constitutive degradation of serum- and glucocorticoid-induced kinase-1 by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.
abstract: Serum- and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase-1 (SGK-1) plays a critical role in regulation of the epithelial sodium channel, ENaC. SGK-1 also shares significant catalytic domain homology with protein kinase B (PKB/AKT-1) and is a downstream effector of antiapoptotic phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling. Steady-state levels of an active SGK-1 are tightly regulated by rapid transcriptional activation and post-translational modification including phosphorylation. We show here that endogenous SGK-1 protein is polyubiquitinated and rapidly degraded by the 26S proteasome. In contrast to other rapidly degraded kinases, neither the catalytic activity of SGK-1 nor activation site phosphorylation was required for its ubiquitin modification and degradation. Instead, SGK-1 degradation required a lysine-less six-amino-acid (amino acids 19-24) hydrophobic motif (GMVAIL) within the N-terminal domain. Deletion of amino acids 19-24 significantly increased the half-life of SGK1 and prevented its ubiquitin modification. Interestingly, this minimal region was also required for the association of SGK-1 with the endoplasmic reticulum. Ubiquitin modification and degradation of SGK-1 were increasingly inhibited by the progressive mutation of six N-terminal lysine residues surrounding the GMVAIL motif. Mutation of all six lysines to arginine did not disrupt the subcellular localization of SGK-1 despite a significant decrease in ubiquitination, implying that this modification per se was not required for targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum. These results suggest that constitutive ubiquitin-mediated degradation of SGK-1 is an important mechanism regulating its biological activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The University of Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Agata M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bogusz
authors.forename: Deanna R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Brickley
authors.forename: Travis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pew
authors.forename: Suzanne D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Conzen
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D019556:COS Cells; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000099184:Serum-Glucocorticoid Regulated Kinases
chemical_list: D017874:Immediate-Early Proteins; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D025801:Ubiquitin; D000099184:Serum-Glucocorticoid Regulated Kinases; C061553:ATP dependent 26S protease