Massive autophosphorylation of the Ser/Thr-rich domain controls protein kinase activity of TRPM6 and TRPM7

Kristopher Clark*, Jeroen Middelbeek, Nick A. Morrice, Carl G. Figdor, Edwin Lasonder, Frank N. van Leeuwen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

TRPM6 and TRPM7 are bifunctional proteins expressing a TRP channel fused to an atypical α-kinase domain. While the gating properties of TRPM6 and TRPM7 channels have been studied in detail, little is known about the mechanisms regulating kinase activity. Recently, we found that TRPM7 associates with its substrate myosin II via a kinase-dependent mechanism suggesting a role for autophosphorylation in substrate recognition. Here, we demonstrate that the cytosolic C-terminus of TRPM7 undergoes massive autophosphorylation (32±4 mol/mol), which strongly increases the rate of substrate phosporylation. Phosphomapping by mass spectrometry indicates that the majority of autophosphorylation sites (37 out of 46) map to a Ser/Thr-rich region immediately N-terminal of the catalytic domain. Deletion of this region prevents substrate phosphorylation without affecting intrinsic catalytic activity suggesting that the Ser/Thr-rich domain contributes to substrate recognition. Surprisingly, the TRPM6-kinase is regulated by an analogous mechanism despite a lack of sequence conservation with the TRPM7 Ser/ Thr-rich domain. In conclusion, our findings support a model where massive autophosphorylation outside the catalytic domain of TRPM6 and TRPM7 may facilitate kinase-substrate interactions leading to enhanced phosphorylation of those substrates.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1876
Number of pages10
JournalPLoS One
Volume3
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2008
Externally publishedYes

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