The binding of Ku antigen to homeodomain proteins promotes their phosphorylation by DNA-dependent protein kinase.

The Ku antigen (70- and 80-kDa subunits) is a regulatory subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) that promotes the recruitment of the catalytic subunit of DNA-PK (DNA-PKcs) to DNA ends and to specific DNA sequences from which the kinase is activated. Ku and DNA-PKcs plays essential roles in double-stranded DNA break repair and V(D)J recombination and have been implicated in the regulation of specific gene transcription. In a yeast two-hybrid screen of a Jurkat T cell cDNA library, we have identified a specific interaction between the 70-kDa subunit of Ku heterodimer and the homeodomain of HOXC4, a homeodomain protein expressed in the hematopoietic system. Unexpectedly, a similar interaction with Ku was observed for several additional homeodomain proteins including octamer transcription factors 1 and 2 and Dlx2, suggesting that specific binding to Ku may be a property shared by many homeodomain proteins. Ku-homeodomain binding was mediated through the extreme C terminus of Ku70 and was abrogated by amino acid substitutions at Lys595/Lys596. Ku binding allowed the recruitment of the homeodomain to DNA ends and dramatically enhanced the phosphorylation of homeodomain-containing proteins by DNA-PK. These results suggest that Ku functions as a substrate docking protein for signaling by DNA-PK to homeodomain proteins from DNA ends.