Glycogen synthase kinases. Distribution in mammalian tissues of forms that are independent of cyclic AMP.

Extracts of rat tissues contain kinases which catalyze the conversion of glycogen synthease from the glucose 6-phosphate-independent (I) form to the glucose 6-phosphatate-dependent (D) form. These kinases were stimulated by adenosine 3':5' monophosphate (cyclic AMP). The glycogen synthase kinase activity ratio (activity in the absence of cyclic AMP divided by activity in the presence of cyclic AMP) varied from 0.28 to 0.97. The activity ratio for histone kinase in the same extracts ranged from 0.11 to 0.29. The levels of glycogen synthase kinase varied by a factor of 80 in the following rat tissues (given in order of decreasing enzyme activity): kidney, liver, stomach mucosa, lung, brain, heart, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue. In the same tissues the levels of histone kinase varied by only a factor of 6 and did not correlate with the levels of glycogen synthase kinase. A modification of the method of Walsh et al. ((1971) J. Biol. Chem. 246, 1977-1985) was developed for purification of the heat-stable inhibitor of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases (inhibitor). The modified procedure resulted in good yields of highly purified inhibitor and was much simpler than the previously described procedure. This inhibitor completely inhibited cyclic AMP-dependent histone kinase activity of the extracts but much of the glycogen synthase kinase activity was not inhibited. The portion of glycogen synthase kinase that was insensitive to the inhibitor was: stomach mucosa, 95%; brain, 90%; liver, 82%; kidney, 81%; lung, 68%; adipose tissue, 65%; skeletal muscle, 63%; and heart, 54%. This histone kinase activity in the extracts and hte ratio of glycogen synthase kinase to histone kinase activity of purified catalytic subunit of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase was used to calculate for each extract the glycogen synthase kinase activity contributed by the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Based on these calculations, the portion of the glycogen synthase kinase which was due to kinases independent of cyclic AMP was: kidney, 97%; liver, 91%; lung, 89%; brain, 87%, heart, 85%; stomach mucosa, 84%; adipose tissue, 38%; and skeletal muscle, 33%. A significant portion of the glycogen synthase kinase activity, but virtually none of the cyclic AMP-dependent histone kinase activity, of these extracts could be adsorbed to phosphocellulose columns. Liver extracts contained, in addition, a form of glycogen synthase kinase which was not adsorbed to phosphocellulose and which could be separated from the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase by additional chromatography. These studies demonstrate that kinases independent of cyclic AMP account for most of the glycogen synthase kinase activity of many tissues. The widespread distribution and high concentrations of these enzymes suggest that they are of physiological importance.