Tyrosine phosphorylation of cofilin at Y68 by v-Src leads to its degradation through ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

Cofilin is a major regulator of actin dynamics involved in the regulation of cell spreading and migration through its actin depolymerizing and severing activities. v-Src is an activated Src tyrosine kinase and a potent oncogene known to phosphorylate a variety of cellular proteins in cell transformation process including altered cell adhesion, spreading and migration. Recently, it has been suggested that cofilin is a potential substrate of v-Src (Rush et al., 2005). Here, we show direct tyrosine phosphorylation of cofilin by v-Src and identify Y68 as the major phosphorylation site. Cofilin phosphorylation at Y68 did not change its activity per se, but induced increased ubiquitination of cofilin and its degradation through the proteosome pathway. Furthermore, the negative effect of cofilin on cellular F-actin contents was inhibited by coexpression of v-Src, whereas that of cofilin mutant Y68F (Y68 mutated to F) was not affected, suggesting that v-Src-mediated cofilin phosphorylation at Y68 is required for the degradation of cofilin in vivo. Lastly, inhibition of cell spreading by v-Src was rescued partially by coexpression of cofilin, and to a greater extent by the Y68F mutant, which is not subjected to v-Src-induced degradation through phosphorylation, suggesting that v-Src-mediated changes in cell spreading is, at least in part, through inhibiting the function of cofilin through phosphorylating it at Y68. Together, these results suggest a novel mechanism by which cofilin is regulated by v-Src through tyrosine phosphorylation at Y68 that triggers the degradation of cofilin through ubiquitination-proteosome pathway and consequently inhibits cofilin activity in reducing cellular F-actin contents and cell spreading.