Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-Universidad de Buenos Aires; Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cell Cycle. 2013 Oct 1;12(19):3165-74. doi: 10.4161/cc.26183. Epub 2013 Aug 27.
Akt/PKB is a key signaling molecule in higher eukaryotes and a crucial protein kinase in human health and disease. Phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitylation have been reported as important regulatory post-translational modifications of this kinase. We describe here that Akt is modified by SUMO conjugation, and show that lysine residues 276 and 301 are the major SUMO attachment sites within this protein. We found that phosphorylation and SUMOylation of Akt appear as independent events. However, decreasing Akt SUMOylation levels severely affects the role of this kinase as a regulator of fibronectin and Bcl-x alternative splicing. Moreover, we observed that the Akt mutant (Akt E17K) found in several human tumors displays increased levels of SUMOylation and also an enhanced capacity to regulate fibronectin splicing patterns. This splicing regulatory activity is completely abolished by decreasing Akt E17K SUMO conjugation levels. Additionally, we found that SUMOylation controls Akt regulatory function at G₁/S transition during cell cycle progression. These findings reveal SUMO conjugation as a novel level of regulation for Akt activity, opening new areas of exploration related to the molecular mechanisms involved in the diverse cellular functions of this kinase.
Akt/PKB 是高等真核生物中的关键信号分子,也是人类健康和疾病中的关键蛋白激酶。已报道磷酸化、乙酰化和泛素化是这种激酶的重要调节翻译后修饰。我们在这里描述 Akt 通过 SUMO 缀合进行修饰,并表明赖氨酸残基 276 和 301 是该蛋白中的主要 SUMO 附着位点。我们发现 Akt 的磷酸化和 SUMO 化似乎是独立的事件。然而,降低 Akt SUMO 化水平严重影响了该激酶作为纤维连接蛋白和 Bcl-x 可变剪接调节剂的作用。此外,我们观察到在几种人类肿瘤中发现的 Akt 突变体(Akt E17K)显示出更高水平的 SUMO 化,并且也具有增强调节纤维连接蛋白剪接模式的能力。通过降低 Akt E17K SUMO 缀合水平,这种剪接调节活性完全被消除。此外,我们发现 SUMO 化在细胞周期进程中的 G₁/S 转换期间控制 Akt 的调节功能。这些发现揭示了 SUMO 缀合作为 Akt 活性的新调节水平,为探索与这种激酶的各种细胞功能相关的分子机制开辟了新的领域。