K252a, a potent inhibitor of protein kinases, promotes the transition of Dictyostelium cells from growth to differentiation.

Cell differentiation and proliferation are mutually exclusive processes in many cases. The transition of starving Dictyostelium cells from growth to differentiation phase has been shown to occur at a particular position (putative shift point; PS-point) in the cell cycle of D. discoideum Ax-2. The significance of phosphorylation states of proteins such as 101 kDa, 90 kDa, and 32 kDa phosphoproteins has been argued, particularly around the PS-point. In this study we examined effects of the protein kinase inhibitors and activators on the transition of Ax-2 cells from growth to differentiation. K252a, a potent inhibitor of protein kinases, inhibited growth possibly through the blockage of pinocytotic activity of cells, and promoted the progress of development after starvation when applied to Ax-2 cells at the growth phase. Such a K252a-effect was most pronouncedly exhibited on the cells located near the PS-point. Unexpectedly, however, the development of starved cells was found to be considerably delayed by staurosporine bearing a structural and functional resemblance to K252a when it was applied during the growth phase. Pulse-labelings of growing Ax-2 cells with inorganic 32P (32Pi) showed that K252a induces the disappearance of a 48 kDa phosphoprotein and the appearance of a 50 kDa phosphoprotein, specifically in the cells located around the PS-point. Phosphorylation of 32 kDa and 24 kDa proteins was also inhibited by K252a, but this inhibition was not necessarily specific to the K252a-treatment and occurred independently of the cell-cycle phases. The possible significance of these results is discussed in relation to a breakaway of cells from proliferation to differentiation at the PS-point.