Journal Article

The stability of Fbw7α in M-phase requires its phosphorylation by PKC

Institut de Biologie Computationnelle (IBC) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle (IGF) ; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Zitouni, Sihem, Méchali, Francisca, Institut de génétique humaine (IGH) ; Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Coux, Olivier, Méthodes et Algorithmes pour la Bioinformatique (MAB) ; Laboratoire d'Informatique de Robotique et de Microélectronique de Montpellier (LIRMM) ; Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Roche, Daniel, Barry, Centre de recherche en Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier

2017

Overview

Fbw7 is a tumor suppressor often deleted or mutated in human cancers. It serves as the substrate-recruiting subunit of a SCF ubiquitin ligase that targets numerous critical proteins for degradation, including oncoproteins and master transcription factors. Cyclin E was the first identified substrate of the SCFFbw7 ubiquitin ligase. In human cancers bearing FBXW7-gene mutations, deregulation of cyclin E turnover leads to its aberrant expression in mitosis. We investigated Fbw7 regulation in Xenopus eggs, which, although arrested in a mitotic-like phase, naturally express high levels of cyclin E. Here, we report that Fbw7α, the only Fbw7 isoform detected in eggs, is phosphorylated by PKC (protein kinase C) at a key residue (S18) in a manner coincident with Fbw7α inactivation. We show that this PKC-dependent phosphorylation and inactivation of Fbw7α also occurs in mitosis during human somatic cell cycles, and importantly is critical for Fbw7α stabilization itself upon nuclear envelope breakdown. Finally, we provide evidence that S18 phosphorylation, which lies within the intrinsically disordered N-terminal region specific to the α-isoform reduces the capacity of Fbw7α to dimerize and to bind cyclin E. Together, these findings implicate PKC in an evolutionarily-conserved pathway that aims to protect Fbw7α from degradation by keeping it transiently in a resting, inactive state

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,CCSD