PKA modulates the activity of MAP kinases in a cell type– and stimulus-specific manner by interfering with upstream events from signaling cascades activated through distinct Ras-like GTPases, including Ras, Rap1, and RalGDS (
Vossler et al. 1997;
Miller et al. 1998). In addition, PKA activity favors the nuclear translocation of ERK1/2 in PC12 and hippocampal neurons, as well as in presynaptic sensory neurons from
Aplysia (
Impey et al. 1998;
Martin et al. 1998;
Yao et al. 1998). Our results, showing a crosstalk between the PKA and ERK1/2 and p38α kinases through the tyrosine phosphatase PTP-SL, support the existence of a novel mechanism by which PKA can regulate the activity of the MAP kinases and their translocation to the nucleus (). Such a mechanism would involve the existence, in certain cell types, of a pool of inactive MAP kinases outside of the nucleus, which would be complexed with PTP-SL or other KIM-containing PTPs, including STEP and HePTP (see below). The dissociation equilibrium of the complex would depend upon the cell type– and the stimulus-specific conditions of PKA activity, and the lack of association would be favored by the PKA-mediated phosphorylation of the KIM regulatory residue on the PTP. Thus, upon conditions of PKA activation, both the tyrosine phosphorylation and the entry into the nucleus of the MAP kinases would be prevalent. It should be noted that the expression of PTP-SL and related isoforms is restricted to specialized areas of the brain, including the Purkinje cells in the postnatal cerebellum (
Watanabe et al. 1998;
van den Maagdenberg et al. 1999), suggesting the possibility of a differential regulation of MAP kinase functions by PTP-SL and PKA during brain development.
The mutational analysis of the KIM of PTP-SL has revealed that the residues involved in the PKA phosphorylation consensus sequence are also crucial for the docking of this phosphatase with ERK1/2 (
Zúñiga et al. 1999). Such residues are conserved between the related tyrosine phosphatases PTP-SL, STEP, and HePTP, which have been found to associate with MAP kinases and regulate their activation (
Pulido et al. 1998;
Oh-hora et al. 1999;
Saxena et al. 1999a). In this regard, while writing this manuscript,
Saxena et al. 1999b have reported the negative role of PKA phosphorylation of the KIM of HePTP in the physical and functional association of HePTP with MAP kinases. Also, a tyrosine phosphatase from
Drosophila, PTP-ER, has been found that inactivates MAP kinase, and that contains three KIMs with consensus phosphorylation sites for PKA (
Karim and Rubin 1999). Finally, we have found that the retention of ERK2 outside of the nucleus is efficiently achieved by PTP-SL catalytically inactive mutants, as well as by truncated PTP-SL molecules lacking the PTP domain, demonstrating that this domain is dispensable in a such process. Thus, PKA-mediated KIM phosphorylations could have diverse regulatory effects on MAP kinase functions, depending on the functional properties of the affected KIM-containing molecule.
The involvement of distinct kinases in the in vivo phosphorylation of PTP-SL is likely to exist, which ultimately could control the biological functions of this PTP. Thus, the Thr
253 residue of PTP-SL is phosphorylated in vivo by ERK1/2 upon EGF cell treatment in a manner dependent of docking through the KIM (
Pulido et al. 1998). Furthermore, the Thr
253 residue is also a putative PKC phosphorylation site, and PTP-SL is phosphorylated in vitro by this kinase (our unpublished observations). In this context, the binding of MAP kinases to the KIM of PTP-SL could mask the PKA phosphorylation motif by steric hindrance, hampering the phosphorylation of PTP-SL by PKA; conversely, phosphorylation of the KIM by PKA difficult the association of MAP kinases and the subsequent phosphorylation of the Thr
253 residue. The results presented here indicate a major regulatory role on the PTP-SL functions for the PKA-mediated phosphorylation of the Ser
231 residue; accordingly, the basal phosphorylation of PTP-SL in COS-7 cells is found predominantly in such residue ( B). On the other hand, the functional significance of the phosphorylation of the Thr
253 residue by ERK1/2 remains elusive. The possibility exists that phosphorylation of Thr
253 regulates the dissociation of PTP-SL from MAP kinases, as it has been suggested for HePTP (
Saxena et al. 1999a). However, the cytoplasmic retention of ERK2 by PTP-SL was efficiently achieved upon conditions of EGF-induced phosphorylation of Thr
253 (our unpublished observations). In addition, phosphorylation of this residue could account for the regulated binding of PTP-SL to other unidentified molecules. The participation of specific serine/threonine phosphatases in the in vivo dephosphorylation of the Ser
231 and Thr
253 residues of PTP-SL is also expected. In this regard, we have found that cell treatment with okadaic acid induces hyperphosphorylation of the Ser
231 residue, suggesting an active role for PP2A in the in vivo dephosphorylation of this key residue (). Also, PP2A and PP2C have been shown to interfere with the activation of the MAP kinase pathways by affecting the phosphorylation of MAP kinases or upstream phosphorylation events (
Anderson et al. 1990;
Chajry et al. 1996;
Takekawa et al. 1998). Thus, a complex network of kinases and phosphatases could be envisioned within the MAP kinase pathways, which integrate the different signals to generate specific cell responses. The importance of the assembly of the molecular components that regulate the activation of the MAP kinases has been recently outlined (
Whitmarsh and Davis 1998;
Schaeffer and Weber 1999). The results reported here point to PKA as a major regulator of the physical and functional association between the ERK1/2 and p38α kinases and their inactivating tyrosine phosphatases.