The first seven amino acids encoded by the v-src oncogene act as a myristylation signal: lysine 7 is a critical determinant.

The transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, pp60v-src, is covalently coupled to myristic acid by an amide linkage to glycine 2. Myristylation promotes the association of pp60v-src with cellular membranes, and this subcellular location is essential for transforming activity. The findings presented here, in conjunction with the previous reports of others, imply that the seventh amino acid encoded by v-src might be important in the myristylation reaction. Replacement of lysine 7 by asparagine greatly reduced the myristylation, membrane association, and transforming activity of pp60v-src. In contrast, substitution of arginine at residue 7 had no effect on any of these properties of pp60v-src. Addition of amino acids 1 to 7 encoded by v-src was sufficient to cause myristylation of a src-pyruvate kinase fusion protein. We conclude that the recognition sequence for myristylation of pp60v-src comprises amino acids 1 to 7 and that lysine 7 is a critical component of this sequence.     

Phosphorylation of the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus: direct demonstration of phosphorylation of serine 17 and identification of an additional site of tyrosine phosphorylation in p60v-src of Prague Rous sarcoma virus.

We provide direct evidence that serine 17 is the major site of serine phosphorylation in p60v-src, the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, and in its cellular homolog, p60c-src. The amino acid composition of the tryptic peptide containing the major site of serine phosphorylation in p60v-src was deduced by peptide map analysis of the protein labeled biosynthetically with a variety of radioactive amino acids. Manual Edman degradation revealed that the phosphorylated serine in this peptide was the amino terminal residue. These data are consistent only with the phosphorylation of serine 17. The major site of serine phosphorylation in chicken p60c-src, the cellular homolog of p60v-src, is contained in a tryptic peptide identical to that containing serine 17 in p60v-src of Schmidt Ruppin Rous sarcoma virus of subgroup A. Serine 17 is therefore also phosphorylated in p60c-src. The p60v-src protein encoded by Prague Rous sarcoma virus was found to contain two sites of tyrosine phosphorylation. The previously unrecognized site of tyrosine phosphorylation may be tyrosine 205 or possibly tyrosine 208. Treatment of Prague Rous sarcoma virus-infected cells with vanadyl ions stimulated the protein kinase activity of p60v-src and increased the phosphorylation of tyrosine 416 but not the phosphorylation of the additional site of tyrosine phosphorylation.     

The myristylation signal of p60v-src functionally complements the N-terminal fps-specific region of P130gag-fps.

The P130gag-fps protein-tyrosine kinase of Fujinami sarcoma virus contains an N-terminal fps-specific domain (Nfps) that is important for oncogenicity. The N-terminal 14 amino acids of p60v-src, which direct myristylation and membrane association, can replace the gag-Nfps sequences of P130gag-fps (residues 1 to 635), producing a highly transforming src-fps polypeptide. Conversely, gag-Nfps can restore modest transforming activity to a nonmyristylated v-src polypeptide. These results emphasize the modular construction of protein-tyrosine kinases and indicate that Nfps, possibly in conjunction with gag, functions in the subcellular localization of P130gag-fps.     

The src protein contains multiple domains for specific attachment to membranes.

The proteins encoded by the oncogene v-src and its cellular counterpart c-src (designated generically here as pp60src) are tightly associated with both plasma membranes and intracellular membranes. This association is due in part to the amino-terminal myristylation of pp60src, but several lines of evidence suggest that amino-terminal portions of the protein itself are also involved. We now report that pp60src contains at least three domains which, in conjunction with myristylation, are capable of mediating attachment to membranes and determining subcellular localization. We identified these domains by fusing various portions of pp60src to pyruvate kinase, which is normally a cytoplasmic protein. Amino acids 1 to 14 of pp60src are sufficient to mediate both myristylation and the attachment of pyruvate kinase to cytoplasmic granules. In contrast, amino acids 38 to 111 mediate association with the plasma membrane and perinuclear membranes, whereas amino acids 204 to 259 mediate association primarily with perinuclear membranes. We conclude that pp60src contains independent domains that target the protein to distinctive subcellular locations and thus may facilitate diverse biological functions of the protein.     

Inhibition of v-src-induced transformation by a GTPase-activating protein.

Previous work has shown that microinjection into cells of antibodies against p21ras blocks transformation by src, suggesting that oncogenic transformation by pp60v-src is dependent on p21ras. The activity of p21ras itself is regulated by its cyclic association with GDP-GTP, where p21ras-GTP is the active form and p21ras-GDP is the inactive form. A GTPase-activating protein (GAP) mediates the inactivation of p21ras by facilitating the conversion of the active p21ras-GTP to the inactive p21ras-GDP. This predicts that overexpression of GAP would inactivate p21ras and block transformation of cells by src. In this paper, we confirm this prediction. We report that overexpression of GAP in NIH 3T3 cells blocks transformation by pp60v-src but not by v-ras. Susceptibility to transformation by v-src is restored when GAP expression is lowered to levels comparable to that in control cells. These results support the suggestion that p21ras plays a central role in the signalling pathway used by pp60v-src.     

In vitro synthesis of pp60v-src: myristylation in a cell-free system.

Covalent attachment of myristic acid to pp60v-src, the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, was studied in a cell-free system. Using a synthetic peptide containing the first 11 amino acids of the mature pp60v-src polypeptide sequence as a substrate, we probed lysates from a variety of cells and tissues for N-myristyl transferase (NMT) activity. Nearly every eucaryotic cell type tested contained NMT, including avian, mammalian, insect, and plant cells. Since NMT activity was detected in rabbit reticulocyte lysates, we took advantage of the translational capability of these lysates to determine the precise point during translation at which myristate is attached to pp60v-src. src mRNA, transcribed from cloned v-src DNA, was translated in reticulocyte lysates which had been depleted of endogenous myristate. Addition of [3H]myristate to lysates 10 min after the start of synchronized translation resulted in a dramatic decrease in the incorporation of radiolabeled myristate into pp60v-src polypeptide chains. These results imply that although myristate can be attached posttranslationally to synthetic peptide substrates, myristylation in vivo is apparently a very early cotranslational event which occurs before the first 100 amino acids of the nascent polypeptide chain are polymerized.     

Palmitylation of an amino-terminal cysteine motif of protein tyrosine kinases p56lck and p59fyn mediates interaction with glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins.

Cross-linking of glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored membrane proteins on T cells can trigger cell activation. We and others have shown an association between GPI-anchored proteins and the protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) p56lck and p59fyn, suggesting a pathway for signaling through GPI-anchored proteins. Studies of decay-accelerating factor (DAF) or CD59 in either the C32 cell line or the HeLa cell line transfected with PTK cDNA demonstrated that the GPI-anchored proteins associated noncovalently with p56lck and p59fyn but not with p60src. Nonmyristylated versions of p56lck and p59fyn also failed to associate with the GPI-anchored proteins. Mutational analysis of the PTK demonstrated that the association with the GPI-anchored proteins mapped to the unique amino-terminal domains of the PTK. A chimeric PTK consisting of the 10 amino-terminal residues of p56lck or p59fyn replacing the corresponding amino acids in p60src was sufficient for association with DAF, but the converse constructs containing the first 10 amino acids of p60src plus the remainder of p56lck or p59fyn did not associate with DAF. Mutation of cysteine to serine at positions 3 and 6 in p59fyn or positions 3 and 5 in p56lck abolished the association of these kinases with DAF. Mutation of serine to cysteine at positions 3 and 6 in p60src conferred on p60src the ability to associate with DAF. Direct labeling with [3H]palmitate demonstrated palmitylation of this amino-terminal cysteine motif in p56lck. Thus, palmitylation of the amino-terminal cysteine residue(s) together with myristylation of the amino-terminal glycine residue defines important motifs for the association of PTKs with GPI-anchored proteins.     

The membrane-binding domain and myristylation of p60v-src are not essential for stimulation of cell proliferation.

Previous studies showed that the amino-terminal domain of Rous sarcoma virus p60v-src involved in myristylation and membrane association of the protein is required for morphological transformation and anchorage independence. Analysis of src delection mutants revealed that the amino-terminal one-third of p60v-src, including the membrane-binding domain, is not essential for induction of cell proliferation. These results demonstrated that, in contrast to the cellular target(s) involved in morphological transformation and anchorage independence, the target(s) involved in mitogenic activity is accessible to nonmyristylated src proteins.     

Low level of cellular protein phosphorylation by nontransforming overproduced p60c-src.

We have previously found that Rous sarcoma virus variants in which the viral src (v-src) gene is replaced by the cellular src (c-src) gene have no transforming activity. In this study, we analyzed the basis for the inability of the p60c-src overproduced by these variants to transform cells. Phosphorylations of tyrosine residues in total cell protein or in cellular 34K protein are known to be markedly enhanced upon infection with wild-type Rous sarcoma virus. We found that these tyrosine phosphorylations were only slightly increased in the c-src-containing virus-infected cells, whereas both levels were significantly increased by infection with wild-type Rous sarcoma virus, or transforming mutant viruses which are derived from c-src-containing viruses by spontaneous mutation. Phosphorylation at tyrosine 416 of p60 itself was also extremely low in overproduced p60c-src and high in p60s of transforming mutant viruses. In immunoprecipitates with monoclonal antibody, the overproduced p60c-src had much lower casein tyrosine kinase activity than did p60v-src. We previously showed that p60 myristylation and plasma membrane localization may be required for cell transformation. p60c-src was similar to transforming p60s in these properties. These results strongly suggest that the low level of tyrosine phosphorylation by overproduced p60c-src accounts for its inability to transform cells.     

A synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 137 to 157 of p60v-src inhibits tyrosine-specific protein kinases

A 21-residue synthetic peptide corresponding to a part of the noncatalytic domain of p60v-src (residues 137 to 157) was found to inhibit the tyrosine kinase activity of p60v-src. The half inhibition concentration was ca. 7.5 microM. The peptide (peptide A) did not compete with substrate proteins or ATP. Peptide A also inhibited the autophosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor/kinase and the tyrosine-specific protein phosphorylation in the acetylcholine receptor-rich membranes isolated from electroplax of Narke japonica. However, serine/threonine-specific protein kinases such as cAMP-dependent and cGMP-dependent protein kinases were not inhibited by peptide A.     

Processing of p60v-src to its myristylated membrane-bound form.

p60src of wild-type Rous sarcoma virus is myristylated at its N-terminal glycine residue. We have shown previously that this myristylation is necessary for p60src membrane association and for cell transformation by using src mutants with alterations within the N-terminal 30 kilodaltons of p60src. In this study we analyzed the process of p60src myristylation in wild type- and mutant-infected cells. All myristylated src proteins examined lack the initiator methionine, but two mutant src proteins lacking the initiator methionine are not myristylated, indicating that removal of the initiator methionine and myristylation are not obligatorily coupled. Analysis of the kinetics of myristylation and the association of p60src with cellular proteins p50 and p90 indicated that myristylation occurs before p60src becomes membrane associated and that transient association with p50 and p90 occurs regardless of myristylation. Myristylation is required for stable association of p60src with the plasma membrane but is not sufficient for membrane association. A mutant with an src deletion of amino acids 169 through 264 has an src protein that is myristylated but not membrane bound, remaining stably associated with p50 and p90. This mutant is transformation defective. Several N-terminal deletion mutants possessing tyrosine kinase activity have myristylated and membrane-bound src proteins but are not fully active in cell transformation, suggesting that additional N-terminal functional domains exist.     

Protein kinase C phosphorylates pp60src at a novel site

The transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus (pp60v-src) and its normal cellular homolog (pp60c-src) are demonstrated to be phosphorylated at serine 12 in vivo under certain conditions. We propose that protein kinase C is responsible for this modification based on the following evidence. First, the tumor promoters, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and teleocidin, and synthetic diacylglycerol, known activators of protein kinase C in vivo, cause nearly complete phosphorylation of pp60src at serine 12. Second, among five purified serine/threonine-specific protein kinases tested, only protein kinase C phosphorylates pp60c-src and pp60v-src in vitro at serine 12. Third, purified protein kinase C phosphorylates a synthetic peptide corresponding to the N-terminal 20 amino acids of pp60c-src at serine 12. The physiological significance of this novel phosphorylation is discussed.     

Reconstitution of the Raf-1-MEK-ERK signal transduction pathway in vitro.

Raf-1 is a serine/threonine kinase which is essential in cell growth and differentiation. Tyrosine kinase oncogenes and receptors and p21ras can activate Raf-1, and recent studies have suggested that Raf-1 functions upstream of MEK (MAP/ERK kinase), which phosphorylates and activates ERK. To determine whether or not Raf-1 directly activates MEK, we developed an in vitro assay with purified recombinant proteins. Epitope-tagged versions of Raf-1 and MEK and kinase-inactive mutants of each protein were expressed in Sf9 cells, and ERK1 was purified as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein from bacteria. Raf-1 purified from Sf9 cells which had been coinfected with v-src or v-ras was able to phosphorylate kinase-active and kinase-inactive MEK. A kinase-inactive version of Raf-1 purified from cells that had been coinfected with v-src or v-ras was not able to phosphorylate MEK. Raf-1 phosphorylation of MEK activated it, as judged by its ability to stimulate the phosphorylation of myelin basic protein by glutathione S-transferase-ERK1. We conclude that MEK is a direct substrate of Raf-1 and that the activation of MEK by Raf-1 is due to phosphorylation by Raf-1, which is sufficient for MEK activation. We also tested the ability of protein kinase C to activate Raf-1 and found that, although protein kinase C phosphorylation of Raf-1 was able to stimulate its autokinase activity, it did not stimulate its ability to phosphorylate MEK.     

Binding of pp60v-src to membranes: evidence for multiple membrane interactions.

Membrane association of pp60v-src, the myristylated transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, has been shown to be a receptor-mediated process, which is inhibited by myristylated src peptides containing the N-terminal 11 amino acids of the v-src sequence (MGYsrc). By cross-linking radiolabelled MGYsrc peptide to fibroblast membranes, a 32-kilodalton membrane protein was identified as a candidate src receptor. To elucidate the potential role of p32 in binding pp60v-src, we studied the relationship between binding of MGYsrc peptide and pp60v-src polypeptide to cellular membranes. The subcellular membrane distribution of p32 was distinct from that of pp60v-src in transformed cells. Moreover, under certain defined in vitro conditions, it was possible to inhibit peptide cross-linking to p32 without significantly affecting pp60v-src membrane binding. However, when internal sequences were removed from pp60v-src, the binding characteristics of the src deletion polypeptide and MGYsrc peptide became identical. These data indicate that the presence of internal membrane binding domains influences the interaction of myristylated N-terminal src sequences with p32, and suggest that accessory binding factors might be involved in establishing stable contact between pp60v-src and the membrane phospholipid bilayer.     

N-terminal deletions in Rous sarcoma virus p60src: effects on tyrosine kinase and biological activities and on recombination in tissue culture with the cellular src gene.

We have constructed deletions within the region of cloned Rous sarcoma virus DNA coding for the N-terminal 30 kilodaltons of p60src. Infectious virus was recovered after transfection. Deletions of amino acids 15 to 149, 15 to 169, or 149 to 169 attenuated but did not abolish transforming activity, as assayed by focus formation and anchorage-independent growth. These deletions also had only slight effects on the tyrosine kinase activity of the mutant src protein. Deletion of amino acids 169 to 264 or 15 to 264 completely abolished transforming activity, and src kinase activity was reduced at least 10-fold. However, these mutant viruses generated low levels of transforming virus by recombination with the cellular src gene. The results suggest that as well as previously identified functional domains for p60src myristylation and membrane binding (amino acids 1 to 14) and tyrosine kinase activity (amino acids 250 to 526), additional N-terminal sequences (particularly amino acids 82 to 169) can influence the transforming activity of the src protein.     

Amino acid substitutions sufficient to convert the nontransforming p60c-src protein to a transforming protein.

We have previously shown that Rous sarcoma virus variants that carry the cellular homolog (c-src) of the viral src gene (v-src) do not transform chicken embryo fibroblasts. We also have shown that replacement of sequences upstream or downstream from the BglI site of the cellular src gene with the corresponding regions of v-src restored transforming activity to the hybrid genes. Since there are only six amino acid changes between p60c-src and p60v-src within the sequences upstream from BglI, we constructed chimeric molecules involving v-src and c-src to determine the effect of each amino acid substitution on the biological activities of the gene product. We found that the change from Thr to Ile at position 338 or the replacement of a fragment of c-src containing Gly-63, Arg-95, and Thr-96 with a corresponding fragment of v-src containing Asp-63, Trp-95, and Ile-96 converted p60c-src into a transforming protein by the criteria of focus formation, anchorage-independent growth, and tumor formation in newborn chickens. These mutations also resulted in elevation of the protein kinase activity of p60c-src.     

Identification of the active region of the DNA synthesis inhibitory gene p21Sdi1/CIP1/WAF1.

The cloning of the negative growth regulatory gene, p21Sdi1, has led to the convergence of the fields of cellular senescence, cell cycle regulation and tumor suppression. This gene was first cloned as an inhibitor of DNA synthesis that was overexpressed in terminally non-dividing senescent human fibroblasts (SD11) and later as a p53 transactivated gene (WAF1) and a Cdk-interacting protein (CIP1, p21) that inhibited cyclin-dependent kinase activity. To identify the active region(s) of p21Sdi1, cDNA constructs encoding various deleted forms of the protein were analyzed. Amino acids 22-71 were found to be the minimal region required for DNA synthesis inhibition. Amino acids 49-71 were involved in binding to Cdk2, and constructs deleted in this region expressed proteins that were unable to inhibit Cdk2 kinase activity in vitro. The latter stretch of amino acids shared sequence similarity with amino acids 60-76 of the p27Kip1 protein, another Cdk inhibitor. Point mutations made in p21Sdi1 in this region confirmed that amino acids common to both proteins were involved in DNA synthesis inhibition. Additionally, a chimeric protein, in which amino acids 49-65 of p21Sdi1 were substituted with amino acids 60-76 of p27Kip1, had almost the same DNA synthesis inhibitory activity as the wild-type protein. The results indicate that the region of sequence similarity between p21Sdi1 and p27Kip1 encodes an inhibitory motif characteristic of this family of Cdk inhibitors.     

Requirement of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase modification for its association with p60src.

When purified p60v-src was mixed with lysates of chicken embryo fibroblasts and immunoprecipitated with anti-Src antibody, phosphatidylinositol (PI)-3 kinase activity was found to be present in the Src protein immunoprecipitates. The level of bound PI-3 kinase activity was 5 to 10 times higher in lysates obtained from cells transformed by the src, fps, or yes oncogene than in lysates of uninfected cells. This increase in associated PI-3 kinase activity appears to be due to increased binding of this enzyme to p60v-src. This change most likely resulted from tyrosine phosphorylation of PI-3 kinase or an associated protein, since the PI-3 kinase activity that can bind to p60v-src was depleted by antiphosphotyrosine antibody. Binding of PI-3 kinase did not require either p60src protein kinase activity or autophosphorylation of p60v-src tyrosine residues. Furthermore, binding was markedly decreased by deletions in the N-terminal SH2 region but unchanged by deletion of the C-terminal half of p60v-src containing the catalytic domain. Taking these data together, it appears that PI-3 kinase or its associated protein is phosphorylated on tyrosine and that the phosphorylated form can bind to the N-terminal half of p60v-src, which contains the SH2 domain.     

Specific proteolytic fragmentation of p60v-src in transformed cell lysates.

Work involving the transforming protein, p60v-src, of Rous sarcoma virus has resulted in the extensive characterization of its protein structure and associated phosphotransferase activity. However, in many investigations proteolytic fragments (principally p52v-src) of the src protein are actually studied. Here, we emphasize potential problems in the interpretation of experimental results in which the proteolytic fragmentation of p60v-src may be involved and offer several means for the complete prevention of this p60v-src degradation.