Dual alterations in casein kinase I-epsilon and GSK-3beta modulate beta-catenin stability in hyperproliferating colonic epithelia

Casein kinase I (CKI)-epsilon and GSK-3beta phosphorylate beta-catenin at Ser(45) (beta-cat(45)) and Thr(41)/Ser(37,33) (beta-cat(33,37,41)) residues, thereby facilitating its ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. We used a Citrobacter rodentium-induced transmissible murine colonic hyperplasia (TMCH) model to determine Ser/Thr phosphorylation and biological function of beta-catenin during crypt hyperproliferation. TMCH was associated with 3-fold and 3.3-fold increases in CKI-epsilon cellular abundance and 2-fold and 1.8-fold increase in its activity at 6 and 12 days after infection, respectively. beta-Catenin coimmunoprecipitated with both cellular and nuclear CKI-epsilon and cellular axin at these time points. Cellular beta-catenin was constitutively phosphorylated at Ser(45) and underwent subcellular redistribution to cytoskeletal and nuclear fractions at days 6 and 12 of TMCH, respectively. beta-cat(33,37,41), however, exhibited only subtle changes in either phosphorylation status or subcellular distribution even after blocking proteasomal degradation in vivo. Interestingly, GSK-3beta underwent increased phosphorylation at Ser(9), leading to 40% and 70% decreases in its activity at these time points, respectively. Coimmunoprecipitation studies exhibited strong association of GSK-3beta with PKC-zeta at either time point. Cellular beta-cat(45) stabilized and, along with unphosphorylated beta-catenin, underwent nuclear translocation, associated with nuclear accumulated Tcf-4 and cAMP response element binding protein binding protein, and was significantly acetylated, leading to increases in DNA binding. Priming of beta-catenin at Ser(45) exists in vivo. However, beta-cat(45) does not necessarily enter the degradation pathway. Impairment in linking beta-cat(45) to subsequent GSK-3beta-mediated phosphorylation and degradation may account for increased steady-state levels of both unphosphorylated as well as Ser(45)-phosphorylated beta-catenin, which may be causally linked to increases in cell census during TMCH.