Determination of the critical region of KRAS-induced actin-interacting protein for the interaction with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor

KRAS-induced actin-interacting protein (KRAP) was originally characterized as a filamentous-actin-interacting protein. We have recently found that KRAP is an associated molecule with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP₃R) and is critical for the proper subcellular localization and function of IP₃R. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of IP₃R by KRAP remain elusive. In this report, to determine the critical region of KRAP protein for the regulation of IP₃R, we generate several mutants of KRAP and examine the association with IP₃R using coimmunoprecipitation and confocal imaging assays. Coimmunoprecipitations using the deletion mutants reveal that amino-acid residues 1–218 but not 1–199 of KRAP interact with IP₃R, indicating that the 19-length amino-acid residues (200–218) are essential for the association with IP₃R. This critical region is highly conserved between human and mouse KRAP. Within the critical region, substitutions of two phenylalanine residues (Phe202/Phe203) in mouse KRAP to alanines result in failure of the association with IP₃R, suggesting that the two consecutive phenylalanine residues are indispensable for the association. Moreover, the KRAP-knockdown stable HeLa cells exhibit the inappropriate subcellular localization of IP₃R, in which exogenous expression of full-length of KRAP properly restores the subcellular localization of IP₃R, but not the 1–218 or 1–236 mutant, indicating that the residual carboxyl-terminal region is also required for the proper subcellular localization of KRAP–IP₃R complex. All these results provide insight into the understandings for the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of IP₃R, and would reveal a potent strategy for the drug development targeting on IP₃R.