Interaction of gdt1 and protein kinase A (PKA) in the growth-differentiation-transition in Dictyostelium

The gdt1 gene is a negative regulator of the growth-differentiation-transition (GDT) in Dictyostelium. gdt1- cells express the GDT marker discoidin earlier and at higher levels and prematurely enter the differentiation pathway. Protein kinase A is a positive regulator of the GDT and is required for multicellular development. Disruption of the PKA catalytic subunit or overexpression of a constitutively active mutant of the regulatory subunit results in cells which do not form multicellular aggregates and which show strongly reduced levels of discoidin. We have created PKA-/gdt1- double mutants and show that these display high levels of discoidin expression but no aggregation, suggesting that gdt1 may be a downstream target of PKA in a branched signaling cascade initiating differentiation. Data obtained with the PKA inhibitor H89 support these result: in wild type cells H89 inhibits discoidin expression while in gdt1- mutants there is no obvious effect. However, since PKA-/gdt1- cells display less discoidin expression than the single gdt1 mutant, we propose that PKA and gdt1 are in two parallel interacting pathways. To get insight into the mechanism how PKA may block gdt1, we have tested two putative PKA phosphorylation sites in the protein and found that one of them is efficiently phosphorylated by PKA in vitro. A model for the interplay between PKA and gdt1 during the growth-differentiation-transition is discussed.