Homeodomain-interacting Protein Kinase-2 (HIPK2) Phosphorylates HMGA1a at Ser-35 Thr-52 and Thr-77 and Modulates Its DNA Binding Affinity

摘要

The chromosomal high-mobility group A (HMGA) proteins, comprising of HMGA1a, HMGA1b and HMGA2, play important roles in the regulation of numerous processes in eukaryotic cells, such as transcriptional regulation, DNA repair, RNA processing, and chromatin remodeling. The biological activities of HMGA1 proteins are highly regulated by their post-translational modifications (PTMs), including acetylation, methylation and phosphorylation. Recently, it was found that the homeodomain-interacting protein kinase-2 (HIPK2), a newly identified serine/threonine kinase, co-immunoprecipitated with, and phosphorylated HMGA1 proteins. However, the sites and the biological significance of the phosphorylation have not been elucidated. Here, we found that HIPK2 phosphorylates HMGA1a at Ser-35, Thr-52, and Thr-77, and HMGA1b at Thr-41 and Thr-66. In addition, we demonstrated that cdc2, which is known to phosphorylate HMGA1 proteins, could induce the phosphorylation of HMGA1 proteins at the same Ser/Thr sites. The two kinases, however, exhibited different site preferences for the phosphorylation: The preference for HIPK2 phosphorylation followed the order of Thr-77 > Thr-52 > Ser-35, whereas the order for cdc2 phosphorylation was Thr-52 > Thr-77 > Ser-35. Moreover, we found that the HIPK2-phosphorylated HMGA1a reduced the binding affinity of HMGA1a to human germ line ε promoter, and the drop in binding affinity induced by HIPK2 phosphorylation was lower than that introduced by cdc2 phosphorylation, which is consistent with the notion that the second AT-hook in HMGA1a is more important for DNA binding than the third AT-hook.SynopsisHere we report that both HIPK2 and cdc2 phosphorylate HMGA1a at Ser-35, Thr-52 and Thr-77, but the two kinases exhibit different site preferences. Moreover, we found that HIPK2-induced phosphorylation of HMGA1a reduced the binding affinity of HMGA1a to DNA, and the drop in binding affinity was lower than that introduced by cdc2 phosphorylation, confirming that the second AT-hook in HMGA1a is more important than the third AT-hook for DNA binding.