A Three-Dimensional Model of the Cdc2 Protein Kinase: Localization of Cyclin- and Suc1-Binding Regions and Phosphorylation Sites

The Cdc2 protein kinase requires cyclin binding for activity and also binds to a small protein, Suc1. Charged-to-alanine scanning mutagenesis of Cdc2 was used previously to localize cyclin A- and B- and Suc1-binding sites (B. Ducommun, P. Brambilla, and G. Draetta, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:6177-6184, 1991). Those sites were mapped by building a Cdc2 model based on the crystallographic coordinates of the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK) (D. R. Knighton, J. Zheng, L. F. Ten Eyck, V. A. Ashford, N.-H. Xuong, S. S. Taylor, and J. M. Sowadski, Science 253:407-414, 1991). On the basis of this model, additional mutations were made and tested for cyclin A and Suc1 binding and for kinase activity. Mutations that interfere with cyclin A binding are localized primarily on the small lobe near its interface with the cleft and include an acidic patch on the B helix and R-50 in the highly conserved PSTAIRE sequence. Two residues in the large lobe, R-151 and T-161, influence cyclin binding, and both are at the surface of the cleft near its interface with the PSTAIRE motif. Cyclin-dependent phosphorylation of T-161 in Cdc2 is essential for activation, and the model provides insights into the importance of this site. T-161 is equivalent to T-197, a stable phosphorylation site in cAPK. On the basis of the model, cyclin binding very likely alters the surface surrounding T-161 to allow for T-161 phosphorylation. The two major ligands to T-197 in cAPK are conserved as R-127 and R-151 in Cdc2. The equivalent of the third ligand, H-87, is T-47 in the PSTAIRE sequence motif. Once phosphorylated, T-161 is predicted to play a major structural role in Cdc2, comparable to that of T-197 in cAPK, by assembling the active conformation required for peptide recognition. The inhibitory phosphorylation at Y-15 also comes close to the cleft interface and on the basis of this model would disrupt the cleft interface and the adjacent peptide recognition site rather than prevent ATP binding. In contrast to cyclin A, both lobes influence Suc1 binding; however, the Suc1-binding sites are far from the active site. Several mutants map to the surface in cAPK, which is masked in part by the N-terminal 40 residues that lie outside the conserved catalytic core. The other Suc1-binding site maps to the large lobe near a 25-residue insert and includes R-215.