Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 15, 6475-6488, Copyright © 1995 by Society for Neuroscience
Phosducin and PP33 are in vivo targets of PKA and type 1 or 2A phosphatases, regulators of cell elongation in teleost rod inner-outer segments
K Pagh-Roehl, D Lin, L Su and B Burnside
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA.
Teleost rod photoreceptors elongate in the light and shorten in darkness.
We are investigating the role of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA),
phosphatases and target phosphoproteins in the regulation of photoreceptor
cell shape. Preparations of rod fragments, consisting of the motile inner
segment with attached photosensory outer segment (RIS-ROS), undergo
light-stimulated elongation in culture. The PKA- selective inhibitor, H89,
enhanced RIS-ROS elongation in both light and darkness, suggesting that
elongation is associated with dephosphorylation of PKA substrates. Okadaic
acid and calyculin A, inhibitors of type 1 and 2A phosphatases, blocked
light-dependent and light-independent elongation with relative potencies
suggesting that elongation requires dephosphorylation by type 1 phosphatase
in light and type 2A phosphatase in darkness. To identify targets of PKA
and phosphatases, RIS-ROS were isolated from retinas prelabeled with 32P-
orthophosphate, and then incubated in the presence of kinase inhibitors or
phosphatase inhibitors. Two phosphoproteins, PP33 and PP35, were
phosphorylated by PKA and dephosphorylated by type 1 or 2A phosphatases in
light- and dark-cultured RIS-ROS. PP35 (but not PP33) was
immunoprecipitated by an antibody to phosducin, a PKA-regulated modulator
of phototransduction (Lee et al., 1992); PP35 was also phosphorylated in
vitro by a Ca2+ calmodulin-activated kinase. PP33 further differed from
PP35 in its phosphopeptide maps and phosphorylation by PKC. We conclude
that RIS-ROS elongation is correlated with the dephosphorylation of PKA
substrates by type 1 or 2A phosphatases. Candidate mediator proteins
include PP35, a fish phosducin homolog, and PP33, a newly described
photoreceptor phosphoprotein.