Abstract
Serum- and glucocorticoid-induced protein kinase-1 (SGK-1) plays a critical role in regulation of the epithelial sodium channel, ENaC. SGK-1 also shares significant catalytic domain homology with protein kinase B (PKB/AKT-1) and is a downstream effector of antiapoptotic phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling. Steady-state levels of an active SGK-1 are tightly regulated by rapid transcriptional activation and post-translational modification including phosphorylation. We show here that endogenous SGK-1 protein is polyubiquitinated and rapidly degraded by the 26S proteasome. In contrast to other rapidly degraded kinases, neither the catalytic activity of SGK-1 nor activation site phosphorylation was required for its ubiquitin modification and degradation. Instead, SGK-1 degradation required a lysine-less six-amino-acid (amino acids 19-24) hydrophobic motif (GMVAIL) within the N-terminal domain. Deletion of amino acids 19-24 significantly increased the half-life of SGK1 and prevented its ubiquitin modification. Interestingly, this minimal region was also required for the association of SGK-1 with the endoplasmic reticulum. Ubiquitin modification and degradation of SGK-1 were increasingly inhibited by the progressive mutation of six N-terminal lysine residues surrounding the GMVAIL motif. Mutation of all six lysines to arginine did not disrupt the subcellular localization of SGK-1 despite a significant decrease in ubiquitination, implying that this modification per se was not required for targeting to the endoplasmic reticulum. These results suggest that constitutive ubiquitin-mediated degradation of SGK-1 is an important mechanism regulating its biological activity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2913-2928 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | FEBS Journal |
Volume | 273 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Endoplasmic reticulum
- PtdIns-3K
- SGK-1
- Stress signalling
- Ubiquitination
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology