Drosophila casein kinase 2 (CK2) promotes warts protein to suppress yorkie protein activity for growth control

Lianxin Hu, Hongling Huang, Jinhui Li, Meng Xin Yin, Yi Lu, Wenqing Wu, Rong Zeng, Jin Jiang, Yun Zhao, Lei Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drosophila Hippo signaling regulates Wts activity to phosphorylate and inhibit Yki in order to control tissue growth. CK2 is widely expressed and involved in a variety of signaling pathways. In this study we report that Drosophila CK2 promotes Wts activity to phosphorylate and inhibit Yki activity, which is independent of Hpo-induced Wts promotion. In vivo, CK2 overexpression suppresses hpo mutant-induced expanded (Ex) up-regulation and overgrowth phenotype, whereas it cannot affect wts mutant. Consistent with this, knockdown of CK2 up-regulates Hpo pathway target expression. We also found that Drosophila CK2 is essential for tissue growth as a cell death inhibitor as knockdown of CK2 in the developing disc induces severe growth defects as well as caspase3 signals. Taken together, our results uncover a dual role of CK2; although its major role is promoting cell survive, it may potentially be a growth inhibitor as well.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)33598-33607
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume289
Issue number48
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 28 2014

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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