Phosphorylation and activation of calcineurin by glycogen synthase (casein) kinase-1 and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase

Calcineurin is a phosphoprotein phosphatase that is activated by divalent cations and further stimulated by calmodulin. In this study calcineurin is shown to be a substrate for both glycogen synthase (casein) kinase-1 (CK-1) and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase). Either kinase can catalyze the incorporation of 1.0-1.4 mol /sup 32/P/mol calcineurin. Analysis by SDS-PAGE revealed that only the ..cap alpha.. subunit is phosphorylated. Phosphorylation of calcineurin by either kinase leads to its activation. Using p-nitrophenyl phosphate as a substrate the authors observed a 2-3 fold activation of calcineurin by either Mn/sup 2 +/ or Ni/sup 2 +/ (in the presence or absence of calmodulin) after phosphorylation of calcineurin by either CK-1 or A-kinase. In the absence of Mn/sup 2 +/ or Ni/sup 2 +/ phosphorylated calcineurin, like the nonphosphorylated enzyme, showed very little activity. Ni/sup 2 +/ was a more potent activator of phosphorylated calcineurin compared to Mn/sup 2 +/. Higher levels of activation (5-8 fold) of calcineurin by calmodulin was observed when phosphorylated calcineurin was pretreated with Ni/sup 2 +/ before measurement of phosphatase activity. These results indicate that phosphorylation may be an important mechanism by which calcineurin activity is regulated by Ca/sup 2 +/.