Threonine Phosphorylation of the MMAC1/PTEN PDZ Binding Domain Both Inhibits and Stimulates PDZ Binding

Two-hybrid searches with the tumor suppressor MMAC1/PTEN isolated the proteins hDLG and hMAST205. Further two-hybrid analysis and microtiter plate binding assays localized the sites of interaction to PDZ domains from hDLG and hMAST205 and the PDZ binding domain at the COOH terminus of MMAC1/PTEN. A synthetic peptide derived from the MMAC1/PTEN PDZ binding domain (MMAC1/PTEN-PDZBD) was used to coprecipitate proteins from A431 human cell lysate. The recovered proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGE and immobilized on a nitrocellulose membrane. Treatment of this membrane with an anti-hDLG antibody identified a M r 140,000 band, consistent with the size of hDLG. Treatment of this membrane with the MMAC1/PTEN-PDZBD peptide identified a single prominent band of slightly larger than M r 200,000 ( M r 200,000 kDa). Threonine phosphorylation of the MMAC1/PTEN-PDZBD peptide inhibited both microtiter plate binding to the hDLG and hMAST205 PDZ domains and coprecipitation of the M r 140,000 and >200,000 proteins, but promoted coprecipitation of proteins of approximately M r 90,000 and M r 120,000 from A431 cell lysate. This result suggests phosphorylation of the MMAC1/PTEN PDZ binding domain can both inhibit and promote PDZ interactions.