Topographic regulation of cytoskeletal protein phosphorylation by multimeric complexes in the squid giant fiber...

In mammalian and squid nervous systems, the phosphorylation of neurofilament proteins (NFs) seems to be topographically regulated. Although NFs and relevant kinases are synthesized in cell bodies, phosphorylation of NFs, particularly in the lys-ser-pro (KSP) repeats in NF-M and NF-H tail domains, seem to be restricted to axons. To explore the factors regulating the cellular compartmentalization of NF phosphorylation, we separated cell bodies (GFL) from axons in the squid stellate ganglion and compared the kinase activity in the respective lysates. Although total kinase activity was similar in each lysate, the profile of endogenous phosphorylated substrates was strikingly different. Neurofilament protein 220 (NF220), high-molecular-weight NF protein (HMW), and tubulin were the principal phosphorylated substrates in axoplasm, while tubulin was the principal GFL phosphorylated substrate, in addition to highly phosphorylated low-molecular-weight proteins. Western blot analysis showed that whereas both lysates contained similar kinases and cytoskeletal proteins, phosphorylated NF220 and HMW were completely absent from the GFL lysate. These differences were highlighted by P13(suc1) affinity chromatography, which revealed in axoplasm an active multimeric phosphorylation complex(es), enriched in cytoskeletal proteins and kinases; the equivalent P13 GFL complex exhibited six to 20 times less endogenous and exogenous phosphorylation activity, respectively, contained fewer cytoskeletal proteins and kinases, and expressed a qualitatively different cdc2-like kinase epitope, 34 kDa rather than 49 kDa. Cell bodies and axons share a similar repertoire of molecular consitutents; however, the data suggest that the cytoskeletal/kinase phosphorylation complexes extracted from each cellular compartment by P13 are fundamentally different.