The Polycomb-group protein ENX-2 interacts with ZAP-70

Human ENX-2 is a homologue of Drosophila Enhancer of zeste, which is a member of Polycomb-group proteins regulating the expression of homeotic genes as chromatin-associated proteins. In this study, we demonstrate that ENX-2 plays an important role as a signaling molecule involved in T cell receptor-mediated signaling pathway. In immunoprecipitation experiments, ENX-2 and zeta associated protein-70 (ZAP-70) were co-precipitated from T cell lysate. When probed with an anti-phospho-tyrosine antibody, ENX-2 was found to be phosphorylated on tyrosine. On the other hand, ENX-2 was not phosphorylated on tyrosine in the mutant Jurkat cell, J.Cam1.6 lacking the activity of lymphocyte protein tyrosine kinase p56(lck). The interaction between ENX-2 and ZAP-70 was abolished in the mutant cell. Furthermore, in-vitro kinase assay using purified p56(lck) demonstrated that ENX-2 became tyrosine phosphorylated by this kinase. These findings show that the phosphorylation of ENX-2 is responsible for the interaction between ENX-2 and ZAP-70.