Phosphorylation of Serine 157 Protects the Rat Glycine Transporter GlyT2 from Calpain Cleavage

The N-terminal region of the rat glycine transporter 2 (rGlyT2, SLC6A5) is cleaved by calpain protease in vitro, which raises the question of its protection against calpain in vivo. Here, we used a phosphomimetic and orthogonal phosphoserine translation approach to investigate the possible role of phosphorylation in the protection of two calpain cleavage sites, M156/S157 and G164/T165, previously identified in the N-terminus region of the rat GlyT2. Replacement of serine 157 with phosphomimetic aspartate or with orthogonal phosphoserine blocked both calpain cleavage sites and caused an electrophoretic mobility shift of rGlyT2N fusion proteins. Both effects can be reversed by dephosphorylation, suggesting that phosphorylation might induce structural changes in the rGlyT2 N-terminus, preventing the accessibility of the M156/S157 and G164/T165 cleavage sites to calpain in vivo. In comparison with the wild type, the phosphomimetic mutation S157D increased the total immunoreactivity of the transporter expressed in neuroblastoma cells, suggesting that serine 157 phosphorylation or phosphorylation-regulated calpain cleavage might contribute to the turnover of the glycine transporter GlyT2.