Temperature sensitivities of metazoan and pre-metazoan Src kinases

Homologous enzymes from different species display functional characteristics that correlate with the physiological and environmental temperatures encountered by the organisms. In this study, we have investigated the temperature sensitivity of the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase Src. We compared the temperature dependencies of c-Src and two Src kinases from single-celled eukaryotes, the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis and the filasterean Capsaspora owczarzaki. Metazoan c-Src exhibits temperature sensitivity, with high activity at 30 °C and 37 °C. This sensitivity is driven by changes in substrate binding as well as maximal velocity, and it is dependent on the amino acid sequence surrounding tyrosine in the substrate. When tested with a peptide that displays temperature-dependent phosphorylation by c-Src, the enzymatic rates for the unicellular Src kinases show much less variation over the temperatures tested. The data demonstrate that unicellular Src kinases are temperature compensated relative to metazoan c-Src, consistent with an evolutionary adaptation to their environments.