Nerve growth factor-induced increase in the cell-free phosphorylation of a nuclear protein in PC12 cells

In previous studies from this laboratory (Yu, M.W., Tolson, N. W., and Guroff, G. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 10481-10492) nerve growth factor treatment of PC12 cells was shown to increase the phosphorylation of a specific nonhistone nuclear protein. In the present work these whole-cell observations have been pursued and a cell-free system developed, based on the detergent treatment devised by Lenk et al. (Lenk, R., Ransom, L., Kaufmann, Y., and Penman, S. (1977) Cell 10, 67-78), in order to explore the nerve growth factor-sensitive phosphorylation system in biochemical detail. Using this preparation it has been shown that treatment of the whole cells with nerve growth factor for 30 min or more leads to a marked increase in the subsequent cell-free phosphorylation of the same nonhistone nuclear protein. A characterization of this phosphorylation indicates that it is quite labile to heat and to structural disruption, that it prefers ATP as phosphate donor, and that it requires Mg2+, but is inhibited by high Mg2+ levels as well as by certain other divalent cations. The site of phosphorylation appears to be on serine residues of the protein, as was the phosphorylation observed previously in whole cells. The use of various inhibitors and stimulators suggests that the kinase catalyzing this phosphorylation is not cAMP-dependent, nor is it similar to protein kinase C or casein kinase. The increased phosphorylation produced by nerve growth factor is not transient, the stimulation being constant for at least 3 days in the continuous presence of nerve growth factor. Increases in the phosphorylation of the same nuclear protein can be seen upon treatment of the cells with other effectors such as epidermal growth factor and dibutyryl cyclic AMP, the latter in spite of the fact that cAMP-dependence could not be established in the cell-free system. Finally, a similar system, with a similar stimulation of phosphorylation due to nerve growth factor treatment, can be prepared from sympathetic ganglia from neonatal animals.