Regulation of p68 RNA helicase by calmodulin and protein kinase C

Human p68 RNA helicase is a nuclear RNA-dependent ATPase that belongs to a family of putative helicases known as the DEAD box proteins. These proteins have been implicated in aspects of RNA function including translation initiation, splicing, and ribosome assembly in a variety of organisms ranging from Escherichia coli to humans. While members of this family are believed to function in the manipulation of RNA secondary structure, little is known about the regulation of these enzymes. By immunological methods and sequence comparison, we have found that p68 possesses a region of sequence similarity to the conserved protein kinase C phosphorylation site and calmodulin binding domain (also known as the IQ domain) of the neural-specific proteins neuromodulin (GAP-43) and neurogranin (RC3). We report that p68 is phosphorylated by protein kinase C in vitro and binds calmodulin in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. Both phosphorylation and calmodulin binding inhibited p68 ATPase activity, suggesting that the RNA unwinding activity of p68 may be regulated by dual Ca2+ signal transduction pathways through its IQ domain.