Modulation of the molecular organization and activity of casein kinase 2 by naturally occurring polyamines

Polyamines have been reported to stimulate casein kinase 2 (CK2) in vitro. We have shown that the phosphorylation of different substrates is diversely stimulated by basic effectors and that the responsiveness of CK2 activity may be influenced by the overall conformation of the protein substrate but also by a specific interaction with the enzyme itself. Our data show that native hetero tetrameric CK2 is a spermine binding protein and a spermine binding site was identified in the N-terminal region of the beta subunit of CK2. We found that recombinant CK2 undergoes a progressive polymerization in low salt conditions, giving rise to three different polymer structures. A ring-like structure formed by the association of four protomers alpha 2 beta 2 was characterized by gel filtration, sucrose density gradient analysis and electron microscopy. Polyamines like spermine, when added under conditions where the enzyme preparation contains a mixture of various oligomers, could trigger their dissociation and their interconversion in the fully active ring structure. These results suggest that in the presence of positive effectors like polyamines, CK2 adopts a ring-like structural organization which may represent the active state of this kinase.