Molecular Cloning of an Amphibian Insulin Receptor Substrate 1-Like cDNA and Involvement of Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase in Insulin-Induced Xenopus Oocyte Maturation

Abstract

An insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1)-like cDNA was isolated from a Xenopus ovary cDNA library by low-stringency hybridization using rat IRS-1 cDNA as a probe. The deduced amino acid sequence encoded by this cDNA (termed XIRS-L) is 67% identical (77% similar) to that of rat IRS-1. Significantly, all the insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation sites identified in rat IRS-1, including those responsible for binding to the Src homology domains of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase, Syp and Grb2, are conserved in XIRS-L. Both mRNA and protein corresponding to the cloned XIRS-L can be detected in immature Xenopus oocytes. Recombinant XIRS-L protein produced in insect cells or a bacterial glutathione S-transferase fusion protein containing the putative PI 3-kinase binding site can be phosphorylated in vitro by purified insulin receptor kinase (IRK) domain, and the IRK-catalyzed phosphorylation renders both proteins capable of binding PI 3-kinase in Xenopus oocyte lysates. Another glutathione S-transferase fusion protein containing the C terminus of XIRS-L and including several putative tyrosine phosphorylation sites is also phosphorylated by IRK in vitro, but it failed to bind PI 3-kinase. Insulin stimulation of immature Xenopus oocytes activates PI 3-kinase in vivo [as indicated by an elevation of PI(3,4)P₂ and PI(3,4,5)P₃] as well as oocyte maturation (as indicated by germinal vesicle breakdown). Pretreatment of these oocytes with wortmannin inhibited insulin-induced activation of PI 3-kinase in vivo. The same treatment also abolished insulin-induced, but not progesterone-induced, germinal vesicle breakdown. These results (i) identify an IRS-1-like molecule in immature Xenopus oocytes, suggesting that the use of IRS-1-like Src homology 2 domain-docking proteins in signal transduction is conserved in vertebrates, and (ii) strongly implicate PI 3-kinase as an essential effector of insulin-induced oocyte maturation.