Atypical Protein Kinases Cλ and -ζ Associate with the GTP-Binding Protein Cdc42 and Mediate Stress Fiber Loss

Abstract

Both the Rho family of low-molecular-weight GTP-binding proteins and protein kinases C (PKCs) mediate responses to a variety of extracellular and intracellular signals. They share many downstream targets, including remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton, activation of p70^S6 kinase and c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and regulation of transcription and cell proliferation. We therefore investigated whether Rho family GTP-binding proteins bind to PKCs. We found that Cdc42 associates with atypical PKCs (aPKCs) PKCζ and -λ in a GTP-dependent manner. The regulatory domain of the aPKCs mediates the interaction. Expression of activated Cdc42 results in the translocation of PKCλ from the nucleus into the cytosol, and Cdc42 and PKCλ colocalize at the plasma membrane and in the cytoplasm. Expression of activated Cdc42 leads to a loss of stress fibers, as does overexpression of either the wild type or an activated form of PKCλ. Kinase-dead PKCλ and -ζ constructs acted as dominant negatives and restored stress fibers in cells expressing the activated V12 Cdc42 mutant, indicating that Cdc42-dependent loss of stress fibers requires aPKCs. Kinase-dead PKCλ and -ζ and dominant-negative N17 Cdc42 also blocked Ras-induced loss of stress fibers, suggesting that this pathway may also be important for Ras-dependent cytoskeletal changes. N17 Rac did not block Ras-induced loss of stress fibers, nor did kinase-dead PKCλ block V12 Rac-stimulated loss of stress fibers. These results indicate that Cdc42 and Rac use different pathways to regulate stress fibers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Anthony Couvillon, Judith Glaven, Paola Marignani, Kimberley Tolias, Alex Toker, and Andrew Van Vugt for useful discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. Additionally, we are grateful to Alex Toker for purified PKCζ and Angela Romanelli, John Blenis, Shigeo Ohno, and Kiyotaka Nishikawa for PKC constructs.

This work was supported by NIH grant GM 54389 (C.L.C.).