Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases Phosphorylate Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Phosphatase 3/DUSP6 at Serines 159 and 197, Two Sites Critical for Its Proteasomal Degradation

Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase phosphatases (MKPs) are dual-specificity phosphatases that dephosphorylate phosphothreonine and phosphotyrosine residues within MAP kinases. Here, we describe a novel posttranslational mechanism for regulating MKP-3/Pyst1/DUSP6, a member of the MKP family that is highly specific for extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) inactivation. Using a fibroblast model in which the expression of either MKP-3 or a more stable MKP-3-green fluorescent protein (GFP) chimera was induced by tetracycline, we found that serum induces the phosphorylation of MKP-3 and its subsequent degradation by the proteasome in a MEK1 and MEK2 (MEK1/2)-ERK1/2-dependent manner. In vitro phosphorylation assays using glutathione S-transferase (GST)-MKP-3 fusion proteins indicated that ERK2 could phosphorylate MKP-3 on serines 159 and 197. Tetracycline-inducible cell clones expressing either single or double serine mutants of MKP-3 or MKP-3-GFP confirmed that these two sites are targeted by the MEK1/2-ERK1/2 module in vivo. Double serine mutants of MKP-3 or MKP-3-GFP were more efficiently protected from degradation than single mutants or wild-type MKP-3, indicating that phosphorylation of either serine by ERK1/2 enhances proteasomal degradation of MKP-3. Hence, double mutation caused a threefold increase in the half-life of MKP-3. Finally, we show that the phosphorylation of MKP-3 has no effect on its catalytic activity. Thus, ERK1/2 exert a positive feedback loop on their own activity by promoting the degradation of MKP-3, one of their major inactivators in the cytosol, a situation opposite to that described for the nuclear phosphatase MKP-1.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by grants from the EEC (QLRT-2000-02278), the Fondation de France, the Association pour la Recherche Contre le Cancer, the Ligue Contre le Cancer, the CNRS, the Ministère de la Recherche, and the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis.

We are grateful to Montserrat Camps for her kind advice on the in vitro phosphatase assay and to Anne Doye and Emmanuel Lemichez for their help with ubiquitination experiments. We also thank all members of the laboratory and especially Philippe Lenormand for helpful discussion, Caroline Medioni for her help with confocal microscopy, and Christiane Brahimi-Horn for critical reading of the manuscript.