TwoconserveddomainsinregulatoryBsubunits mediate
binding totheAsubunitofproteinphosphatase 2A
Xinghai Li
1
and David M. Virshup
1,2
1
Department of Oncological Sciences, Center for Children, Huntsman Cancer Institute, and
2
Department of Pediatrics,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Protein phosphatase2A (PP2A) is an abundant heterotri-
meric serine/threonine phosphatase containing highly con-
served structural (A) and catalytic (C) subunits. Its diverse
functions inthe cell are determined by its association with a
highly variable regulatory and targeting B subunit. At least
three distinct g ene families encoding Bsubunits are known:
B/B55/CDC55, B¢/B56/RTS1 and B¢¢/PR72/130. No
homology has been identi®ed among theB families, and little
is known a bout how these Bsubunits interact with the P P2A
A and C subunits. In vitro expression ofa series of B56a
fragments identi®ed two distinct domains that bound inde-
pendently totheA subunit. Sequence alignment of these A
subunit b inding domains (ASBD) identi®ed conserved resi-
dues in B/B55 and PR72 family members. The alignment
successfully predicted domainsin B55 and PR72 subunits
that similarly bound tothe PP2A A subunit. These results
suggest t hat these B s ubunits share a common core structure
and mode of interaction with the PP2A ho loenzyme.
Keywords: phosphoprotein phosphatase; PP2A; subunit
interactions; phosphorylation.
Protein phosphatase2A (PP2A) is an abundant cellular
serine/threonine-speci®c phosphatase that regulates a sig-
ni®cant array of cellular events. The PP2A holoenzyme is a
heterotrimer, containing a 65-kDa regulatoryA subunit
(A/PR65), a 36-kDa catalytic C subunit, and one of a
variety of r egulatory B subunits. These diverse Bsubunits in
the P P2A heterotrimer allow thephosphataseto localize t o
distinct regions ofthe cell and to dephosphorylate speci®c
substrates, thereby allowing PP2A to regulate diverse
processes inthe cell such as DNA replication, Wnt
signaling, apoptosis, and cytoskeletal function (reviewed in
[1,2]). The importance o f Bsubunitsin cellular r egulation is
illustrated by the effect of mutations that alter B subunit
function. Over-expression of B56 blocks Wnt signaling in
Xenopus embryos [3±5], mutations ina Drosophilia B/B55
subunit l eads to imaginal disc duplication and defects in
mitosis [6,7], t ransposon insertions in B56c enhance the
metastatic ability of mouse melanoma cell lines [8], muta-
tions intheA s ubunit that a lter Bsubunitbinding are found
in lung, breast, colorectal and s kin cancers [9,10], and
decreases inAsubunit e xpression are seen in neuronal
tumors [11]. Despite the signi®cant role t he Bsubunits play
in cellular homeostasis, little is known about how they
physically interact with the PP2A holoenzyme to target the
phosphatase to its substrates.
The P P2A Asubunit serves as a scaffold for assembly of
the B and C subunits. I t i s c omposed of 15 imperfect HEAT
repeats, each of 39 amino acids, which form a hook-shaped
molecule [12]. T he repeats consist of t wo a helices connected
by an intrarepeat loop, and m utations in distinct lo ops alter
the bindingoftheB and C subunits [13]. TheB subunits
bind to repeats 1±10 oftheA subunit, whereas the C s ubunit
binds to repeats 11±15. Interactions between theB and C
subunits are a lso important for heterotrimer formation, as
loss of C subunitbinding sites prevents Bsubunit binding
[14,15], and modi®cation ofthe C-term inus ofthe C s ubunit
regulates Bsubunitbinding [16±18].
To date, at least three families of PP2A Bsubunits have
been identi®ed in e ukaryotes. They are designated B (PR55,
B55, CDC55), B¢ (PR61, B56, RTS1), and B¢¢ (PR72/130).
Each Bsubunit family is encoded by m ultiple genes, with
multiple splice variants, generating an extraordinary diver-
sity of these regulatorysubunits [1,2]. Although the three
families o f Bsubunits do not share a pparent sequence
similarities between the families, they do have signi®cant
sequence homology within each family. For example, within
the B56 family, each isoform shares a common core r egion
of 241 amino acids with 71±88% identity by protein
sequence, while both the N- and C -termini are signi®cantly
more divergent [19±21]. Theconserved core region h as been
proposed to interact with the AC h eterodimer, while the
nonconserved N- and C-ends may perform different
functions, such as r egulation of s ubstrate speci®city and
subcellular targeting [20,22]. Two additional classes of
polypeptides also interact with the AC core of PP2A. Both
the small and middle T antigens encoded by polyomavirus
and SV40, and the calmodulin-binding proteins striatin and
SG2NA [ 23], bind tothe AC c ore of P P2A. However, unlike
the B subunits, T antigens and s triatin do not require
interaction with, nor methylation, ofthe PP2A C subunit
[17].
Little is known about the molecular basis for the
interaction oftheBsubunits with the AC heterodimer.
None oftheBsubunits have been mapped to de®ne the
Correspondence to D. M. Virshup, Huntsman Cancer Institu te,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Fax: + 801 587 9415,
Tel.: + 801 585 3408, david.virshup@hci.utah.edu
Abbreviations: PP2A, proteinphosphatase 2A; ASBD, A subunit
binding dom a in; GST-A, glu t athione S-transferase A s ubunit; NP-40,
nonidet p40; CMV, cyto megalovirus.
(Received 19 S eptember 2001, revised 8 November 2001, accepted 16
November 2001)
Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 546±552 (2002) Ó FEBS 2002
A subunitbinding domains. I n t his s tudy, w e u sed t he B56 a
isoform as a model regulatoryproteinto identify structural
elements involved inthe interaction with PP2A. We
identi®ed two distinct domains within the B56a core region
that are each suf®cient for interaction with theA subunit.
Sequence alignment analyses demonstrated that these two
distinct regions are signi®cantly conserved among the three
eukaryotic Bsubunit f amilies. The predicted A subunit
binding domainsin B/B55 and B¢¢/PR7 2 were also able to
interact with the PP2A A subunit. The p resence of a
conserved motif inthe highly divergent Bsubunits suggests
a common ancestry, structure, and mode ofA subunit
interaction for these i mportant regulatory proteins.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Synthesis of [
35
S]protein
[
35
S]Methionine-labeled Bsubunits and t heir fragments, and
SV40 small t antigen a nd its mutant were g enerated by
coupled in vitro transcription and translation in r abbit
reticulocyte lysates ( TNT, Promega) using PCR-generated
templates. All N-terminal PCR primers incorporated a T3
or T7 promoter sequence. Ampli®ed PCR products were
puri®ed using a PCR puri®cation kit (Qiagen) and
200±400 ng of puri®ed DNA was added to 50 lLof
reticulocyte lysate inthe presence of [
35
S]methionine. The
reaction was incubated at 30 °C for 2 h. In several cases,
additional lower molecular mass bands were seen which a re
likely tob e due to either premature termination o r partial
proteolysis ofthe [
35
S]methionine-labeled proteins.
Preparation of glutathione
S
-transferase (GST)
and GST-A fusion proteins
The GST-A subunit o f PP2A ( GST-A) construct was a
generous gift from M. Mumby (UT Southwestern, Dallas,
TX, USA) [24]. Puri®cation of GST-A and GST proteins
from Escherichia coli was p erformed as described previously
[24]. The puri®ed proteins were thoroughly dialyzed against
buffer A (50 m
M
Tris/HCl pH 7.5, 20 m
M
NaCl, 2 m
M
EDTA, 1 m
M
dithiothreitol, containing 3 lgámL
)1
pepsta-
tin and leupeptin, 2 m
M
benzamidine, and 1 m
M
phen-
ylmethanesulfonyl ¯uoride). The resultant protein
preparation was stored at )70 °C in buffer A containing
50% glycerol until use.
GST precipitation assay
The binding reactions contained 10 lLof[
35
S]methionine-
labeled polypeptides from programmed reticulocyte lysates,
2 lg of GST or GST-A and buffer Aina ®nal volume of
50 lL. After i ncubation for 2 h at ambient temperature (or
4hat30°C, where indicated), the reaction was diluted to
500 lL with buffer B [buffer A containing 0.1% nonidet
p40 (NP-40) and 0.25% BSA] and 20 lLofapre-
washed 1 : 1 slurry of glutathione±Sepharose (Amersham
Pharmacia) was added. Incubation continued f or 2 h at
4 °C . The beads we re then washed four times w ith 1 mL of
buffer B , o r R IPA buffer (50 m
M
Tris, pH 7 .5, 150 m
M
NaCl, 1% NP-40, 0.5% deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS) where
indicated, for 10 min each wash. Bound proteins were then
eluted by incubating the beads with 20 lLof10m
M
reduced glutathione in buffer A on ice for 30 min The
eluted polypeptides w ere analyzed by either conventional
SDS/PAGE or on tricine/glycine gels for small molecular
mass peptides [25] and i maged u sing a Molecular D ynamics
PhosphorImager.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Identi®cation oftwoA subunit-binding domainsin B56a
To determine the minimal r egion of B56 that interacted with
the PP2A subunit, we utilized an in vitro binding assay using
GST-A subunit and reticulocyte lysate-synthesized B f rag-
ments [10,21]. To optimize c onditions for the assay, full-
length B56a was ®rst tested for bindingto GST-A. B56a
full-length protein bound well to GST-A, but not to GST
alone (Fig. 1A). To f urther con® rm the speci®c binding,
SV40 small t antigen and a truncation mutant w e re used a s a
binding control. Consistent with p revious reports, GST-A
speci®cally bound to wild-type small t, but not toa mutant
small t antigen l acking theAsubunitbinding site (m#3,
Fig. 1. Bindingof B56a totheAsubunitof PP2A. [
35
S]Methionine-
labeled proteins generated in vitro w ere incu ba ted with GST or GST-A
for 2 h at ambient temperature, and precipitated w ith glutathione±
Sepharose beads. The bound proteins were eluted with the reduced
glutathione and analyzed b y SDS /PAGE followed b y Pho sphorIm ager
analysis. (A) Added C subunit does not enhance the GST-A:B56a
interaction. Bindingof B56a wild type pr otein to PP2A A was assessed
in the presence or a bsence of 1 lg of puri®e d PP2A C and/or 10 lLof
35
S-labeled PP2A C synthesized in vitro. ( B) GS T-A bound spe ci®cally
to the full-length SV40 small t, but not tothe m#3 mutant small
t (1±110 fragment).
Ó FEBS 2002 Conserved PP2A Asubunitbindingdomains (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 547
small t 1±11 0 f ragment, Fig. 1B) [ 24,26]. A lso c onsistent
with previous reports, we saw no enhancement of B56a
binding when the reactions were supplemented w ith puri®ed
C subunit or [
35
S]methionine-labeled C subunit synthesized
in the reticu locyte lysate (Fig. 1A), suggesting the C subun it
present inthe reticulocyte lysate may contribute t o the
formation of heterotrimers [27].
To map the region(s) of B56a responsible for binding to
the A subunit, multiple B56 fragments were generated by
PCR followed by in vitro transcription and translation. The
ability of t he fragments to bind to GST-A was assessed as
described above and the results shown in Fig. 2. Two
distinct domains that interacted with GST-A but not the
GST control w ere identi®ed. Generally less than 10% of
input B56a was recovered from the glutathione±Sepharose
beads w hen GST-A s ub unit was included. This low r ecovery
may be due toa high level of nonspeci®c adsorption of the
B56a polypeptides tothe beads, and suboptimal binding in
the absence of cotranslation oftheA and C subunits. The
smallest N-terminal fragmen t of B56a tha t interacted with
GST-A encompasses r esidues 200±303 (Fig. 2). A second
domain e xtending from amino acids 325 ±383 wa s capable of
independently bindingto GST-A ( Fig. 2). These regions
were named Asubunitb inding domains (ASBD) 1 and 2.
Given that thetwo distinct regions can bind to the
structural A subunit, an effort was undertaken to express
these domainsin vivo. We reasoned that over-expression o f
an Asubunitbinding domain at high levels might displace
endogenous B subunits, thereby blocking speci®c interac-
tions with substrates and leading to alterations in speci®c
signaling pathways. A series of epitope-tagged B56a frag-
ments (amino acids 1±142, 142±303, 200±383, 303±383, and
383±486) were expressed in human embryonic kidney
(HEK293) cells using a cytomegalovirus (CMV)-promoter
driven construct. Unfortunately, only the 1±142 fragment
was highly expressed by immunoblot analysis, w hile the
142±303 fragment was barely e xpressed in comparison with
expression ofthe full-length protein (1±486). Expression of
other B56a fragments was not detectable (data not shown).
Similar r esults were obtained with t wo additional expression
vectors. In addition, fusion of green ¯uorescent protein to
either end ofa polypeptide containing B56a amino acids
180±383 did not result in detectable protein. Considering
that these fragments can be well expressed in reticulocyte
lysates, it seems likely that t he failure to detect the e xpressed
fragments in c ultured cells is due to enhanced degradation
by intracellular proteases. One possibility is that these B56a
fragments h ave substantially lower af®nity for the PP2A AC
heterodimer than does full-length B56a. As B56 subunits
over-expressed in v ivo are detected only in PP2A he terotri-
mers [20], Bsubunits and their fragments unable to be
stabilized by PP2A b inding in vivo may be inherently
unstable and rapidly l ost.
Identi®cation oftwoconserved regions present
in all three families ofB subunits
Although no apparent sequence homology has been
discovered among B s ubunits ofthe t hree families identi®ed
thus far, all Bsubunits do bind to overlapping N-terminal
regions of PP2A A (intraloop repeats 1±10) [13,27]. These
data sugge st t he possibility that Bsubunits contain common
structural elements that are responsible for t he PP2A A
binding. To test whether these two PP2A A binding
domains identi®ed in B56a are conserved among different
B subunits, the
CLUSTALW
multiple sequence alignment
program (available at http://workbench.sdsc.edu) was used
to align a diverse collection o f Bsubunits (either functionally
identi®ed or characterized by sequence homology from
various species) against these two domains. While full-
length B56 failed to produce a signi®cant alignment with
other B subunits, homology with B/B55 and P R72 family
members was found when only the B56 binding domains
were used inthea lignment ( Fig. 3). For ASBD 1, the region
of homology ( amino a cids 188±292 of hsB56a) substantially
overlaps the experimentally deduced Asubunitb inding
domain (amino acids 200±303), while for A SBD 2, t he
overlap is even tighter (homology, 329±386; binding 325±
383). Conserved hydrophobic, charged, and po lar residues
are distributed along the length ofthetwo domains. The
two domains are s eparated by a l ess-conserved region o f
between 20 and 41 amino acids. Aconserved amino-acid
pro®le ( Fig. 3) was generated by visual inspection ofthe two
aligned s equences, a nd used to search the nonredundant
protein database at the Swiss I nstitute for Experimental
Cancer Research web site (http://www.isrec.isb-sib.ch).
Each pro®le identi®ed over 9 5% ofthe approximately 1 05
B/B55/CDC55, B¢/B56/RTS1, and B¢¢/PR72 related seq-
uences contained inthe database. Neither pro®le identi®ed
any novel types o f B subunits, strongly suggesting no
additional conventional Bsubunit families exist, at least in
the n onredundant protein database. Neither pro®le identi-
®ed irrelevant proteins. The pro®les did not match SV40
and polyomavirus t antigens nor members ofthe striatin/
SG2NA families, implying the se PP2A-interacting proteins
have a distinct ancestry and mechanism of interaction.
Notably, the pro®les identi®ed B, B56, and PR72-type B
subunits in organisms as diverse as Neurospora crassa,
Candida tropicalis, Dictyostelium discoideum, Medicago
varia (alfalfa), Arabidopsis t haliana, Oryza sativa (rice),
Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila m elanogaster, Xenopus
laevis, a nd mammals. Combining the ASBD 1 a nd 2 pro®les
with a variable linker b etween them also identi®ed o ver 90%
of theBsubunitsinthe database. Similar results were
obtained when a
PROSITE
pro®le, generated from the
multiple sequence alignment data using the
MOTIF
program
at http://www.motif.genome.ad.jp was used to search t he
Swiss-Prot protein database. We conclude that these pro®les
accurately re¯ect con served amino acid s inthe P P2A B
subunit families.
Fig. 2. Bindingof full-length and truncated B56a totheAsubunit of
PP2A. [
35
S]Methionine-labeled reticulocyte lysate-synthesized B56a
and f ragments were mixed with GST-A or GST for 2 h at the ambient
temperature as described, and the resultant complexes were precipi-
tated with glutathione±Sepharose b eads. After washing, bound com-
plexes were elute d with re duced glu tathion e and analyzed by
SDS/PAGE and PhosphorImager. (A) Schematic summary of the
binding pro perties ofthe B56a fragmen ts. Th e emp ty bar represents
full-length B56a or its fragments, and the gray boxes represent the
deduced A s ubunit-bin ding d omains. (B) Representative autoradio-
graphs from thebinding assays. The left panel shows 5 lL of input
reticulocyte lysate, and the r ight panel d emonstrates which B 56a
fragments precipitated with GST-A and GST beads. Each experiment
was repeated at least thre e times with sim ilar results.
548 X. Li and D. M. Virshup (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002
Ó FEBS 2002 Conserved PP2A Asubunitbindingdomains (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) 549
The bindingofthetwoconserved regions
from B and PR72 to GST-A
To test whether these twoconserved regions ofB subunits
found in B/B55/CDC55 and PR72/B¢¢ family members
indeed form domains capable of interaction with the
PP2A A subunit, the corresponding regions from rat Ba
and human PR72 were expressed a nd [
35
S]methionine-
labeled in reticulocyte lysates, and tested inthe G ST
precipitation assay. As shown in Fig. 4, polypeptides
encompassing thetwoconserved regions from Ba and
PR72 bound well to GST-A, but not to GST alone.
Unrelated fragments of Ba and PR72 lying outside the
deduced Asubunitbindingdomains did n ot bind to GST-A
(data not shown). S V40 small t antigen was used as
positive control for GST-A binding, while the C-terminal
truncated small t ant igen (m#3) was used f or a negative
control. The fact that the sequence alignment presented in
Fig. 3 correctly predicted domainsin B/CDC55 and PR72
family members that interact with PP2A A subunit
strongly suggest that the sequence conservation is biolog-
ically relevant.
How do Bsubunits bind totheA subunit? TheA subunit
is comprised of 1 5 imperfect repeats, and theB subunits
interact with repeats 1 through 10. Detailed mutagenesis
and structural s tudies have shown that intrarepeat loops are
binding s ites f or different types ofBsubunits [13,27].
Substitution of certain amino acids inthe intrarepeat loops
abrogates thebindingof some Bsubunits but not others
[13,28]. The results here de®ne two distinct PP2A binding
domains intheBsubunits that are signi®cantly conserved
among all Bsubunitsofthe three known families. These
conserved residues intheB s ubunits are likely to r e¯ect a
common conserved s tructure, w hile the variable residues
and spacing may allow theBsubunitsto contact different
residues on th e Asubunit i ntrarepeat loops. One further
implication ofthe sequence conservation is that th e B
subunits may h ave evolved from a single ancestral B
subunit.
In summary, in this study we have de®ned t wo separate
PP2A b inding domainsintheregulatorya nd targeting B 56a
subunit, which a re conservedin sequence a nd function in all
three families ofregulatoryB subunits. This ®nding may
facilitate i denti®cation of new Bsubunits and p rovide
Fig. 3. PP2A B s ubunits have twoconserved ASBDs. Representative B sub units ofthe three families (B, B56, and PR72) f rom evolutionarily distant
organisms were a ligned against the t wo ASBD domains i n human B56a (residues 2 00±303 and 325±383). The ®rst two characters on the left are the
name of an organism (hs, homo sapie ns;oc,Oryctolagus c unic ulus;dm,Drosophila melanogaster;xl,Xenopus laevis;ce,Caenorhabditis elegans;sc,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae;sp.,Schizosaccharomyces pombe;at,Arabidopsis thaliana;rn,Rattus norvegicus ;dd,Dictyostelium discoideum;os,Oryza
sativa;mm,Mus musculus). Nu mb ers in parentheses indicate the ®rst and last o f the aligned amino-acid residues inthe individual protein sequence,
followed by the GenBank accession number. Amino acids that are invariant are highlighted in black. Identical residues conservedin more than 50%
of the aligned Bsubunits are highlighted in dark gray, while conserved similar residues are highlighted in light gray. Thetwo deduced ASBD pro®les
are listed underneath the alignments. R esidues marked with asterisks were included inthe pro®les.
550 X. Li and D. M. Virshup (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002
information for further elucidating the structural basis of
interactions inthe PP2A holoenzyme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank Dr Marc Mumby, Estelle Sontag, and Matthew Movsesian
for plasmids and Joni Seeling a nd other members ofthe V irshup lab for
their assistance. Oligonuc leotide synthesis was supported by NIH grant
3P30 CA42014. This research was supported by NIH R01 C A80809
and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation
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SV40 small t antigen and trun cation m #3 w ere u sed f or a s peci® city c ontrol. T he data shown are representative of ®ve independent experiments.
(C) Diagrammatic representation of th e twoconservedA su bunit-binding dom ains (ASB D 1 and ASBD 2 ) in human B 56 a,ratBa, and human
PR72, highlighted in gray.
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552 X. Li and D. M. Virshup (Eur. J. Biochem. 269) Ó FEBS 2002
. Two conserved domains in regulatory B subunits mediate
binding to the A subunit of protein phosphatase 2A
Xinghai Li
1
and David M. Virshup
1,2
1
Department. bunit -binding dom ains (ASB D 1 and ASBD 2 ) in human B 56 a, ratBa, and human
PR72, highlighted in gray.
Ó FEBS 2002 Conserved PP 2A A subunit binding domains