REGULATION OF PHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL 4-KINASE BY THE PROTEIN ACTIVATOR PIK-A49 - ACTIVATION REQUIRES PHOSPHORYLATION OF PIK-A49

PIK-A49 is a 49-kDa soluble protein that was isolated as an activator of the plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4-kinase from carrot cells (Yang, W., Burkhart, W., Cavallius, J., Merrick, W. C., and Boss , W. F. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 392-398). PIK-A49 is a multifunctio nal protein that binds and bundles F-actin and has translational elong ation factor-1alpha activity. In this paper, we have investigated the mechanism of activation of PI 4-kinase by PIK-A49. PIK-A49 decreased t he K(m) of PI 4-kinase for ATP from 0.40 to 0.19 mm. GTP and GDP, whic h affect the elongation factor-1alpha function of the protein, inhibit ed the activation of PI 4-kinase by PIK-A49. Phosphorylation of purifi ed PIK-A49 by a calcium-dependent protein kinase enhanced activation o f PI 4-kinase. When dephosphorylated by alkaline phosphatase PIK-A49 n o longer activated PI 4-kinase; however, rephosphorylation of PIK-A49 by calcium-dependent protein kinase fully restored activation. Western blots using anti-PIK-A49 serum showed that PIK-A49 was associated wit h the plasma membrane and the F-actin fraction isolated from plasma me mbranes, indicating that PIK-A49 would be in a position to regulate pl asma membrane PI 4-kinase. Based on these data, we propose a mechanism for feed-forward regulation of polyphosphoinositide biosynthesis in r esponse to increases in cytosolic calcium.