Localization and regulation of the cdk-activating kinase (Cak1p) from budding yeast

Eukaryotic cell cycles are controlled by the activities of cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks). The major cdk in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is Cdc28p, Activation of Cdc28p requires phosphorylation on threonine 169 a nd binding to a cyclin, Thr-169 is phosphorylated by the cdk-activating kin ase (CAK), Cak1p, which was recently identified as the physiological CAK in budding yeast. Here we present our further characterization of yeast Cak1p . We have found that Cak1p is dispersed throughout the cell as shown by imm unofluorescence; biochemical subcellular fractionation confirmed that most of the Cak1p is found in the cytoplasm. Cak1p is a monomeric enzyme in crud e yeast lysates, Mutagenesis of potential sites of activating phosphorylati on had little effect on the activity of Cak1p in vitro or in vivo. Furtherm ore, Cak1p contains no posttranslational modifications detectable by two-di mensional isoelectric focusing. We found that Cak1p is a stable protein dur ing exponential growth but that its expression decreases considerably when cells enter stationary phase. In contrast, Cak1p levels oscillate dramatica lly during meiosis, reflecting regulation at both the transcriptional and p ost-translational level. The localization and regulation of Cak1p are in co ntrast to those of the known vertebrate CAK, p40(MO15).