PDZ-DOMAIN-MEDIATED INTERACTION OF THE EPH-RELATED RECEPTOR TYROSINE KINASE EPHB3 AND THE RAS-BINDING PROTEIN AF6 DEPENDS ON THE KINASE-ACTIVITY OF THE RECEPTOR
B. Hock et al., PDZ-DOMAIN-MEDIATED INTERACTION OF THE EPH-RELATED RECEPTOR TYROSINE KINASE EPHB3 AND THE RAS-BINDING PROTEIN AF6 DEPENDS ON THE KINASE-ACTIVITY OF THE RECEPTOR, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 95(17), 1998, pp. 9779-9784
Eph-related receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) have been implicated in i
ntercellular communication during embryonic development. To elucidate
their signal transduction pathways, we applied the yeast two-hybrid sy
stem. We could demonstrate that the carboxyl termini of the Eph-relate
d RTKs EphA7, EphB2, EphB3, EphB5, and EphB6 interact with the PDZ dom
ain of the ras-binding protein AF6. A mutational analysis revealed tha
t six C-terminal residues of the receptors are involved in binding to
the PDZ domain of AF6 in a sequence-specific fashion. Moreover, this P
DZ domain also interacts with C-terminal sequences derived from other
transmembrane receptors such as neurexins and the Notch ligand Jagged.
In contrast to the association of EphB3 to the PDZ domain of AF6, the
interaction with full-length AF6 clearly depends on the kinase activi
ty of EphB3, suggesting a regulated mechanism for the PDZ-domain-media
ted interaction. These data gave rise to the idea that the binding of
AF6 to EphB3 occurs in a cooperative fashion because of synergistic ef
fects involving different epitopes of both proteins. Moreover, in NIH
3T3 and NG108 cells endogenous AF6 is phosphorylated specifically by E
phB3 and EphB2 in a ligand-dependent fashion. Our observations add the
PDZ domain to the group of conserved protein modules such as Src-homo
logy-2 (SH2) and phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domains that regulate s
ignal transduction through their ability to mediate the interaction wi
th RTKs.