T. Wang et al., Glutathione S-transferase P1-1 (GSTP1-1) inhibits c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK1) signaling through interaction with the C terminus, J BIOL CHEM, 276(24), 2001, pp. 20999-21003
c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-mediated cell signaling pathways are regulate
d endogenously in part by protein-protein interactions with glutathione S-t
ransferase P1-1 (GSTP1-1) (1). Using purified recombinant proteins, combine
d with fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology, we have found tha
t the C terminus of JNK is critical to the interaction with GSTP1-1. The ap
parent K-d for full-length JNK was 188 nM and for a C-terminal fragment (re
sidues 200-424) 217 nM. An N-terminal fragment (residues 1-206) did not bin
d to GSTP1-1. Increased expression of the C-terminal JNK fragment in a tetr
acycline-inducible transfected NIH3T3 cell line produced a concentration-de
pendent increase in the kinase activity of JNK under normal, unstressed gro
wth conditions indicating a dominant-negative effect. This suggests that th
e fragment can compete with endogenous full-length functional JNK resulting
in dissociation of the GSTP1-1-JNK interaction and concomitant JNK enzyme
activation. By using an antibody to hemagglutinin-tagged C-JNK, a concentra
tion-dependent co-immunoprecipitation of GSTP1-1 was achieved. These data p
rovide evidence for direct interactions between the C-terminal of JNK and G
STP1-1 and a rationale for considering GSTP1-1 as a critical ligand-binding
protein with a role in regulating kinase pathways.