Abstract
When a synthetic peptide fragment (VAVVRTPPKSPSSAK) which corresponds to amino acid residues 226-240 from brain microtubule-associated protein tau was used as a testing substrate, we found that protein kinase FA/GSK-3α was almost inactive towards this substrate. In sharp contrast, when Ser-10 of this peptide was replaced by a phosphoserine, the phosphopeptide fragment (VAVVRTPPKS(p)PS S A K) became an excellent substrate for kinase FA/GSK-3α. Sequential manual Edman degradation together with phosphoamino acid analysis and protein sequencing further revealed that Thr-6 of the peptide fragment which corresponds to an important abnormal phosphorylation site Thr-231 in Alzheimer′s diseased brain tau was the only site that was greatly phosphorylated, demonstrating that a pre-phosphorylation becomes a prerequisite and is essential for promoting phosphorylation of Thr-231. Taken together, the results provide initial evidence that kinase FA/GSK-3α mediates a synergistic phosphorylation control mechanism involved in the abnormal site phosphorylation of Alzheimer′s diseased brain tau.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 400-406 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |
Volume | 197 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 15 1993 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology