A Novel Effect of MARCKS Phosphorylation by Activated PKC: The Dephosphorylation of Its Serine 25 in Chick Neuroblasts

MARCKS (Myristoylated Alanine-Rich C Kinase Substrate) is a peripheral membrane protein, especially abundant in the nervous system, and functionally related to actin organization and Ca-calmodulin regulation depending on its phosphorylation by PKC. However, MARCKS is susceptible to be phosphorylated by several different kinases and the possible interactions between these phosphorylations have not been fully studied in intact cells. In differentiating neuroblasts, as well as some neurons, there is at least one cell-type specific phosphorylation site: serine 25 (S25) in the chick. We demonstrate here that S25 is included in a highly conserved protein sequence which is a Cdk phosphorylatable region, located far away from the PKC phosphorylation domain. S25 phosphorylation was inhibited by olomoucine and roscovitine in neuroblasts undergoing various states of cell differentiation in vitro. These results, considered in the known context of Cdks activity in neuroblasts, suggest that Cdk5 is the enzyme responsible for this phosphorylation. We find that the phosphorylation by PKC at the effector domain does not occur in the same molecules that are phosphorylated at serine 25. The in situ analysis of the subcellular distribution of these two phosphorylated MARCKS variants revealed that they are also segregated in different protein clusters. In addition, we find that a sustained stimulation of PKC by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) provokes the progressive disappearance of phosphorylation at serine 25. Cells treated with PMA, but in the presence of several Ser/Thr phosphatase (PP1, PP2A and PP2B) inhibitors indicated that this dephosphorylation is achieved via a phosphatase 2A (PP2A) form. These results provide new evidence regarding the existence of a novel consequence of PKC stimulation upon the phosphorylated state of MARCKS in neural cells, and propose a link between PKC and PP2A activity on MARCKS.