Deciphering the evolution of composite-type GSKIP in mitochondria and Wnt signaling pathways

PLoS One. 2022 Jan 20;17(1):e0262138. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262138. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

We previously revealed the origin of mammalian simple-type glycogen synthase kinase interaction protein (GSKIP), which served as a scavenger and a competitor in the Wnt signaling pathway during evolution. In this study, we investigated the conserved and nonconserved regions of the composite-type GSKIP by utilizing bioinformatics tools, site-directed mutagenesis, and yeast two-hybrid methods. The regions were denoted as the pre-GSK3β binding site, which is located at the front of GSK3β-binding sites. Our data demonstrated that clustered mitochondria protein 1 (CLU1), a type of composite-type GSKIP that exists in the mitochondria of all eukaryotic organisms, possesses the protein known as domain of unknown function 727 (DUF727), with a pre-GSK3β-binding site and a mutant GSK3β-binding flanking region. Another type of composite-type GSKIP, armadillo repeat containing 4 (ARMC4), which is known for cilium movement in vertebrates, contains an unintegrated DUF727 flanking region with a pre-GSK3β-binding site (115SPxF118) only. In addition, the sequence of the GSK3β-binding site in CLU1 revealed that Q126L and V130L were not conserved, differing from the ideal GSK3β-binding sequence of simple-type GSKIP. We further illustrated two exceptions, namely 70 kilodalton heat shock proteins (Hsp70/DnaK) and Mitofilin in nematodes, that presented an unexpected ideal GSK3β-binding region with a pre-GSK3β sequence; this composite-type GSKIP could only occur in vertebrate species. Furthermore, we revealed the importance of the pre-GSK3β-binding site (118F or 118Y) and various mutant GSK3β-binding sites of composite-type GSKIP. Collectively, our data suggest that the new composite-type GSKIP starts with a DUF727 domain followed by a pre-GSK3β-binding site, with the subsequent addition of the GSK3β-binding site, which plays vital roles for CLU1, Mitofilin, and ARMC4 in mitochondria and Wnt signaling pathways during evolution.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Armadillo Domain Proteins / chemistry
  • Armadillo Domain Proteins / genetics
  • Armadillo Domain Proteins / metabolism*
  • Binding Sites
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Mitochondria / metabolism*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Phylogeny
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Repressor Proteins / chemistry
  • Repressor Proteins / genetics*
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Two-Hybrid System Techniques
  • Wnt Signaling Pathway

Substances

  • Armadillo Domain Proteins
  • CLUH protein, human
  • GSKIP protein, human
  • ODAD2 protein, human
  • RNA-Binding Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins
  • GSK3B protein, human
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Taiwan, KMUH109-9R28 (awarded to JKL), KMUH106-M18 (awarded to CYT); NSYSU-KMU Joint Research Project, Taiwan NSYSUKMU-109-P006 and NSYSUKMU-110-P009 (awarded to YRH and JTC); Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan MOST109-2320-B037-032; 109-2320-B037-012; 110-2320-B037-029 (awarded to YRH)."