Bacterial co-expression of human Tau protein with protein kinase A and 14-3-3 for studies of 14-3-3/phospho-Tau interaction

PLoS One. 2017 Jun 2;12(6):e0178933. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178933. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Abundant regulatory 14-3-3 proteins have an extremely wide interactome and coordinate multiple cellular events via interaction with specifically phosphorylated partner proteins. Notwithstanding the key role of 14-3-3/phosphotarget interactions in many physiological and pathological processes, they are dramatically underexplored. Here, we focused on the 14-3-3 interaction with human Tau protein associated with the development of several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Among many known phosphorylation sites within Tau, protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylates several key residues of Tau and induces its tight interaction with 14-3-3 proteins. However, the stoichiometry and mechanism of 14-3-3 interaction with phosphorylated Tau (pTau) are not clearly elucidated. In this work, we describe a simple bacterial co-expression system aimed to facilitate biochemical and structural studies on the 14-3-3/pTau interaction. We show that dual co-expression of human fetal Tau with PKA in Escherichia coli results in multisite Tau phosphorylation including also naturally occurring sites which were not previously considered in the context of 14-3-3 binding. Tau protein co-expressed with PKA displays tight functional interaction with 14-3-3 isoforms of a different type. Upon triple co-expression with 14-3-3 and PKA, Tau protein could be co-purified with 14-3-3 and demonstrates complex which is similar to that formed in vitro between individual 14-3-3 and pTau obtained from dual co-expression. Although used in this study for the specific case of the previously known 14-3-3/pTau interaction, our co-expression system may be useful to study of other selected 14-3-3/phosphotarget interactions and for validations of 14-3-3 complexes identified by other methods.

MeSH terms

  • 14-3-3 Proteins / analysis
  • 14-3-3 Proteins / genetics
  • 14-3-3 Proteins / metabolism*
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / analysis
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / analysis
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / genetics
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Exoribonucleases / analysis
  • Exoribonucleases / genetics
  • Exoribonucleases / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism
  • Phosphorylation
  • Protein Interaction Maps*
  • Protein Isoforms / analysis
  • Protein Isoforms / genetics
  • Protein Isoforms / metabolism
  • tau Proteins / analysis
  • tau Proteins / genetics
  • tau Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • 14-3-3 Proteins
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • MAPT protein, human
  • Protein Isoforms
  • tau Proteins
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases
  • Exoribonucleases
  • SFN protein, human

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by a Russian Science Foundation grant 16-14-10055. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.