3s8e

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Caspases, a family of apoptotic proteases, are increasingly recognized as being extensively phosphorylated, usually leading to inactivation. To date, no structural mechanism for phosphorylation-based caspase inactivation is available, although this information may be key to achieving caspase-specific inhibition. Caspase-6 has recently been implicated in neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases. A full understanding of caspase-6 regulation is crucial to caspase-6-specific inhibition. Caspase-6 is phosphorylated by ARK5 kinase at serine 257 leading to suppression of cell death via caspase-6 inhibition. Our structure of the fully inactive phosphomimetic S257D reveals that phosphorylation results in a steric clash with P201 in the L2' loop. Removal of the proline side chain alleviates the clash resulting in nearly wild-type activity levels. This phosphomimetic-mediated steric clash causes misalignment of the substrate-binding groove, preventing substrate binding. Substrate-binding loop misalignment appears to be a widely used regulatory strategy among caspases and may present a new paradigm for caspase-specific control.

Phosphorylation regulates assembly of the caspase-6 substrate-binding groove.,Velazquez-Delgado EM, Hardy JA Structure. 2012 Apr 4;20(4):742-51. Epub 2012 Apr 3. PMID:22483120^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.