Functional consequences of Wnt-induced dishevelled 2 phosphorylation in canonical and noncanonical Wnt signaling

Functional analysis of dishevelled-3 phosphorylation identifies distinct mechanisms driven by casein kinase 1ϵ and frizzled5

Dishevelled-3 (Dvl3), a key component of the Wnt signaling pathways, acts downstream of Frizzled (Fzd) receptors and gets heavily phosphorylated in response to pathway activation by Wnt ligands. Casein kinase 1ϵ (CK1ϵ) was identified as the major kinase responsible for Wnt-induced Dvl3 phosphorylation. Currently it is not clear which Dvl residues are phosphorylated and what is the consequence of individual phosphorylation events. In the present study we employed mass spectrometry to analyze in a comprehensive way the phosphorylation of human Dvl3 induced by CK1ϵ. Our analysis revealed >50 phosphorylation sites on Dvl3; only a minority of these sites was found dynamically induced after co-expression of CK1ϵ, and surprisingly, phosphorylation of one cluster of modified residues was down-regulated. Dynamically phosphorylated sites were analyzed functionally. Mutations within PDZ domain (S280A and S311A) reduced the ability of Dvl3 to activate TCF/LEF (T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor)-driven transcription and induce secondary axis in Xenopus embryos. In contrast, mutations of clustered Ser/Thr in the Dvl3 C terminus prevented ability of CK1ϵ to induce electrophoretic mobility shift of Dvl3 and its even subcellular localization. Surprisingly, mobility shift and subcellular localization changes induced by Fzd5, a Wnt receptor, were in all these mutants indistinguishable from wild type Dvl3. In summary, our data on the molecular level (i) support previous the assumption that CK1ϵ acts via phosphorylation of distinct residues as the activator as well as the shut-off signal of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and (ii) suggest that CK1ϵ acts on Dvl via different mechanism than Fzd5.

Mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1/2 inhibits the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway by directly binding casein kinase 1ε

The Hippo signalling pathway can suppress the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway through the last downstream effectors YAP (Yes-associated protein)/TAZ (tafazzin). MST (mammalian sterile 20-like kinase) 1 functions as the upstream kinase of the Hippo pathway, and CK1ε (casein kinase 1ε) plays roles in the up-stream signal transduction of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. In the present study, using tandem affinity purification and MS analysis, CK1ε was identified as a novel partner of MST1. Further analysis showed that the interaction between MST1 and CK1ε was mediated by their kinase domains and enhanced by the activation of MST1. To exclude the interference of the phosphorylated YAP/TAZ, the transduction from MST1 to YAP/TAZ was blocked using anti-WW45 shRNA. In the sh-WW45 cells, MST1 still inhibited the Wnt3A-induced phosphorylation of DVL2 (dishevelled 2) and Wnt/β-catenin signalling by disturbing the interaction of DVL2 and CK1ε. The growth-suppressive effect of MST1 in the presence of Wnt3A was effectively relieved by the downstream activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Moreover, MST2, the close homologue of MST1, also displayed the similar function in suppressing the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Therefore the results of the present study revealed that, in addition to the phosphorylated YAP/TAZ, the Hippo pathway can suppress the Wnt/β-catenin pathway directly through MST1/2.

Regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling by posttranslational modifications

The canonical Wnt signaling pathway (or Wnt/β-catenin pathway) plays a pivotal role in embryonic development and adult homeostasis; deregulation of the Wnt pathway contributes to the initiation and progression of human diseases including cancer. Despite its importance in human biology and disease, how regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is achieved remains largely undefined. Increasing evidence suggests that post-translational modifications (PTMs) of Wnt pathway components are essential for the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. PTMs create a highly dynamic relay system that responds to Wnt stimulation without requiring de novo protein synthesis and offer a platform for non-Wnt pathway components to be involved in the regulation of Wnt signaling, hence providing alternative opportunities for targeting the Wnt pathway. This review highlights the current status of PTM-mediated regulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway with a focus on factors involved in Wnt-mediated stabilization of β-catenin.

Atypical protein kinase Cι is required for Wnt3a-dependent neurite outgrowth and binds to phosphorylated dishevelled 2

Previously we reported that Wnt3a-dependent neurite outgrowth in Ewing sarcoma family tumor cell lines was mediated by Frizzled3, Dishevelled (Dvl), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (Endo, Y., Beauchamp, E., Woods, D., Taylor, W. G., Toretsky, J. A., Uren, A., and Rubin, J. S. (2008) Mol. Cell. Biol. 28, 2368-2379). Subsequently, we observed that Dvl2/3 phosphorylation correlated with neurite outgrowth and that casein kinase 1δ, one of the enzymes that mediate Wnt3a-dependent Dvl phosphorylation, was required for neurite extension (Greer, Y. E., and Rubin, J. S. (2011) J. Cell Biol. 192, 993-1004). However, the functional relevance of Dvl phosphorylation in neurite outgrowth was not established. Dvl1 has been shown by others to be important for axon specification in hippocampal neurons via an interaction with atypical PKCζ, but the role of Dvl phosphorylation was not evaluated. Here we report that Ewing sarcoma family tumor cells express PKCι but not PKCζ. Wnt3a stimulated PKCι activation and caused a punctate distribution of pPKCι in the neurites and cytoplasm, with a particularly intense signal at the centrosome. Knockdown of PKCι expression with siRNA reagents blocked neurite formation in response to Wnt3a. Aurothiomalate, a specific inhibitor of PKCι/Par6 binding, also suppressed neurite extension. Wnt3a enhanced the co-immunoprecipitation of endogenous PKCι and Dvl2. Although FLAG-tagged wild-type Dvl2 immunoprecipitated with PKCι, a phosphorylation-deficient Dvl2 derivative did not. This derivative also was unable to rescue neurite outgrowth when endogenous Dvl2/3 was suppressed by siRNA (González-Sancho, J. M., Greer, Y. E., Abrahams, C. L., Takigawa, Y., Baljinnyam, B., Lee, K. H., Lee, K. S., Rubin, J. S., and Brown, A. M. (2013) J. Biol. Chem. 288, 9428-9437). Taken together, these results suggest that site-specific Dvl2 phosphorylation is required for Dvl2 association with PKCι. This interaction is likely to be one of the mechanisms essential for Wnt3a-dependent neurite outgrowth.