We recently reported that the high intracellular stability of the N-terminus-deleted human tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) type 1 mutants might be generated by the loss of a PEST (proline, glutamate/aspartate, serine and threonine) motif located in the N-terminus sequence of Met
1-Lys
12. However, it is not clear whether only the PEST motif can affect the intracellular stability of human TH type 1 (
hTH
1) proteins. This study was performed to confirm a role of the PEST motif on the stability of
hTH
1. Wild-type
hTH
1 and the 6 mutants (del-12, del-22, del-32 and del-42, in which the first 12, 22, 32 and 42 amino acid residues deleted, respectively; del-Pro2, the Pro
2 residue deleted; del-Ala11, the Ala
11 residue deleted) were expressed in AtT-20 mouse neuroendocrine cells in order to clarify how deeply the PEST motif is involved in the intracellular stability of
hTH
1 protein. The western blot analyses revealed that the mutants del-22, del-32, del-42 and del-Ala11 were much more stable than wild-type in the cells. These results indicate that the PEST motif is critical in regulating the intracellular stability of
hTH
1 protein. Moreover, it has been reported that the phosphorylations of TH at serine residues, Ser
19, Ser
31 and/or Ser
40 induce the change in the tertiary structure of the N-terminus of TH protein. Therefore, in this report, we also suggest that the PEST motif and the phosphorylations can affect the intracellular stability of
hTH
1 protein, synergistically.
[J Physiol Sci. 2007;57 Suppl:S143]
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