An array of insulin-activated, proline-directed serine/threonine protein kinases phosphorylate the p70 S6 kinase.

This study characterizes the insulin-activated serine/threonine protein kinases in H4 hepatoma cells active on a 37-residue synthetic peptide (called the SKAIPS peptide) corresponding to a putative autoinhibitory domain in the carboxyl-terminal tail of the p70 S6 kinase as well as on recombinant p70 S6 kinase. Three peaks of insulin-stimulated protein kinase active on both these substrates are identified as two (possibly three) isoforms of the 40-45-kDa erk/microtubule-associated protein (MAP)-2 kinase family and a 150-kDa form of cdc2. Although distinguishable in their substrate specificity, these protein kinases together with the p54 MAP-2 kinase share a major common specificity determinant reflected in the SKAIPS peptide: the requirement for a proline residue immediately carboxyl-terminal to the site of Ser/Thr phosphorylation. In addition, however, at least one peak of insulin-stimulated protein kinase active on recombinant p70, but not on the SKAIPS peptide, is present although not yet identified. MFP/cdc2 phosphorylates both rat liver p70 S6 kinase and recombinant p70 S6 kinase exclusively at a set of Ser/Thr residues within the putative autoinhibitory (SKAIPS peptide) domain. erk/MAP kinase does not phosphorylate rat liver p70 S6 kinase, but readily phosphorylates recombinant p70 S6 kinase at sites both within and in addition to those encompassed by the SKAIPS peptide sequences. Although the tryptic 32P-peptides bearing the cdc2 and erk/MAP kinase phosphorylation sites co-migrate with a subset of the sites phosphorylated in situ in insulin-stimulated cells, phosphorylation of the p70 S6 kinase by these proline-directed protein kinases in vitro does not reproducibly activate p70 S6 kinase activity. Thus, one or more erk/MAP kinases and cdc2 are likely to participate in the insulin-induced phosphorylation of the p70 S6 kinase. In addition to these kinases, however, phosphorylation of the p70 S6 kinase by other as yet unidentified protein kinases is necessary to recapitulate the multisite phosphorylation required for activation of the p70 S6 kinase.