Chemical Genetic Validation of CSNK2 Substrates Using an Inhibitor-Resistant Mutant in Combination with Triple SILAC Quantitative Phosphoproteomics

• Published in: Frontiers in molecular biosciences Vol. 9; p. 909711
• Main Authors: Gyenis, Laszlo, Menyhart, Daniel, Cruise, Edward S, Jurcic, Kristina, Roffey, Scott E, Chai, Darren B, Trifoi, Flaviu, Fess, Sam R, Desormeaux, Paul J, Núñez de Villavicencio Díaz, Teresa, Rabalski, Adam J, Zukowski, Stephanie A, Turowec, Jacob P, Pittock, Paula, Lajoie, Gilles, Litchfield, David W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 09-06-2022
• Subjects: chemical genetics; CSNK2; CX-4945; Molecular Biosciences; phosphoproteomics; protein kinase CK2; SILAC; CX-4945; phosphoproteomics; protein kinase CK2; CSNK2; chemical genetics; kinase-substrate relationship validation; mass spectrometry; SILAC
• ISSN: 2296-889X; 2296-889X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.909711

Casein Kinase 2 (CSNK2) is an extremely pleiotropic, ubiquitously expressed protein kinase involved in the regulation of numerous key biological processes. Mapping the CSNK2-dependent phosphoproteome is necessary for better characterization of its fundamental role in cellular signalling. While ATP-competitive inhibitors have enabled the identification of many putative kinase substrates, compounds targeting the highly conserved ATP-binding pocket often exhibit off-target effects limiting their utility for definitive kinase-substrate assignment. To overcome this limitation, we devised a strategy combining chemical genetics and quantitative phosphoproteomics to identify and validate CSNK2 substrates. We engineered U2OS cells expressing exogenous wild type CSNK2A1 (WT) or a triple mutant (TM, V66A/H160D/I174A) with substitutions at residues important for inhibitor binding. These cells were treated with CX-4945, a clinical-stage inhibitor of CSNK2, and analyzed using large-scale triple SILAC (Stable Isotope Labelling of Amino Acids in Cell Culture) quantitative phosphoproteomics. In contrast to wild-type CSNK2A1, CSNK2A1-TM retained activity in the presence of CX-4945 enabling identification and validation of several CSNK2 substrates on the basis of their increased phosphorylation in cells expressing CSNK2A1-TM. Based on high conservation within the kinase family, we expect that this strategy can be broadly adapted for identification of other kinase-substrate relationships.