Ribosomal Protein S3, a New Substrate of Akt, Serves as a Signal Mediator between Neuronal Apoptosis and DNA Repair[S]

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 285; no. 38; pp. 29457 - 29468
• Main Authors: Lee, Sang Bae, Kwon, Il-Sun, Park, Jihye, Lee, Kyung-Hoon, Ahn, Younghee, Lee, Cheolju, Kim, Joon, Choi, Soo Young, Cho, Sung-Woo, Ahn, Jee-Yin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 17-09-2010; American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Subjects: Akt PKB; Animals; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Apoptosis - genetics; Cell Biology; Cell Death; Cells, Cultured; DNA Fragmentation - drug effects; DNA Repair - genetics; DNA Repair - physiology; Immunoprecipitation; Nerve Growth Factor - pharmacology; PC12 Cells; Protein Binding - drug effects; Protein Binding - genetics; Protein Phosphorylation; Protein-Protein Interactions; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ribosomal Proteins - genetics; Ribosomal Proteins - metabolism; RPS3; RPS3; Protein Phosphorylation; Akt PKB; Cell Death; Apoptosis; Protein-Protein Interactions
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M110.131367

RPS3, a conserved, eukaryotic ribosomal protein of the 40 S subunit, is required for ribosome biogenesis. Because ribosomal proteins are abundant and ubiquitous, they may have additional extraribosomal functions. Here, we show that human RPS3 is a physiological target of Akt kinase and a novel mediator of neuronal apoptosis. NGF stimulation resulted in phosphorylation of threonine 70 of RPS3 by Akt, and this phosphorylation was required for Akt binding to RPS3. RPS3 induced neuronal apoptosis, up-regulating proapoptotic proteins Dp5/Hrk and Bim by binding to E2F1 and acting synergistically with it. Akt-dependent phosphorylation of RPS3 inhibited its proapoptotic function and perturbed its interaction with E2F1. These events coincided with nuclear translocation and accumulation of RPS3, where it functions as an endonuclease. Nuclear accumulation of RPS3 results in an increase in DNA repair activity to some extent, thereby sustaining neuronal survival. Abolishment of Akt-mediated RPS3 phosphorylation through mutagenesis accelerated apoptotic cell death and severely compromised nuclear translocation of RPS3. Thus, our findings define an extraribosomal role of RPS3 as a molecular switch that accommodates apoptotic induction to DNA repair through Akt-mediated phosphorylation.