WNK1 Regulates Phosphorylation of Cation-Chloride-coupled Cotransporters via the STE20-related Kinases, SPAK and OSR1

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry 2005-12, Vol.280 (52), p.42685-42693
• Main Authors: Moriguchi, Tetsuo, Urushiyama, Seiichi, Hisamoto, Naoki, Iemura, Shun-ichiro, Uchida, Shinichi, Natsume, Tohru, Matsumoto, Kunihiro, Shibuya, Hiroshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biological Transport; Cations - chemistry; Cell Line; Chlorides - chemistry; Cloning, Molecular; Conserved Sequence; Diuretics - pharmacology; Dogs; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Enzyme Activation; Escherichia coli - metabolism; Evolution, Molecular; Glutathione Transferase - metabolism; Humans; Hypertension - pathology; Immunoblotting; Immunoprecipitation; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Ions; Mass Spectrometry; Mice; Minor Histocompatibility Antigens; Molecular Sequence Data; Nerve Tissue Proteins - chemistry; Nerve Tissue Proteins - physiology; Phosphorylation; Protein Kinases - chemistry; Protein Kinases - physiology; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - chemistry; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - physiology; Rats; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - chemistry; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Serine - chemistry; Signal Transduction; Two-Hybrid System Techniques; WNK Lysine-Deficient Protein Kinase 1
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M510042200

The WNK1 and WNK4 genes have been found to be mutated in some patients with hyperkalemia and hypertension caused by pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. The clue to the pathophysiology of pseudohypoaldosteronism type II was its striking therapeutic response to thiazide diuretics, which are known to block the sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC). Although this suggests a role for WNK1 in hypertension, the precise molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we have shown that WNK1 phosphorylates and regulates the STE20-related kinases, Ste20-related proline-alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) and oxidative stress response 1 (OSR1). WNK1 was observed to phosphorylate the evolutionary conserved serine residue located outside the kinase domains of SPAK and OSR1, and mutation of the OSR1 serine residue caused enhanced OSR1 kinase activity. In addition, hypotonic stress was shown to activate SPAK and OSR1 and induce phosphorylation of the conserved OSR1 serine residue, suggesting that WNK1 may be an activator of the SPAK and OSR1 kinases. Moreover, SPAK and OSR1 were found to directly phosphorylate the N-terminal regulatory regions of cation-chloride-coupled cotransporters including NKCC1, NKCC2, and NCC. Phosphorylation of NCC was induced by hypotonic stress in cells. These results suggested that WNK1 and SPAK/OSR1 mediate the hypotonic stress signaling pathway to the transporters and may provide insights into the mechanisms by which WNK1 regulates ion balance.