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Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M002552200 on April 28, 2000

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 275, Issue 28, 21081-21085, July 14, 2000
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Negative Regulation of the Nuclear Factor kappa B-inducing Kinase by a cis-Acting Domain*

Gutian Xiao and Shao-Cong SunDagger

From the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033

Received for publication, March 26, 2000, and in revised form, April 26, 2000

    ABSTRACT
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B)-inducing kinase (NIK) participates in the activation of NF-kappa B, a family of eukaryotic transcription factors that mediate cell growth and transformation. NIK activates the Ikappa B kinase both in vivo and in vitro, although how the activity of NIK is regulated has remained unclear. Here we show that the N-terminal region of NIK contains a negative-regulatory domain (NRD), which is composed of a basic motif and a proline-rich repeat motif. Deletion of these motifs leads to a marked enhancement of NIK function. We further demonstrate that the N-terminal NRD interacts with the C-terminal region of NIK, thereby inhibiting the binding of NIK to its substrate Ikappa B kinase. Consistently, when expressed alone, the NRD potently inhibits NIK-mediated NF-kappa B signaling. These results provide a new insight into the mechanism of NIK regulation.

    INTRODUCTION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B)1 represents a family of eukaryotic transcription factors participating in regulation of immune response, cell growth, and survival (reviewed in Refs. 1-3). The NF-kappa B factors are normally sequestered in the cytoplasmic compartment by physical association with inhibitors, including Ikappa Balpha and related proteins (4). In response to diverse stimuli, including cytokines, mitogens, and certain viral gene products, Ikappa Balpha is rapidly phosphorylated and degraded, which allows the liberated NF-kappa B to translocate to the nucleus and participate in target gene transactivation (5-7). Recent molecular cloning studies have identified a multisubunit Ikappa B kinase, which mediates the signal-induced phosphorylation of Ikappa B (8). The IKK is composed of two catalytic subunits, IKKalpha and IKKbeta , and a regulatory subunit IKKgamma (9). The catalytic activity of both IKKalpha and IKKbeta can be activated by different NF-kappa B inducers, including the inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha  and interleukin-1 (10-14), and the T cell receptor and CD28 costimulatory signals of T cell activation (15).

Although precisely how IKKs respond to the various stimuli remains unclear, recent studies have identified potential upstream kinases, such as the NF-kappa B-inducing kinase (NIK) and the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase kinase 1 (MEKK1) (16-18), both belonging to the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K) family. NIK was originally identified as a protein interacting with the TRAF-2 component of the tumor necrosis factor alpha  receptor complex (19). This MAP3K physically interacts with IKKalpha and IKKbeta and stimulates the catalytic activity of these IKKs (10, 11). NIK interacts with IKKs via its C-terminal region, and this interaction appears to be required for its function in NF-kappa B signaling (20). When expressed in mammalian cells, NIK also form homodimers or oligomers (20). Despite these extensive investigations, it is currently unclear how the activity of NIK is regulated. In this study, we demonstrated that the N-terminal noncatalytic region of NIK contains a negative-regulatory domain, which inhibits NIK function in cis by interacting with the C-terminal IKK-binding domain of this MAP3K. These findings provide a new insight into the mechanism of NIK regulation.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Plasmid Constructs-- pCMV4-1HA is a modified form of the pCMV4 mammalian expression vector (21). It carries one copy of the influenza hemagglutinin (HA) epitope tag (YPYDVPDYA) together with restriction sites for in-frame cloning of cDNA inserts. The expression vectors encoding wild type and truncated forms of NIK were generated by PCR amplification of a human NIK cDNA (kindly provided by Dr. David Wallach; Ref. 19), followed by subcloning the amplified DNA fragments into the pCMV4-1HA vector. The NIK truncation mutants are designated by the specific amino acid residues retained in the mutant protein. For example, NIK-(33-947) contains the region from amino acid 33 to amino acid 947. The internal deletion mutants of NIK were generated by site-directed mutagenesis (Stratagene) using the wild type NIK expression vector as template. The Myc-tagged NIK-(1-366) was obtained from Dr. Warner Greene (20). The dominant-active MEKK1 was provided by Dr. Michael Karin. The expression vectors for IKKalpha , IKKbeta , and Ikappa Balpha , and the kappa B-TATA-luc reporter plasmid were described previously (22).

Immunoblotting and Immunoprecipitation Assays-- Human 293 kidney carcinoma cells were seeded in 0.1% gelatin-treated 24-well plates (2.5 × 104 cells/well) and transfected using DEAE-dextran (23) with 0.1 µg of HA-Ikappa Balpha and other indicated expression vectors. After 40 h, whole cell extracts were prepared and analyzed by immunoblotting as described previously (24) using anti-HA antibody.

For immunoprecipitation studies, the cells were transfected in six-well plates and lysed in radioimmune precipitation buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Nonidet P-40, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM phenylmethysulfonyl fluoride, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 0.01 volume of a protease inhibitor mixture (Ref. 24)). Whole cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation in the radioimmune precipitation buffer as described previously (24), and the precipitated proteins were analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by immunoblotting.

Luciferase Assays-- Jurkat T cells (1.25 × 106) were transfected using DEAE-dextran (23) with 50 ng of kappa B-TATA-luc together with the indicated cDNA expression vectors. After 40 h, the cells were lysed in 120 µl of reporter lysis buffer (Promega, luciferase reporter system). Luciferase activity was detected by mixing 5 µl of cell extracts with 25 µl of luciferase substrate and then immediately measured with a single photon channel of a scintillation counter (Beckman).

    RESULTS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

The C-terminal Non-catalytic Region of NIK Is Required for Its Signaling Function-- Transient transfection assays have demonstrated that NIK stimulates the catalytic activity of IKKalpha and IKKbeta , leading to in vivo phosphorylation of Ikappa Balpha (10, 11). Since the phosphorylated Ikappa Balpha migrates more slowly on SDS gels (25), it can be easily detected by immunoblotting assays. This in vivo assay approach was used to determine the functional domains of NIK. Briefly, wild type or mutant forms of NIK were coexpressed with IKKalpha or IKKbeta in 293 cells together with the substrate protein Ikappa Balpha . In the absence of NIK, neither IKKalpha (Fig. 1B, lane 2) nor IKKbeta (lane 10) exhibited appreciable kinase activity, since the coexpressed Ikappa Balpha was not phosphorylated. However, when the IKKs were expressed together with wild type NIK, Ikappa Balpha was efficiently phosphorylated, as demonstrated by the appearance of the more slowly migrating Ikappa Balpha band (Fig. 1B, lanes 3 and 11, Ikappa Balpha -P). Deletion of 100 amino acids from the C terminus of NIK did not significantly inhibit its IKK activation function (Fig. 1B, lanes 4 and 12). However, further deletion of 52 amino acids or more from this end resulted in the abrogation of the signaling function of NIK (lanes 5-8 and 13-16). The failure of these NIK mutants to induce Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation was not due to their inefficient expression or low stability since the steady expression level of these NIK mutants was similar to that of the wild type NIK (Fig. 1C).


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Fig. 1.   Determination of C-terminal sequences of NIK required for its function in the induction of Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation. A, schematic summary of C-terminal truncation mutants of NIK. The catalytic domain is shown in black boxes. B, Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation in 293 cells induced by IKKs and NIK. 293 cells were transfected (in 24-well plates) with HA-tagged Ikappa Balpha (0.1 µg), HA-tagged wild type (WT) or mutant forms of NIK (50 ng), together with either IKKalpha (25 ng, lanes 2-8) or IKKbeta (10 ng, lanes 10-16). Whole cell extracts were subjected to immunoblotting analyses using anti-HA antibody. The basal and phosphorylated forms of HA-Ikappa Balpha are indicated as Ikappa Balpha and Ikappa Balpha -P, respectively. NS indicates a nonspecific band cross-reacted with the anti-HA antibody. C, immunoblotting analysis showing the expression level of transfected NIK and NIK mutants. The HA-tagged wild type (WT) and C-terminal truncated forms of NIK (0.5 µg) were transfected into 293 cells, and the expressed proteins were detected by immunoblotting using anti-HA. The multiple bands shown in lanes 2-4 represent the hyper- and hypophosphorylated NIK (data not shown). NS indicates a nonspecific band. D, luciferase reporter gene assays to determine the sequences of NIK required for activation of NF-kappa B transcriptional activation activity. Jurkat cells (1.25 × 106) were transfected with the kappa B-TATA-luc reporter gene (50 ng) together with the wild type (WT) or the indicated truncated forms of NIK (50 ng). After 40 h, the transfectants were collected for extract preparation and luciferase assays. Luciferase activity is presented as -fold induction relative to the basal level measured in cells transfected with the empty vector pCMV4. The values are means ± standard errors from three independent experiments.

The functional phenotypes of the NIK mutants were further assessed using the more quantitative reporter gene assays. As shown in Fig. 1D, expression of NIK in Jurkat T cells led to significant induction of the kappa B-directed luciferase reporter gene expression (column 2). Interestingly, deletion of the C-terminal 100 amino acids of NIK led to a partial inhibition of NIK function (column 3). No NF-kappa B inducing activity was detected with the other NIK mutants lacking more C-terminal sequences (columns 4-7). Thus, the C-terminal non-catalytic region of NIK is essential for its signaling function.

The N-terminal Sequences of NIK Exhibit Negative-regulatory Function-- The N-terminal non-catalytic region of NIK contains 400 amino acids (19). To examine the role of this region in NIK function, N-terminal truncation mutants of NIK were subjected to functional assays (Fig. 2). In contrast to the C-terminal region, the majority of the N-terminal sequences appeared to be dispensable for NIK function (Fig. 2B). Deletion of up to 348 amino acids did not block the function of NIK in activation of IKKbeta (Fig. 2B, lanes 3-9) and IKKalpha (data not shown), as demonstrated by in vivo phosphorylation of Ikappa Balpha . Complete inactivation of NIK was observed only when 377 or more amino acids were deleted (lanes 10 and 11). Similar results were obtained with luciferase reporter gene assays (Fig. 2D). More interestingly, we observed that several of the N-terminal NIK truncation mutants (152-947, 238-947, and 319-947) exhibited significantly higher activity in activation of IKKbeta (Fig. 2B, lanes 6-8) and induction of kappa B (Fig. 2D, columns 5-7) than the wild type form. This functional elevation was even more profound when lower amounts of expression vectors were used in the transfections (Fig. 2D, columns 12-15). Moreover, the differential activity of the NIK mutants was not due to the variation in their expression, since the more active forms of NIK were expressed at either equivalent or even lower levels compared with the wild type NIK (Fig. 2C). These results suggest that the N-terminal region of NIK functions as a negative-regulatory domain (NRD) and that the core sequences of this domain likely reside between amino acids 121 and 318. 


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Fig. 2.   The N-terminal sequences of NIK are largely dispensable for its signaling function. A, schematic summary of the N-terminal truncation mutants of NIK. The catalytic domain is shown in black boxes. B, Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation in 293 cells induced by IKKbeta and NIK. 293 cells were transfected with HA-tagged Ikappa Balpha (0.1 µg), HA-tagged wild type (WT), or truncated forms of NIK (50 ng) together with IKKbeta (10 ng). The basal and phosphorylated forms of Ikappa Balpha were detected by immunoblotting with anti-HA and indicated as Ikappa Balpha and Ikappa Balpha -P, respectively. The lower level of Ikappa Balpha in lanes 6-8 appeared to result from higher levels of Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation and degradation, since a significantly higher level of Ikappa Balpha was detected when the cells were incubated with a proteasome inhibitor, MG132 (data not shown). NS indicates a nonspecific band cross-reacted with the anti-HA antibody. C, immunoblotting analysis showing the expression level of transfected NIK and NIK mutants. The HA-tagged wild type (WT) and N-terminal truncated forms of NIK (0.5 µg) were transfected into 293 cells, and the expressed proteins were detected by immunoblotting using anti-HA. The multiple bands detected for each of these mutants resulted from constitutive phosphorylation at their C-terminal region (data not shown). NS indicates nonspecific bands. D, luciferase reporter gene assays. Jurkat T cells were transfected with kappa B-TATA-luc together with the indicated amounts of wild type (wt) or N-terminal truncated forms of NIK. Luciferase activity was determined and presented as described in Fig. 1D.

The NRD of NIK Contains Two Negative-regulatory Motifs-- Sequence analyses of the negative-regulatory region of NIK revealed two interesting structural motifs (Fig. 3A). The first motif is similar to the basic region (BR) of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) motifs present in various transcription factors, such as GCN4 and members of the Fos/Jun and CREB/ATF families (26-28). The bZIP motif is composed of a BR and a downstream leucine zipper. The NIK motif contains a perfect BR, although it lacks a leucine zipper (Fig. 3B). The second structural domain observed in the negative-regulatory region of NIK is a proline-rich repeat (PRR) sequence located between amino acid 250 and amino acid 317 (Fig. 3A). This domain is composed of a number of short repeats, which share a consensus sequence PXPXPX (Fig. 3C). Additionally, repeats 4 and 5 share many other identical amino acid residues (Fig. 3C, see sequence alignment).


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Fig. 3.   Summary of sequence motifs of NIK. A, schematic summary of the kinase domain and the basic region (BR) and proline-rich repeat (PRR) motifs of NIK. B and C, sequences of the individual motifs. The PRR shown in C is presented as both linear (sequence) and aligned (sequence alignment) forms. LZ, leucine zipper.

To determine the role of these motifs in regulation of NIK function, internal deletions were performed to selectively remove each of these structural sequences (Fig. 4A). Luciferase reporter gene assays revealed that deletion of the BR led to a marked increase in the NF-kappa B-inducing function of NIK (Fig. 4C, Delta BR). Furthermore, removal of the PRR motif or PRR together with the BR resulted in even more striking increase in the NF-kappa B inducing activity of NIK (Delta PRR and Delta BR/Delta PRR). Parallel immunoblotting assays showed that the expression levels of the NIK deletion mutants were either similar or even lower than that of the wild type NIK (Fig. 4B). Thus, both the BR and the PRR motifs appear to play a negative-regulatory role in controlling the signaling function of NIK.


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Fig. 4.   Identification of N-terminal motifs of NIK exhibiting negative-regulatory functions. A, schematic picture of NIK mutants lacking the basic region (Delta BR), proline-rich repeat (Delta PRR), and both BR and PRR (Delta BR/Delta PRR). Potential structural domains are shown as black boxes. B, immunoblotting analysis showing the expression levels of transfected NIK and its internal deletion mutants. 293 cells were transfected with either the pCMV4-1HA empty vector (Vector) or the indicated HA-tagged NIK constructs (0.5 µg), and the expressed proteins were analyzed by immunoblot with anti-HA. WT, wild type. C, sequence motifs negatively affecting function of NIK in NF-kappa B activation. Jurkat T cells were transfected with kappa B-TATA-luc together with the indicated wild type (wt) or internal deletion mutants of NIK (50 ng). Luciferase activity was determined and presented as in Fig. 1D.

The N-terminal Fragment of NIK Inhibits NIK-mediated NF-kappa B Signaling in Trans-- We next examined whether expression of the N-terminal fragment of NIK is able to inhibit the NF-kappa B-inducing activity of this kinase in trans. For these studies, a NIK N-terminal fragment (NIK-(1-366)) containing the negative-regulatory motifs was coexpressed with various "super-active" NIK molecules lacking the N-terminal NRD (NIK-(152-947), NIK-(238-947), and NIK-(319-947)), together with the kappa B-TATA-luc reporter. In the absence of NIK-(1-366), all the super-active NIK proteins potently stimulated the kappa B-specific luciferase expression (Fig. 5A). Remarkably, expression of NIK-(1-366) led to a dose-dependent inhibition of the kappa B activation. The specificity of this inhibitory effect was demonstrated by the finding that NIK-(1-366) did not inhibit kappa B activation mediated by the dominant-active MEKK1 (Fig. 5A, columns 15-17). To examine the role of the BR and PRR motifs in the negative regulation of NIK, N-terminal fragments of NIK lacking these motifs were subjected to the trans-inhibition assays. When the BR and PRR motifs were deleted separately, the resulted N-terminal fragments of NIK (NIK-(1-366)Delta BR and NIK-(1-366)Delta PRR) partially lost their inhibitory effect on NIK function (Fig. 5B, columns 2-7). Deletion of the PRR together with BR completely blocked the inhibitory action of the NIK NRD (Fig. 5B, columns 8-10). Immunoblotting assays revealed that the NIK-(1-366) also inhibited NIK-induced Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation, and this inhibitory action required the BR and PRR motifs (Fig. 5C). Together, these results strongly suggest that the signaling function of NIK is negatively regulated by its N-terminal structural motifs, including the BR and PRR.


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Fig. 5.   Inhibition of NIK function by its N-terminal fragment. A, Jurkat T cells were transfected with the indicated NIK constructs or dominant-active MEKK1 (0.1 µg) together with increasing amounts of NIK-(1-366). The cells were also transfected with the kappa B-TATA-Luc reporter plasmid. Luciferase activity is presented as -fold induction relative to the basal level measured in cells transfected with an empty vector (column 1). The data are representative of three independent experiments. B, Jurkat T cells were transfected with the kappa B-TATA-Luc reporter and NIK-(152-947) together with increasing amounts of NIK-(1-366) lacking the BR, PRR, or both BR and PRR. Luciferase activity was determined and presented as in A. C, inhibition of NIK-mediated IKKalpha activation by the NRD. 293 cells were transfected with the indicated expression vectors together with HA-tagged Ikappa Balpha as described in Fig. 1. Phosphorylation of Ikappa Balpha was detected by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibody (upper panel). The basal and phosphorylated forms of HA-Ikappa Balpha are indicated as Ikappa Balpha and Ikappa Balpha -P, respectively. The expression level of the Myc-tagged NIK-(1-366) or derivatives was determined by an immunoblotting assay using the anti-Myc antibody (lower panel).

The NRD Interacts with the C Terminus of NIK and Inhibits NIK/IKK Interaction-- To investigate the mechanism by which the NRD inhibits NIK function, we examined whether the NRD of NIK interacts with other regions of this MAP3K. For these studies, NIK-(1-366) was expressed in 293 cells together with either the wild type NIK (NIKwt) or various NIK truncation mutants followed by co-immunoprecipitation assays. As expected from a previous study (20), NIK-(1-366) physically associated with the NIKwt since these proteins were coprecipitated in the immunoprecipitation assay (Fig. 6, upper panel, lane 2). The specificity of this molecular interaction was demonstrated by the lack of NIKwt precipitation in the absence of NIK-(1-366) (lane 1). More importantly, deletion of up to 650 amino acids from the N terminus of NIK did not affect its interaction with the NIK-(1-366) (lanes 3-5). On the other hand, removal of 100 or more amino acids from the C terminus of NIK completely abolished the association of this kinase with its N-terminal region (lanes 6 and 7). Parallel immunoblotting assays revealed that the different NIK mutants were expressed at similar levels (Fig. 6, lower panel). Thus, the N-terminal NRD specifically interacts with the C-terminal region of NIK.


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Fig. 6.   An N-terminal fragment of NIK physically interacts with the C-terminal region of NIK. 293 cells were transfected (in six-well plates) with expression vectors encoding either the wild type (NIKwt) or mutant forms of NIK (2 µg) together with a vector encoding the N-terminal 366 amino acids of NIK, NIK-(1-366) (2 µg). The NIK-(1-366) is tagged with a Myc epitope, whereas the rest of the proteins are tagged with HA. To examine the binding of NIK-(1-366) to the different NIK mutants indicated, the cell extracts were subjected to immunoprecipitation (IP) with anti-Myc followed by immunoblotting (IB) with anti-HA (upper panel). The expression level of the NIK proteins were analyzed by direct immunoblotting (lower panel). The presence of multiple protein bands are due to NIK phosphorylation (data not shown).

Since the C terminus of NIK is involved in binding to IKK (20), the finding described above suggested the possibility that the N-terminal NRD of NIK may interfere with the NIK/IKK interaction. To examine this possibility, NIK-(152-947) was cotransfected with IKKalpha into 293 cells along with an increasing amount of the N-terminal fragment of NIK (NIK-(1-366)). In the absence of NIK-(1-366), NIK-(152-947) was readily coprecipitated with IKKalpha , suggesting an efficient interaction (Fig. 7, upper panel, lane 1). However, this molecular interaction was markedly inhibited by expression of NIK-(1-366) (lanes 2 and 3). This finding suggested that the N-terminal NRD indeed inhibits the binding of NIK to IKKalpha . Interestingly, the inhibitory action of the NRD was completely abolished, when the BR and PRR motifs were deleted from this N-terminal fragment of NIK (lanes 4 and 5). Together, these findings suggest that the NRD of NIK interacts with the C terminus of NIK and interferes with the binding of NIK to IKK.


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Fig. 7.   Inhibition of NIK/IKKalpha interaction by the N-terminal fragment of NIK. 293 cells were transfected with the indicated amounts of Myc-tagged NIK-(1-366) or NIK-(1-366) lacking the BR and PRR motifs (Delta BR/Delta PRR) together with IKKalpha (0.5 µg) and HA-tagged NIK-(152-947) (1 µg). The cell extracts were subjected to immunoprecipitation (IP) with anti-IKKalpha , followed by immunoblotting (IB) with anti-HA (upper panel). The expression level of Myc-tagged NIK-(1-366) and NIK-(1-366)Delta BR/Delta PRR was analyzed by IB with anti-Myc (lower panel).


    DISCUSSION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

Activation of NF-kappa B by various cellular stimuli is triggered by IKK-mediated phosphorylation of Ikappa Balpha . Recent studies suggest several potential IKK activating kinases, including NIK and MEKK1 (16-18). Both MEKK1 and NIK belong to the MAP3K family, which share extensive sequence homology in their kinase domains. It is believed that MAP3Ks receive upstream signals and then phosphorylate and activate downstream kinases, the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (29). MEKK1 is composed of a C-terminal catalytic domain and a large N-terminal regulatory domain (30). Activation of this MAP3K is mediated through its phosphorylation by upstream kinases (31) or by caspase-mediated proteolytic cleavage involving the removal of its N-terminal regulatory domain (32). The mechanism by which NIK is regulated has remained unknown. In the present study, we show that NIK also contains an NRD, although this region is shorter than the regulatory domain of MEKK1. The NIK NRD appears to function by interacting with the C-terminal region of this MAP3K. When expressed as an N-terminal fragment, the NRD forms a stable complex with the C-terminal fragment of NIK (Fig. 6). It is possible that this intramolecular interaction may induce conformational changes in NIK, which affects the function of its kinase domain. It is also likely that the N-terminal NRD interferes with the binding of NIK to its substrate IKK, since the IKK binding is mediated by the C terminus of NIK. Indeed, when overexpressed, the N-terminal fragment of NIK strongly inhibits the NIK/IKK interaction (Fig. 7). The NIK NRD contains two visible sequence motifs, BR and PRR, which contribute to the negative-regulatory function of this cis-acting domain. The BR shares remarkable sequence similarities with the basic region of the GCN-4 bZIP (see Fig. 3B). Both the BR and PRR are important for the physical interaction of the NRD with the C terminus of NIK. Interestingly, we have observed that the C-terminal region of NIK undergoes phosphorylation at multiple sites, generating protein bands with different mobility (Fig. 6, lane 5, and data not shown). It remains to be examined whether the phosphorylated residues participate in binding with the basic residues in the BR located in the NRD. Although the precise mechanisms mediating the function of the BR and PRR motifs require further studies, the data presented in the current study demonstrate that NIK is regulated by a cis-acting domain.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank Drs. W. Greene, M. Karin, and D. Wallach for cDNA expression vectors.

    FOOTNOTES

* This work was supported by Public Health Service Grant 1R01 AI45045 (to S.-C. S.).The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Dagger To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, P.O. Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033. Tel.: 717-531-4164; Fax: 717-531-6522; E-mail: sxs70@psu.edu.

Published, JBC Papers in Press, April 28, 2000, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M002552200

    ABBREVIATIONS

The abbreviations used are: NF-kappa B, nuclear factor kappa B, IKK, Ikappa B kinase; NIK, NF-kappa B-inducing kinase; MEKK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase kinase 1; MAP3K, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase; HA, hemagglutinin; NRD, negative-regulatory domain; BR, basic region; PRR, proline-rich repeat; bZIP, basic leucine zipper.

    REFERENCES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

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