Uncovering new substrates for Aurora A kinase

EMBO Rep. 2010 Dec;11(12):977-84. doi: 10.1038/embor.2010.171. Epub 2010 Nov 12.

Abstract

Aurora A is a serine/threonine kinase that is essential for a wide variety of cell-cycle-related events, but only a small number of its substrates are known. We present and validate a strategy by which to identify Aurora A substrates and their phosphorylation sites. We developed a computational approach integrating various types of biological information to generate a list of 90 potential Aurora substrates, with a prediction accuracy of about 80%. We also demonstrated the specific phosphorylation of NUSAP (nucleolar and spindle-associated protein) by Aurora A in vivo. Our results provide a means by which to develop an understanding of Aurora A function and suggest unexpected roles for this kinase.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Computational Biology
  • Humans
  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins / chemistry
  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins / metabolism
  • Mitosis
  • Models, Biological
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phosphorylation
  • Phosphoserine / metabolism
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Microtubule-Associated Proteins
  • NUSAP1 protein, human
  • Phosphoserine
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases