Dissection of the regulatory role for the N-terminal domain in Candida albicans protein phosphatase Z1

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 1;14(2):e0211426. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211426. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The novel type, fungus specific protein phosphatase Z1 of the opportunistic pathogen, Candida albicans (CaPpz1) has several important physiological roles. It consists of a conserved C-terminal catalytic domain and a variable, intrinsically disordered, N-terminal regulatory domain. To test the function of these domains we modified the structure of CaPpz1 by in vitro mutagenesis. The two main domains were separated, four potential protein binding regions were deleted, and the myristoylation site as well as the active site of the enzyme was crippled by point mutations G2A and R262L, respectively. The in vitro phosphatase activity assay of the bacterially expressed recombinant proteins indicated that the N-terminal domain was inactive, while the C-terminal domain became highly active against myosin light chain substrate. The deletion of the N-terminal 1-16 amino acids and the G2A mutation significantly decreased the specific activity of the enzyme. Complementation of the ppz1 Saccharomyces cerevisiae deletion mutant strain with the different CaPpz1 forms demonstrated that the scission of the main domains, the two point mutations and the N-terminal 1-16 deletion rendered the phosphatase incompetent in the in vivo assays of LiCl tolerance and caffeine sensitivity. Thus our results confirmed the functional role of the N-terminal domain and highlighted the significance of the very N-terminal part of the protein in the regulation of CaPpz1.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Candida albicans / metabolism*
  • Fungal Proteins / chemistry*
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism
  • Lithium Chloride / pharmacology
  • Mutagenesis
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / chemistry*
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / genetics
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / metabolism
  • Protein Domains
  • Recombinant Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / drug effects
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases
  • Lithium Chloride

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the NKFIH K108989 grant to VD from the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, http://nkfih.gov.hu/english, and ÚNKP-18-3 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities to KS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.