LysRS Serves as a Key Signaling Molecule in the Immune Response by Regulating Gene Expression

Nurit Yannay-Cohen, Irit Carmi-Levy, Gillian Kay, Christopher Maolin Yang, Jung Min Han, D. Michael Kemeny, Sunghoon Kim, Hovav Nechushtan*, Ehud Razin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

139 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS) was found to produce diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) in vitro more than two decades ago. Here, we used LysRS silencing in mast cells in combination with transfected normal and mutated LysRS to demonstrate in vivo the critical role played by LysRS in the production of Ap4A in response to immunological challenge. Upon such challenge, LysRS was phosphorylated on serine 207 in a MAPK-dependent manner, released from the multisynthetase complex, and translocated into the nucleus. We previously demonstrated that LysRS forms a complex with MITF and its repressor Hint-1, which is released from the complex by its binding to Ap4A, enabling MITF to transcribe its target genes. Here, silencing LysRS led to reduced Ap4A production in immunologically activated cells, which resulted in a lower level of MITF inducible genes. Our data demonstrate that specific LysRS serine 207 phosphorylation regulates Ap4A production in immunologically stimulated mast cells, thus implying that LysRS is a key mediator in gene regulation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)603-611
Number of pages9
JournalMolecular Cell
Volume34
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 12 Jun 2009

Keywords

  • DNA
  • SIGNALING

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