The transcription factor Eyes absent is a protein tyrosine phosphatase
Title | The transcription factor Eyes absent is a protein tyrosine phosphatase |
Publication Type | Journal Articles |
Year of Publication | 2003 |
Authors | Tootle TL, Silver SJ, Davies EL, Newman V, Latek RR, Mills IA, Selengut J., Parlikar BEW, Rebay I |
Journal | NatureNature |
Volume | 426 |
Type of Article | 10.1038/nature02097 |
Keywords | Amino Acid Motifs, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Antibodies, Phospho-Specific, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Embryonic Induction, eye, Eye Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Kinetics, Mice, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Phosphorylation, Protein Conformation, Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases, Substrate Specificity, Transcription Factors |
Abstract | Post-translational modifications provide sensitive and flexible mechanisms to dynamically modulate protein function in response to specific signalling inputs. In the case of transcription factors, changes in phosphorylation state can influence protein stability, conformation, subcellular localization, cofactor interactions, transactivation potential and transcriptional output. Here we show that the evolutionarily conserved transcription factor Eyes absent (Eya) belongs to the phosphatase subgroup of the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily, and propose a function for it as a non-thiol-based protein tyrosine phosphatase. Experiments performed in cultured Drosophila cells and in vitro indicate that Eyes absent has intrinsic protein tyrosine phosphatase activity and can autocatalytically dephosphorylate itself. Confirming the biological significance of this function, mutations that disrupt the phosphatase active site severely compromise the ability of Eyes absent to promote eye specification and development in Drosophila. Given the functional importance of phosphorylation-dependent modulation of transcription factor activity, this evidence for a nuclear transcriptional coactivator with intrinsic phosphatase activity suggests an unanticipated method of fine-tuning transcriptional regulation. |