Isolation and characterisation of calcineurin from adrenal cell cytoskeleton: identification of substrates for Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase activity.

Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase activity is found in cytoskeletons of Y-1 mouse adrenal and bovine fasciculata cells. The activity is inhibited by three inhibitors of calmodulin (trifluoperazine, W-7 and pimozide) with EC50 in the low micromolar range. Protein phosphatase activity is inhibited by vanadate, fluoride, Zn2+ and pyrophosphate, stimulated by Mn2+ and found to be tightly bound to the cytoskeleton. Substrates for endogenous phosphatase activity were defined by one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. Phosphatase activity was seen with proteins that are substrates for both cyclic AMP-dependent and cyclic AMP-independent kinase enzymes. One specific Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase, namely calcineurin, was purified to near homogeneity from cytoskeletons of Y-1 cells. The enzyme was found to be a heterodimer (MW 61,000 and 16,000) and the smaller subunit was shown to cross-react with antibodies raised against calcineurin from bovine brain. The purified enzyme catalyzes dephosphorylation of proteins (phosphorylase kinase and casein), phosphoamino acids (tyr greater than thre greater than ser) and a synthetic substrate (p-nitrophenyl phosphate). In addition, a new application of membrane transfer was devised by which the purified enzyme was incubated with a Western blot of cytoskeleton following incubation with [32P]ATP. This method defined four specific substrates of the enzyme (MW 150,000, 55,000, 35,000 and 30,000). Anti-calcineurin revealed that only a single Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase is found in adrenal cell cytoskeleton.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)