Inactivating mutations in the protein kinase LKB1 lead to a dominantly inherited cancer in humans termed Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. The role of LKB1 is unclear, and only one target for LKB1 has been identified in vivo [3]. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is the downstream component of a protein kinase cascade that plays a pivotal role in energy homeostasis. AMPK may have a role in protecting the body from metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiac hypertrophy. We previously reported the identification of three protein kinases (Elm1, Pak1, and Tos3 [9]) that lie upstream of Snf1, the yeast homologue of AMPK. LKB1 shares sequence similarity with Elm1, Pak1, and Tos3, and we demonstrated that LKB1 phosphorylates AMPK on the activation loop threonine (Thr172) within the catalytic subunit and activates AMPK in vitro [9]. Here, we have investigated whether LKB1 corresponds to the major AMPKK activity present in cell extracts. AMPKK purified from rat liver corresponds to LKB1, and blocking LKB1 activity in cells abolishes AMPK activation in response to different stimuli. These results identify a link between two protein kinases, previously thought to lie in unrelated, distinct pathways, that are associated with human diseases.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) regulates cellular metabolism in response to the availability of energy and is therefore a target for type II diabetes treatment. It senses changes in the ratio of AMP/ATP by binding both species in a competitive manner. Thus, increases in the concentration of AMP activate AMPK resulting in the phosphorylation and differential regulation of a series of downstream targets that control anabolic and catabolic pathways. We report here the crystal structure of the regulatory fragment of mammalian AMPK in complexes with AMP and ATP. The phosphate groups of AMP/ATP lie in a groove on the surface of the gamma domain, which is lined with basic residues, many of which are associated with disease-causing mutations. Structural and solution studies reveal that two sites on the gamma domain bind either AMP or Mg.ATP, whereas a third site contains a tightly bound AMP that does not exchange. Our binding studies indicate that under physiological conditions AMPK mainly exists in its inactive form in complex with Mg.ATP, which is much more abundant than AMP. Our modelling studies suggest how changes in the concentration of AMP ([AMP]) enhance AMPK activity levels. The structure also suggests a mechanism for propagating AMP/ATP signalling whereby a phosphorylated residue from the alpha and/or beta subunits binds to the gamma subunit in the presence of AMP but not when ATP is bound.

The Snf1͞AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) family plays fundamental roles in cellular responses to metabolic stress in eukaryotes. In humans, AMPK regulates lipid and glucose metabolism and has been implicated in such metabolic disorders as diabetes and obesity and in cardiac abnormalities. Snf1 and AMPK are the downstream components of kinase cascades, but the upstream kinase(s) have remained elusive. We have here identified three yeast kinases, Pak1p, Tos3p, and Elm1p, that activate Snf1 kinase in vivo. Triple deletion of the cognate genes causes a Snf ؊ mutant phenotype and abolishes Snf1 catalytic activity. All three kinases phosphorylate recombinant Snf1p on the activation-loop threonine. Moreover, Tos3p phosphorylates mammalian AMPK on the equivalent residue and activates the enzyme, suggesting functional conservation of the upstream kinases between yeast and mammals. We further show that the closely related mammalian LKB1 kinase, which is associated with Peutz-Jeghers cancersusceptibility syndrome, phosphorylates and activates AMPK in vitro. Thus, the identification of the yeast upstream kinases should facilitate identification of the corresponding, physiologically important mammalian upstream kinases.

SUMMARY The SNF1 protein kinase complex plays an essential role in regulating gene expression in response to the level of extracellular glucose in budding yeast. SNF1 shares structural and functional similarities with mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase. Both kinases are activated by phosphorylation on a threonine residue within the activation loop segment of the catalytic subunit. Here we show that ADP is the long-sought metabolite that activates SNF1 in response to glucose limitation by protecting the enzyme against dephosphorylation by Glc7, its physiologically relevant protein phosphatase. We also show that the regulatory subunit of SNF1 has two ADP binding sites. The tighter site binds AMP, ADP, and ATP competitively with NADH, whereas the weaker site does not bind NADH, but is responsible for mediating the protective effect of ADP on dephosphorylation. Mutagenesis experiments suggest that the general mechanism by which ADP protects against dephosphorylation is strongly conserved between SNF1 and AMPK.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic cardiovascular disease which increases risk of major cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction and stroke. Elevated plasma concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) have long been recognised as a hallmark of cardiovascular disease and are associated with cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, obesity and hypertriglyceridemia. In this review, we discuss the clinical literature that link ADMA concentrations to increased risk of the development of atherosclerosis. The formation of atherosclerotic lesions relies on the interplay between vascular dysfunction, leading to endothelial activation and the accumulation of inflammatory cells, particularly macrophages, within the vessel wall. Here, we review the mechanisms through which elevated ADMA contributes to endothelial dysfunction, activation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production; how ADMA may affect vascular smooth muscle phenotype; and finally whether ADMA plays a regulatory role in the inflammatory processes occurring within the vessel wall.

Perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) occurs in 1-2 in every 1000 term infants and the devastating consequences range from cerebral palsy, epilepsy and neurological deficit to death. Cellular damage post insult occurs after a delay and is mediated by a secondary neural energy failure. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular stress resulting from ATP depletion and/or calcium dysregulation, hallmarks of the neuronal cell death observed after HIE. AMPK activation has been implicated in the models of adult ischaemic injury but, as yet, there have been no studies defining its role in neonatal asphyxia. Here, we find that in an in vivo model of neonatal hypoxia-ischaemic and in oxygen/glucose deprivation in neurons, there is pathological activation of the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase b (CaMKKb)-AMPKa1 signalling pathway. Pharmacological inhibition of AMPK during the insult promotes neuronal survival but, conversely, inhibiting AMPK activity prior to the insult sensitizes neurons, exacerbating cell death. Our data have pathological relevance for neonatal HIE as prior sensitization such as exposure to bacterial infection (reported to reduce AMPK activity) produces a significant increase in injury.

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The PKC1 gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes for protein kinase C which is known to control a MAP kinase cascade consisting of di¡erent kinases : Bck1, Mkk1 and Mkk2, and Mpk1. This cascade a¡ects the cell wall integrity but the phenotype of pkc1v v mutants suggests additional targets that have not yet been identi¢ed [Heinisch et al., Mol. Microbiol. 32 (1999) 671^680]. The pkc1v v mutant, as opposed to other mutants in the MAP kinase cascade, displays defects in the control of carbon metabolism. One of them occurs in the derepression of SUC2 gene after exhaustion of glucose from the medium, suggesting an involvement of Pkc1p in the derepression process that is not shared by the downstream MAP kinase cascade. In this work, we demonstrate that Pkc1p is required for the increase of the activity of enzymatic systems during the derepression process. We observed that Pkc1p is involved in the derepression of invertase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities. On the other hand, it seems not to be necessary for the derepression of the enzymes of the GAL system. Our results suggest that Pkc1p is acting through the main glucose repression pathway, since introduction of an additional mutation in the PKC1 gene in yeast strains already presenting mutations in the HXKII or MIG1 genes does not interfere with the typical derepressed phenotype observed in these single mutants. Moreover, our data indicate that Pkc1p participates in this process through the control of the cellular localization of the Mig1 transcriptional factor. ß 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.