There is mounting evidence that in fat and other insulin-sensitive cells activation of protein synthesis may involve the dissociation of a protein (4E-BP1) from eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF)-4E thus allowing formation of the eIF-4F complex. This study compares the effects of insulin and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 in fat-cells (followed by gel-shift assays and incorporation of 32P) and on its association with eIF-4E. Several lines of evidence suggest that mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAP kinase) is not involved in these effects of insulin. Insulin causes much more extensive phosphorylation and dissociation of 4E-BP1 from eIF-4E than EGF, although EGF activates MAP kinase to a much greater extent than insulin. Moreover, MAP kinase does not phosphorylate 4E-BP1 when it is complexed with eIF-4E. In contrast, insulin activates the 40S ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6K) 18-fold compared with a 2-fold activation by EGF, and the time course of this activation is similar to the phosphorylation and dissociation of 4E-BP1. Rapamycin, a specific inhibitor of the activation of this latter kinase, inhibits dissociation of 4E-BP1 from eIF-4E in cells incubated with insulin but reveals a phosphorylated from of 4E-BP1 which remains bound to eIF-4E. It is concluded that in rat epididymal fat-cells, the effects of insulin on 4E-BP1 involves multiple phosphorylation events. One phosphorylation event is rapamycin-insensitive, occurs only on bound 4E-BP1 and does not initiate dissociation. The second event does result in dissociation and is blocked by rapamycin, suggesting that the p70S6K signalling pathway is involved: p70S6K itself is probably not involved directly as this kinase does not phosphorylate 4E-BP1 in vitro.

We have investigated the signalling pathways involved in the stimulation of glycogen and fatty acid synthesis by insulin in rat fat cells using wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and rapamycin, which blocks activation of p70 ribosomal S6 protein kinase (p70S6K). Insulin produced a decrease in the activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3 which is likely to be important in the observed stimulation of glycogen synthase. Both of these actions were found to be sensitive to inhibition by wortmannin. Activation of three processes is involved in the stimulation of fatty acid synthesis from glucose by insulin, namely glucose uptake, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and pyruvate dehydrogenase. Whereas wortmannin largely abolished the effects of insulin on glucose utilization and acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity, it was without effect on the stimulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase. Although epidermal growth factor stimulated mitogen-activated protein kinase to a greater extent than insulin, it was unable to mimic the effect of insulin on glycogen synthase, glycogen synthase kinase-3, glucose utilization, acetyl-CoA carboxylase or pyruvate dehydrogenase. Rapamycin also failed to have any appreciable effect on stimulation of these parameters by insulin, although it did block the effect of insulin on p70S6K. We conclude that the activity of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is required for the effects of insulin on glycogen synthesis, glucose uptake and acetyl-Co-AN carboxylase, but is not involved in signalling to pyruvate dehydrogenase. Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase or p70S6K, however, does not appear to be sufficient to bring about the stimulation of fatty acid or glycogen synthesis. Altogether is seems likely that at least four distinct signalling pathways are involved in the effects of insulin on rat fat cells.

The effects of Mg2+ on the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase within intact mitochondria prepared from control and insulin-treated rat epididymal adipose tissue was explored by incubating the mitochondria in medium containing the ionophore A23187. The apparent Ka for Mg2+ was approximately halved in the mitochondria derived from insulin-treated tissue in both the absence and the presence of Ca2+. In this system, the major effect of Ca2+ was also to decrease the apparent Ka for Mg2+, rather than to change the Vmax. of the phosphatase. Damuni, Humphreys & Reed [(1984) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 124, 95-99] have reported that spermine activates ox kidney pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase. Studies were carried out on phosphatase from pig heart and rat epididymal adipose tissue which confirm and extend this observation. The major effect of spermine is shown to be a decrease in the Ka for Mg2+, which is apparent in both the presence and the absence of Ca2+. Spermine did not affect the sensitivity of the phosphatase to Ca2+ at saturating concentrations of Mg2+. Other polyamines tested were not as effective as spermine. No alteration in the maximum activity or Mg2+-sensitivity of pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase was apparent in extracts of mitochondria from insulin-treated tissue. The close similarity of the effects of spermine and the changes in kinetic properties of pyruvate dehydrogenase phosphate phosphatase within mitochondria from insulin-treated adipose tissue suggests that insulin may activate pyruvate dehydrogenase by increasing the concentration of spermine within the mitochondria. However, it is concluded that insulin is more likely to alter the interaction of the pyruvate dehydrogenase system with some other polybasic intramitochondrial component whose action can be mimicked by spermine.

The effects of insulin and rapamycin on the phosphorylation of the translation regulator, initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) have been studied in rat fat cells by following changes in the incorporation of 32P from [32P]Pi under steady-state conditions. Both unbound 4E-BP1 and 4E-BP1 bound to eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) were isolated from the cells and then digested with trypsin and other proteases; the radiolabelled phosphopeptides were then separated by two-dimensional thin- layer analysis and HPLC. The results provide confirmation of the conclusion of Fadden, Haystead and Lawrence [J. Biol. Chem. (1997) 272, 10240-10247] that insulin increases the phosphorylation of four sites that fit a Ser/Thr-Pro motif (Thr-36, Thr-45, Ser-64 and Thr-69) and that taken together these phosphorylations result in the dissociation of 4E-BP1 from eIF4E. The effects of insulin on the phosphorylation of these sites, and hence dissociation from eIF4E, are blocked by rapamycin. However, the present study also provides evidence that insulin increases the phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 bound to eIF4E on a further site (Ser-111) and that this is by a rapamycin-insensitive mechanism. Extraction of rat epididymal fat cells followed by chromatography on Mono-S and Superose 12 columns resulted in the separation of both an insulin-stimulated eIF4E kinase and an apparently novel kinase that is highly specific for Ser-111 of 4E-BP1. The 4E-BP1 kinase was activated more than 10-fold by incubation of the cells with insulin and was markedly more active towards 4E-BP1 bound to eIF4E than towards unbound 4E-BP1. The effects of insulin were blocked by wortmannin, but not by rapamycin. A 14-mer peptide based on the sequence surrounding Ser-111 of 4E-BP1 was also a substrate for the kinase, but peptide substrates for other known protein kinases were not. The kinase is quite distinct from casein kinase 2, which also phosphorylates Ser-111 of 4E-BP1. The possible importance of these kinases in the phosphorylation of 4E-BP1 in fat cells is discussed. It is suggested that the phosphorylation of Ser-111 might be a priming event that facilitates the subsequent phosphorylation of Thr-36, Thr-45, Ser-64 and Thr69 by a rapamycin-sensitive process that initiates the dissociation of 4E-BP1 from eIF4E and hence the formation of the eIF4F complex.

A number of elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2K)