1. Two conserved glycine residues in mammalian and Dictyostelium Rictor are required for mTORC2 activity and integrity.
- Author
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Pergolizzi B, Panuzzo C, Ali MS, Lo Iacono M, Levra Levron C, Ponzone L, Prelli M, Cilloni D, Calautti E, Bozzaro S, and Bracco E
- Subjects
- Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Dictyostelium genetics, Glycine genetics, Humans, Mammals, Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2 genetics, Rapamycin-Insensitive Companion of mTOR Protein genetics, Structure-Activity Relationship, Dictyostelium metabolism, Glycine metabolism, Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2 metabolism, Rapamycin-Insensitive Companion of mTOR Protein metabolism
- Abstract
Mammalian, or mechanistic, target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2) regulates a variety of vital cellular processes, and its aberrant functioning is often associated with various diseases. Rictor is a peculiar and distinguishing mTORC2 component playing a pivotal role in controlling its assembly and activity. Among extant organisms, Rictor is conserved from unicellular eukaryotes to metazoans. We replaced two distinct, but conserved, glycine residues in both the Dictyostelium piaA gene and its human ortholog, RICTOR The two conserved residues are spaced ∼50 amino acids apart, and both are embedded within a conserved region falling in between the Ras-GEFN2 and Rictor-_V domains. The effects of point mutations on the mTORC2 activity and integrity were assessed by biochemical and functional assays. In both cases, these equivalent point mutations in the mammalian RICTOR and Dictyostelium piaA gene impaired mTORC2 activity and integrity. Our data indicate that the two glycine residues are essential for the maintenance of mTORC2 activity and integrity in organisms that appear to be distantly related, suggesting that they have a evolutionarily conserved role in the assembly and proper mTORC2 functioning., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)
- Published
- 2019
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