The effect of cAMP and cGMP on the activity and substrate specificity of protein kinase A from methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris

Cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase (PKA) from Pichia pastoris yeast cells was found to be activated by either cAMP or cGMP. Analogs of cAMP such as 8-chloro-cAMP and 8-bromo-cAMP were as potent as cAMP in PKA activation while N6, 2'- O-dibutyryl-cAMP did not stimulate the enzyme activity. It was shown that protamine sulfate was almost equally phosphorylated in the presence of 1-2 X 10-6 M cAMP or cGMP while other substrates such as Kemptide, ribosomal protein S6 were phosphorylated to a lower extent in the presence of cGMP. It was demon­strated that pyruvate kinase is a substrate of PKA which co-purified with the P. pastoris enzyme. Moreover, pyruvate kinase was phosphorylated by PKA in the presence of cAMP and cGMP to comparable levels.