Mutational analysis of sites in sepiapterin reductase phosphorylated by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II.

Sepiapterin reductase (SPR) catalyzes the last step in the pathway of tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis in tissues. SPR is phosphorylated by Ca2+-dependent protein kinases, which indicates that Ca2+-activated protein kinases may play a role in the regulation of SPR in vivo. Phosphorylation sites of rat sepiapterin reductase (rSPR) by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II were determined in the present study. Using specific monoclonal anti-phospho-Ser and -Thr antibodies, we found that only Ser residues of rSPR were phosphorylated. We constructed several point mutants of SPR by systematically replacing the three Ser residues by Ala ones. These mutants showed that all three Ser residues, i.e. S46, S196, and S214, of rSPR were phosphorylated. We also recognized that only Ser-213 of human SPR was phosphorylated. Each of these serine residues in SPR was found in the consensus sequence (Arg-X-X-Ser/Thr) of the phosphorylation site.