1. ¹Laboratory of Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
2. ²Laboratory of Metabolism, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

Correspondence: Dr T Miki, Molecular Tumor Biology Section, Laboratory of Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute, NIH Bldg. 37 Rm. 2144, 37 Convent Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892-4256, USA. E-mail: toru@helix.nih.gov

³Current address: Fukuoka Teishin Hospital, 2-6-11 Yakuin, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka 810-8798, Japan.

Received 1 July 2005; Revised 16 August 2005; Accepted 17 August 2005; Published online 10 October 2005.

Abstract

The epithelial cell transforming gene 2 (ECT2) protooncogene encodes a Rho exchange factor, and regulates cytokinesis. ECT2 is phosphorylated in G2/M phases, but its role in the biological function is not known. Here we show that two mitotic kinases, Cdk1 and polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), phosphorylate ECT2 in vitro. We identified an in vitro Cdk1 phosphorylation site (T412) in ECT2, which comprises a consensus phosphospecific-binding module for the Plk1 polo-box domain (PBD). Endogenous ECT2 in mitotic cells strongly associated with Plk1 PBD, and this binding was inhibited by phosphatase treatment. A phosphorylation-deficient mutant form of ECT2, T412A, did not exhibit strong association with Plk1 PBD compared with wild-type (WT) ECT2. Moreover, ECT2 T412A, but not phosphomimic T412D, displayed a diminished accumulation of GTP-bound RhoA compared with WT ECT2, suggesting that phosphorylation of Thr-412 is critical for the catalytic activity of ECT2. Moreover, while overexpression of WT ECT2 or the T412D mutant caused cortical hyperactivity in U2OS cells during cell division, this activity was not observed in cells expressing ECT2 T412A. These results suggest that ECT2 is regulated by Cdk1 and Plk1 in concert.