Interactions of Na+/K+ ATPase with its signaling partners

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Na/K-ATPase is an energy transducing ion pump. The enzyme serves as a receptor for digitalis drugs in the heart. Our recent work demonstrates that the enzyme is also a signal transducer. Significantly, we have shown that the signal transduction function of the enzyme is not only involved in control of cell growth and gene expression, but also required for ouabain to regulate cardiac calcium and contractility. This application is built upon these novel findings, and is proposed to define the molecular mechanisms by which Na/K-ATPase transduces the ouabain signals. Specifically,we propose three Specific Aims to test the hypothesis that Na/KATPase, when it binds to ouabain or is activated by ouabain, is capable of recruiting and assembling a group of proteins into different signaling platforms that relays the extracellular ouabain signal into different cellular compartments. In Specific Aim 1, we plan to use proteomic approaches to decipher the composition of the proteins that have the potential to interact with the Na/K-ATPase. We shall then use immunoprecipitation and in vitro binding assays to confirm the interactions between the Na/K-ATPase and the identified candidate proteins. Finally, we shall examine how ouabain regulates the phosphorylation of these enzyme-associated proteins. In Specific Aim 2, we shall use in vitro assays to define the domains that mediate the interactions between the Na/K-ATPase and its signaling partners. Depending on the outcomes of these studies, both co-localization imaging and BRET analysis will be performed to test the role of the identified binding domain(s) in ouabain-induced protein interactions. In Specific Aim 3, we plan first to determine the role of protein/protein interaction in ouabain-induced activation of Src. Second, we shall test the hypothesis that caveolins are involved in assembly of the ouabain-activated signaling branches including those leading to the activationof MAPKs and phosphorylation of the L-type calcium channel. We believe that our proposal is highly focused and that the outcomes of our study shall contribute significantly to our understandingof the biology of the Na/K-ATPase as well as the pharmacology of digitalis drugs, which will ultimately aid in the development of novel therapeutic approaches.