Widespread occurrence of a specific protein in vertebrate tissues and regulation by cyclic AMP of its endogenous phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.

A protein whose endogenous phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are affected by cAMP has been found in the soluble and particulate fractions of all vertebrate tissues studied. This phosphoprotein, which contained a substantial proportion of the radioactive phosphate observed on SDS-polyacrylamide gels, was estimated to have an apparent molecular weight of 49,000. In the presence of Zn++, cAMP inhibited the endogenous phosphorylation of this protein (protein 49) in the cytosol and microsomal fractions. In the presence of Mg++, cAMP stimulated the phosphorylation of protein 49 in the cytosol fractions, but had only slight effects in the microsomal fractions. The dephosphorylation of protein 49 by an endogenous protein phosphatase was markedly stimulated by cAMP in the cytosol and microsomal fractions of all tissues studied. The binding of 8-azido-cAMP (a photoaffinity analog of cAMP, which reacts specifically with cAMP-binding sites) to subcellular fractions was also studied. This binding was principally to a protein of molecular weight 49,000. These and other data suggest that a cAMP-binding protein with a molecular weight of 49,000 capable of undergoing cAMP-dependent phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, occurs in a variety of tissues.