Myristoylation of human LanC-like protein 2 (LANCL2) is essential for the interaction with the plasma membrane and the increase in cellular sensitivity to adriamycin.

Human LANCL2, also known as Testis-specific Adriamycin Sensitivity Protein (TASP), is a member of the highly conserved and widely distributed lanthionine synthetase component C-like (LANCL) protein family. Expression studies of tagged LANCL2 revealed the major localization to the plasma membrane, juxta-nuclear vesicles, and the nucleus, in contrast to the homologue LANCL1 that was mainly found in the cytosol and nucleus. We identified the unique N-terminus of LANCL2 to function as the membrane anchor and characterized the relevant N-terminal myristoylation and a basic phosphatidylinositol phosphate-binding site. Interestingly, the non-myristoylated protein was confined to the nucleus indicating that the myristoylation targets LANCL2 to the plasma membrane. Cholesterol depletion by methyl-beta-cyclodextrin caused the partial dissociation of overexpressed LANCL2 from the plasma membrane in vitro, whereas in vivo we observed an enhanced cell detachment from the matrix. We found that overexpressed LANCL2 interacts with the cortical actin cytoskeleton and therefore may play a role in cytoskeleton reorganization and in consequence to cell detachment. Moreover, we confirmed previous data that LANCL2 overexpression enhances the cellular sensitivity to the anticancer drug adriamycin and found that this sensitivity is dependent on the myristoylation and membrane association of LANCL2.