O-linked N-acetylglucosamine modification of insulin receptor substrate-1 occurs in close proximity to multiple SH2 domain binding motifs.

Insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) is a highly phosphorylated adaptor protein critical to insulin and IGF-1 receptor signaling. Ser/Thr kinases impact the metabolic and mitogenic effects elicited by insulin and IGF-1 through feedback and feed forward regulation at the level of IRS-1. Ser/Thr residues of IRS-1 are also O-GlcNAc-modified, which may influence the phosphorylation status of the protein. To facilitate the understanding of the functional effects of O-GlcNAc modification on IRS-1-mediated signaling, we identified the sites of O-GlcNAc modification of rat and human IRS-1. Tandem mass spectrometric analysis of IRS-1, exogenously expressed in HEK293 cells, revealed that the C terminus, which is rich in docking sites for SH2 domain-containing proteins, was O-GlcNAc-modified at multiple residues. Rat IRS-1 was O-GlcNAc-modified at Ser(914), Ser(1009), Ser(1036), and Ser(1041). Human IRS-1 was O-GlcNAc-modified at Ser(984) or Ser(985), at Ser(1011), and possibly at multiple sites within residues 1025-1045. O-GlcNAc modification at a conserved residue in rat (Ser(1009)) and human (Ser(1011)) IRS-1 is adjacent to a putative binding motif for the N-terminal SH2 domains of p85alpha and p85beta regulatory subunits of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and the tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 (PTPN11). Immunoblot analysis using an antibody generated against human IRS-1 Ser(1011) GlcNAc further confirmed the site of attachment and the identity of the +203.2-Da mass shift as beta-N-acetylglucosamine. The accumulation of IRS-1 Ser(1011) GlcNAc in HEPG2 liver cells and MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts upon inhibition of O-GlcNAcase indicates that O-GlcNAcylation of endogenously expressed IRS-1 is a dynamic process that occurs at normal glucose concentrations (5 mm). O-GlcNAc modification did not occur at any known or newly identified Ser/Thr phosphorylation sites and in most cases occurred simultaneously with phosphorylation of nearby residues. These findings suggest that O-GlcNAc modification represents an additional layer of posttranslational regulation that may impact the specificity of effects elicited by insulin and IGF-1.