Cyclin E-CDK2 protein phosphorylates plant homeodomain finger protein 8 (PHF8) and regulates its function in the cell cycle.

Cyclin E-CDK2 is a key regulator in G1/S transition. Previously, we identified a number of CDK2-interacting proteins, including PHF8 (plant homeodomain finger protein 8). In this report, we confirmed that PHF8 is a novel cyclin E-CDK2 substrate. By taking the approach of mass spectrometry, we identified that PHF8 Ser-844 is phosphorylated by cyclin E-CDK2. Immunoblotting analysis indicated that WT PHF8 demethylates histone H3K9me2 more efficiently than the cyclin E-CDK2 phosphorylation-deficient PHF8-S844A mutant. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis showed that WT PHF8 promotes S phase progression more robustly than PHF8-S844A. Real-time PCR results demonstrated that PHF8 increases transcription of cyclin E, E2F3, and E2F7 to significantly higher levels compared with PHF8-S844A. Further analysis by ChIP assay indicated that PHF8 binds to the cyclin E promoter stronger than PHF8-S844A and reduces the H3K9me2 level at the cyclin E promoter more efficiently than PHF8-S844A. In addition, we found that cyclin E-CDK2-mediated phosphorylation of PHF8 Ser-844 promotes PHF8-dependent rRNA transcription in luciferase reporter assays and real-time PCR. Taken together, these results indicate that cyclin E-CDK2 phosphorylates PHF8 to stimulate its demethylase activity to promote rRNA transcription and cell cycle progression.