Evidence for the involvement of a cyclic AMP-independent protein kinase in the activation of soluble tyrosine hydroxylase from rat striatum.

Activation of rat striatal tyrosine hydroxylase [TyrOHase; tyrosine monooxygenase; L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine:oxygen oxidoreductase (3-hydroxylating), EC 1.14.16.2] by ATP/Mg2+ and endogenous protein kinase can be produced without the addition of cAMP. This activation is not due to endogenous free catalytic subunit derived from cAMP-dependent protein kinase. In the presence of amounts of protein kinase inhibitor sufficient for complete inhibition of striatal cAMP-dependent protein kinase and the cAMP-mediated activation of TyrOHase, addition of ATP/Mg2+ results in an enhancement of TyrOHase activity. Enzyme activation does not occur when the nonhydrolyzable form of ATP, adenylyl imidodiphosphate, is substituted for ATP. When TyrOHase is assayed in the presence of ATP/Mg2+ and different concentrations of either tyrosine or 6-methyltetrahydropterin co-factor, a 2-fold increase in enzyme Vmax is demonstrable, with no change in the Km for either substrate or cofactor. In contrast, in the presence of cAMP and ATP/Mg2+, both an increase in Vmax and an enhanced affinity for pterin cofactor are demonstrable. In the latter circumstance, the 2-fold increase in Vmax can be attributed entirely to the action of cAMP-independent protein kinase. The addition of either EGTA or CaCl2 does not modify the effect seen in the presence of ATP, suggesting that the effect of ATP/Mg2+ is not mediated by a Ca2+-dependent protein kinase. These data support the existence of a cAMP-independent striatal protein kinase that can catalyze the activation of TyrOHase.