Phosphorylation of the respiratory burst oxidase subunit p47phox as determined by two-dimensional phosphopeptide mapping. Phosphorylation by protein kinase C, protein kinase A, and a mitogen-activated protein kinase.

The respiratory burst oxidase is responsible for superoxide (O2) production by phagocytes and B lymphocytes. This multicomponent enzyme is dormant in resting cells but is activated on exposure of the cells to an appropriate stimulus. Upon activation, several serine residues on the cytosolic oxidase subunit p47phox become phosphorylated. Using two-dimensional tryptic phosphopeptide mapping, we studied the phosphorylation of p47phox in 32Pi-loaded Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphoblasts expressing wild type p47phox or any of several P47phox Ser -> Ala mutants. We were able to identify the labeled peptides from wild type p47phox as those contain- ing Ser303/304 Ser315, Ser320, Ser328 and/or Ser359/370, and Ser345/348 ; no 32P-labeled Ser310-containing peptide was found. When purified p47phox, was phosphorylated in vitro by various protein kinases, varying phosphopeptide patterns were observed. Protein kinase C phosphorylated all the peptides except the one containing Ser345/348; protein kinase A phosphorylated the peptide containing Ser320 and one or both of the peptides containing Ser328 and Ser359/370; while mitogen-activated protein kinase phophorylated only the peptide containing Ser345/348. These findings suggest that these three kinases play distinct roles in the activation of the respiratory burst oxidase, each of them catalyzing the phosphorylation of a different group of serines in p47phox.