Bifurcation of lipid and protein kinase signals of PI3Kγ to the protein kinases PKB and MAPK

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) activate protein kinase PKB (also termed Akt), and PI3K gamma activated by heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate-binding protein can stimulate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Exchange of a putative Lipid substrate-binding site generated PI3K gamma proteins with altered or aborted Lipid but retained protein kinase activity. Transiently expressed, PI3K gamma hybrids exhibited wortmannin-sensitive activation of MAPK, whereas a catalytically inactive PI3K gamma did not. Membrane-targeted PI3K gamma constitutively produced phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate and activated PKB but not MAPK. Moreover, stimulation of MAPK in response to Lysophosphatidic acid was blocked by catalytically inactive PI3K gamma but not by hybrid PI3K gamma s. Thus, two major signals emerge from PI3K gamma: phosphoinositides that target PKB and protein phosphorylation that activates MAPK.