Tonoplast-Bound Protein Kinase Phosphorylates Tonoplast Intrinsic Protein

Tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP) is a member of a family of putative membrane channels found in bacteria, animals, and plants. Plants have seed-specific, vegetative/reproductive organ-specific, and water-stress-induced forms of TIP. Here, we report that the seed-specific TIP is a phosphoprotein whose phosphorylation can be monitored in vivo by allowing bean cotyledons to take up [(32)P]orthophosphate and in vitro by incubating purified tonoplasts with gamma-labeled [(32)P]ATP. Characterization of the in vitro phosphorylation of TIP indicates that a membrane-bound protein kinase phosphorylates TIP in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. The capacity of the isolated tonoplast membranes to phosphorylate TIP declined markedly during seed germination, and this decline occurred well before the development-mediated decrease in TIP occurs. Phosphoamino acid analysis of purified, radiolabeled TIP showed that serine is the major, if not only, phosphorylated residue, and cyanogen bromide cleavage yielded a single radioactive peptide peak on a reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatogram. Estimation of the molecular mass of the cyanogen bromide phosphopeptide by laser desorption mass spectroscopy led to its identification as the hydrophilic N-terminal domain of TIP. The putative phosphate-accepting serine residue occurs in a consensus phosphorylation site for serine/threonine protein kinases.