EGF induced SOS phosphorylation in PC12 cells involves P90 RSK-2

SOS, the guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Ras, becomes phosphorylated on serine and threonine residues following stimulation of cells with growth factors. These phosphorylations may play a role in negative feedback of Ras stimulation and have been shown to be mediated in part by the MAP kinases Erk-1 and Erk-2. Here we show that in addition to MAP kinase, a major mitogen activated kinase for SOS is p90 Rsk-2, a downstream target of MAP kinase. p90 Rsk-2 phosphorylates SOS in an in gel assay and also in solution in vitro. The ability of p90 Rsk-2 to phosphorylate SOS increases greatly following EGF treatment of PC12 cells and is blocked by expression of N17 Ras or treatment with the MEK inhibitor PD98059. Phosphopeptide mapping revealed that the sites phosphorylated by p90 Rsk-2 in vitro were also phosphorylated in intact cells in response to EGF treatment. Several major sites of in vivo phosphorylation correlated with p90 Rsk-2 phosphorylation sites rather than MAP kinase sites. It is therefore likely that p90 Rsk-2 plays an important role in the down regulation of the Ras activation pathway through SOS.