Fine tuning PDK1 activity by phosphorylation at Ser¹⁶³

3-Phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) mediates phosphorylation and activation of members of the AGC protein kinase family and plays an essential role in insulin signaling and action. However, whether and how PDK1 activity is regulated in cells remains largely uncharacterized. In the present study, we show that PDK1 undergoes insulin-stimulated and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent phosphorylation at Ser²⁴⁴ in the activation loop and at a novel site: Ser¹⁶³ in the hinge region between the two lobes of the kinase domain. Sequence alignment studies revealed that the residue corresponding to Ser¹⁶³ of PDK1 in all other AGC kinases is glutamate, suggesting that a negative charge at this site may be important for PDK1 function. Replacing Ser¹⁶³ with a negatively charged residue, glutamate, led to a 2-fold increase in PDK1 activity. Molecular modeling studies suggested that phosphorylated Ser¹⁶³ may form additional hydrogen bonds with Tyr¹⁴⁹ and Gln²²³. In support of this, mutation of Tyr¹⁴⁹ to Ala is sufficient to reduce PDK1 activity. Taken together, our results suggest that PDK1 phosphorylation of Ser¹⁶³ may provide a mechanism to fine-tune PDK1 activity and function in cells.