Abstract. insulin receptor substrates (irS)-5 and -6 are two recently identified members of the IRS family. We investigated their roles as insulin receptor substrates and compared them with Src-homology-2-containing (Shc) protein, a well-established substrate. Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) experiments showed no interaction between the receptor and IRS-5, while interaction with IRS-6 was not enhanced by insulin. By contrast, Shc showed an insulin-induced BRET response, as did a truncated form of IRS-1 (1-262). While Shc was heavily phosphorylated after stimulation of the insulin receptor, IRS-5 and -6 showed very weak phosphorylation levels. These results suggest that, although these two adaptors have previously been proposed as substrates for the insulin receptor, they are poor substrates for the insulin receptor. This calls into question their relevance to insulin signalling.
IntroductionInsulin is crucial for the regulation of metabolism, growth and development. Binding of insulin to the insulin receptor (IR) leads to the activation of receptor tyrosine kinase and receptor phosphorylation, which enables the binding of docking proteins such as insulin receptor substrates (IRS)-1, -2, -3 and -4 and Src-homology-2-containing protein (Shc). This in turn leads to their phosphorylation and, thereby, intracellular signalling (1).Until recently, the IRS family included IRS-1, -2, -3 and -4 (2) and three downstream of kinases, Dok-1, -2 and -3. These seven proteins have similar amino-terminal pleckstrin homology (PH) and similar phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) and carboxyl-terminal phosphorylation domains which, when tyrosine-phosphorylated, dock Src-homology-2 (SH2) domain proteins. Despite their similar domain architecture, the Dok proteins can be distinguished from the IRS family based on sequence homology and functional interactions. Recently, two new members of the family were identified: IRS-5 and -6 (also called Dok-4 and -5, respectively). Based on PH and PTB domain sequence identity, IRS-5 and -6 have been shown to be more closely related to each other than to either the IRS or the Dok family (3,4). Dok-6, defined as a novel member of the Dok-4/5 'subclass' of the Dok family (5), and Dok-7 have also recently been identified (6).The physiological processes regulated by the Dok family are poorly understood. IRS family members and other receptor tyrosine kinase-associated adaptor molecules are generally involved in signal amplification. Dok-1, -2 and -3 function primarily as inhibitors of tyrosine kinase signalling (7-9). Dok-4 and -5, however, have been shown to be positively involved in tyrosine kinase signalling (3,10-12), although Dok-4 was suggested to be an inhibitor of tyrosine kinase signalling in epithelial cells (13,14). It has been suggested that Dok-4 and -5 are involved in insulin and related insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I signalling, and play a role as substrates for the insulin and the IGF-I receptor (3). However, contradictory results have been obtained in other studies (13...