Specific binding of Fyn and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase to the B cell surface glycoprotein CD19 through their src homology 2 domains

CD 19 is a B cell surface protein capable of forming non-covalent molecular complexes with a number of other B cell surface proteins including the CD21/CD81/Leu-13 complex as well as with surface immunoglobulin. CD19 tyrosine phosphorylation increases after B cell activation, and is proposed to play a role in signal transduction through its cytoplasmic domain, which contains nine tyrosine residues. Several second messenger proteins have been shown to immunoprecipitate with CD 19, including p59 Fyn (Fyn), p59 Lyn (Lyn) and phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3 kinase). These associations are predicted to occur via the src-homology 2 (SH2) domains of the second messenger proteins. Two of the cytoplasmic tyrosines in the CD 19 cytoplasmic region contain the consensus binding sequence for the PI-3 kinase SH2 domain (Y^PO4-X-X-M). However, the reported consensus binding sequence for the Fyn and Lyn SH2 domains (Y^PO4-X-X-I/L) is not found in CD 19. We investigated the capacity of CD 19 cytoplasmic tyrosines to bind both Fyn and PI-3 kinase SH2-domain fusion proteins. In activated B cells, both Fyn and PI-3 kinase SH2-domain fusion proteins precipitate CD 19. Using synthetic tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides comprising each of the CD 19 cytoplasmic tyrosines and surrounding amino acids, we investigated the ability of the Fyn SH2 and PI-3 kinase SH2 fusion proteins to bind to the different CD 19 cytoplasmic phosphotyrosine peptides. ELISA revealed that the two CD 19 cytoplasmic tyrosine residues contained within the Y-X-X-M sequences (Y⁴⁸⁴ and Y⁵¹⁵) bound preferentially to the PI-3 kinase SH2-domain fusion proteins. Two different tyrosines (Y⁴⁰⁵ and Y⁴⁴⁵) bound preferentially to the Fyn SH2-domain fusion protein via a novel sequence, Y-E-N-D/E, different from that previously reported for the Fyn SH2 domain. In precipitation studies, peptide Y⁴⁸⁴ was able to compete with tyrosine phosphorylated CD 19 specifically for binding to the PI-3 kinase SH2 domain fusion proteins, while peptides Y⁴⁰⁵ and Y⁴⁴⁵ were able to compete specifically for binding to the Fyn SH2 domain fusion proteins. These results indicate that CD19 may be capable of binding both Fyn and PI-3 kinase concurrently, suggesting a mechanism for CD 19 signal transduction, in which binding of PI-3 kinase to the Fyn SH3 domain results in activation of PI-3 kinase.