Two-component kinase-like activity of nm23 correlates with its motility-suppressing activity

Nm23 genes, which encode nucleoside diphosphate kinases, have been implicated in suppressing tumor metastasis. The motility of human breast carcinoma cells can be suppressed by transfection with wild-type nm23-H1, but not by transfections with two nm23-H1 mutants, nm23-H1^S12OG and nm23-H1^P96S. Here we report that nm23-H1 can transfer a phosphate from its catalytic histidine to aspartate or glutamate residues on 43-kDa membrane proteins. One of the 43-kDa membrane proteins was not phosphorylated by either nm23-H1^P96S or nm23-H1^S120G, and another was phosphorylated much more slowly by nm23-H1^P96S and by nm23-H1^S120G than by wild-type nm23-H1. Nm23-H1 also can transfer phosphate from its catalytic histidine to histidines on ATP-citrate lyase and succinic thiokinase. The rates of phosphorylation of ATP-citrate lyase by nm23-H1^S120G and nm23-H1^P96S were similar to that by wild-type nm23-H1. The rate of phosphorylation of succinic thiokinase by nm23-H1^S120 was similar to that by wild-type nm23-H1, and the rate of phosphorylation of succinic thiokinase by nm23-H1^P96S was about half that by wild-type nm23-H1. Thus, the transfer of phosphate from nm23-H1 to aspartates or glutamates on other proteins appears to correlate better with the suppression of motility than does the transfer to histidines.