Abstract
A macromolecular complex of the enzymes involved in human de novo purine biosynthesis, the purinosome, has been shown to consist of a core assembly to regulate the metabolic activity of the pathway. However, it remains elusive whether the core assembly itself can be selectively controlled in the cytoplasm without promoting the purinosome. Here, we reveal that pharmacological inhibition of the cytoplasmic activity of 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1) selectively promotes the formation of the core assembly, but not the purinosome, in cancer cells. However, alternative signaling cascades that are associated with the plasma membrane-bound PDK1 activity, including Akt-mediated cascades, regulate neither the core assembly nor the purinosome in our conditions. Along with immunofluorescence microscopy and a knock-down study against PDK1 using small interfering RNAs, we reveal that cytoplasmic PDK1-associated signaling pathways regulate subcellular colocalization of three enzymes that form the core assembly of the purinosome in an Akt-independent manner. Collectively, this study reveals a new mode of compartmentalization of purine biosynthetic enzymes controlled by spatially resolved signaling pathways.