Ser-557-phosphorylated mCRY2 is degraded upon synergistic phosphorylation by glycogen synthase kinase-3β

Cryptochrome 1 and 2 act as essential components of the central and peripheral circadian clocks for generation of circadian rhythms in mammals. Here we show that mouse cryptochrome 2 (mCRY2) is phosphorylated at Ser-557 in the liver, a well characterized peripheral clock tissue. The Ser-557- phosphorylated form accumulates in the liver during the night in parallel with mCRY2 protein, and the phosphorylated form reaches its maximal level at late night, preceding the peak-time of the protein abundance by similar to 4 h in both light-dark cycle and constant dark conditions. The Ser-557- phosphorylated form of mCRY2 is localized in the nucleus, whereas mCRY2 protein is located in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. Importantly, phosphorylation of mCRY2 at Ser-557 allows subsequent phosphorylation at Ser-553 by glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3 beta), resulting in efficient degradation of mCRY2 by a proteasome pathway. As assessed by phosphorylation of GSK-3 beta at Ser-9, which negatively regulates the kinase activity, GSK-3 beta exhibits a circadian rhythm in its activity with a peak from late night to early morning when Ser-557 of mCRY2 is highly phosphorylated. Altogether, the present study demonstrates an important role of sequential phosphorylation at Ser-557/Ser-553 for destabilization of mCRY2 and illustrates a model that the circadian regulation of mCRY2 phosphorylation contributes to rhythmic degradation of mCRY2 protein.