Insulin stimulates phosphorylation of a heat-stable protein in rat adipose tissue.

Insulin in rat adipose tissue acts to increase the phosphorylation about 2.5-fold of a low molecular weight protein in the cytosol designated phosphoprotein m. Isoproterenol had no effect on the phosphorylation of phosphoprotein m. Some of the properties of phosphoprotein m are: soluble in 1% trichloro acetic acid, heat-stable and has a molecular weight of 23,000 on polyacrylamide gels in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Phosphoserine and phosphothreonine are the phosphorylated amino acid residues of phosphoprotein m. The physical and chemical properties of phosphoprotein m are similar to those of previously described inhibitor and modulator proteins.