Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.12.2 (MEK)
 18,161 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In Xenopus oocytes, mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase can be activated by progesterone treatment or by microinjection of cyclin A, both of which lead to activation of the cdc2 protein kinase. The tyrosine kinase pp60v-src has previously been shown to accelerate progesterone-induced oocyte maturation and to increase the phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 by pp90rsk, most likely by activating MAP kinase. In extracts of resting oocytes, MAP kinase kinase and MAP kinase were activated by addition of pp60v-src or cyclin A. Activation by pp60v-src was blocked by a dominant-negative p21ras protein (RAST), but activation by cyclin A/cdc2 was unaffected. Thus these two pathways that converge at MAP kinase kinase but are clearly divergent upstream of a p21ras-dependent step can be studied in a cell-free system.
J Biol Chem 1993 Sep 25
PMID:Reconstitution of p21ras-dependent and -independent mitogen-activated protein kinase activation in a cell-free system. 839 92

p74raf-1, a serine/threonine kinase, is structurally related to the protein kinase C (PKC) family and contains a cysteine motif in its N-terminal domain, which is essential for its regulation. It has been shown that p74raf-1 functions upstream of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase. We have constructed a p74raf-1 mutant (N delta raf) that only contains the N-terminal regulatory domain. When transiently expressed in COS-M6 cells, N delta raf efficiently blocked the activation of the MAP extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK2), induced by either epidermal growth factor, phorbol ester, serum, or oncogenic p21ras. Similar constructs with the cysteine motifs from either PKC-alpha or diacylglycerol kinase did not inhibit activation of ERK2. Overexpression of full-length p74raf-1 rescued the inhibition of ERK2 by N delta raf in a stimulus dependent manner, indicating that N delta raf acts as a competitive inhibitor of wild-type p74raf-1. In contrast, overexpression of either PKC-alpha, -epsilon, or -zeta in N delta raf-containing cells could not rescue the inhibition of ERK2. We conclude that p74raf-1 is an essential mediator of epidermal growth factor- and phorbol ester-induced ERK2 activation and that the MAP kinase kinase activity of p74raf-1 cannot be substituted with either PKC-alpha, -epsilon or -zeta.
J Biol Chem 1993 Sep 25
PMID:A dominant-negative mutant of raf blocks mitogen-activated protein kinase activation by growth factors and oncogenic p21ras. 839 1

We have characterized activation of the MAP kinase cascade in an inducible system in response to the temperature-sensitive (ts) expression of the v-mos oncogene. Transformation of immortalized rat embryo fibroblasts by a ts isolate of Moloney murine sarcoma virus (Mo-MuSVts110) constitutively activates MAP kinases (ERK-1 and ERK-2) and MAP kinase kinases (MKK-1 and MKK-2) only at the permissive temperature when v-mos kinase is present and active. Following a shift of the ts-transformed, serum-starved cells from the nonpermissive to permissive temperature, MAP kinases and both MKK-1 and MKK-2 are activated within 1-2 h, concurrent with the reappearance of active mos kinase. Raf-1 kinase activity increases more slowly in response to the reappearance of v-mos, and the mobility shift indicative of hyperphosphorylation was only detected 18 h after the temperature transition. Our data show that MAP kinase cascade activation is an early event following the reappearance of v-mos expression and v-mos kinase activity upon temperature shift, while the first manifestation of morphological transformation appears 24 h after the shift to permissive temperature. These results support the hypothesis that mos acts through the MKK to induce cell transformation.
Cell Growth Differ 1995 Sep
PMID:Activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade in response to the temperature inducible expression of v-mos kinase. 851 89

Single copies of an approximately 65-70 residue domain are shown to be present in the sequences of 14 eukaryotic proteins, including yeast byr2, STE11, ste4, and STE50, which are essential participants in sexual differentiation. This domain, named SAM (sterile alpha motif), appears to participate in other developmental processes because it is also present in Drosophila polyhomeotic gene product and related homologues, which are thought to regulate determination of segmental specification in early embryogenesis. Its appearance in byr2 and STE11, which are MEK kinases, and in proteins containing pleckstrain homology, src homology 3, and discs-large homologous region domains, suggests possible participation in signal transduction pathways.
Protein Sci 1995 Sep
PMID:SAM: a novel motif in yeast sterile and Drosophila polyhomeotic proteins. 852 90

Previous studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have identified several meiosis-specific genes whose products are required for wild-type levels of meiotic recombination and for normal synaptonemal complex (SC) formation. Several of these mutants were examined in a physical assay designed to detect heteroduplex DNA (hDNA) intermediates in meiotic recombination. hDNA was not detected in the rec102, mei4 and hop1 mutants; it was observed at reduced levels in red1, mek1 and mer1 strains and at greater than the wild-type level in zip1. These results indicate that the REC102, MEI4, HOP1, RED1, MEK1 and MER1 gene products act before hDNA formation in the meiotic recombination pathway, whereas ZIP1 acts later. The same mutants assayed for hDNA formation were monitored for meiotic chromosome pairing by in situ hybridization of chromosome-specific DNA probes to spread meiotic nuclei. Homolog pairing occurs at wild-type levels in the zip1 and mek1 mutants, but is substantially reduced in mei4, rec102, hop1, red1 and mer1 strains. Even mutants that fail to recombine or to make any SC or SC precursors undergo a significant amount of meiotic chromosome pairing. The in situ hybridization procedure revealed defects in meiotic chromatin condensation in mer1, red1 and hop1 strains.
Genetics 1995 Sep
PMID:Heteroduplex DNA formation and homolog pairing in yeast meiotic mutants. 853 92

The vulva of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans develops from the three vulval precursor cells (VPCs) that are induced by a signal from the gonadal anchor cell. This signal is thought to be mediated by a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) in the VPCs to a downstream signal transduction pathway. A mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) has been found to be one of the major components of an RTK pathway in other organisms. We expressed a wild type and an activated cDNA of Dsor1, a Drosophila MAPKK, in each of the three vulvaless mutants lin-3, let-23 and lin-45. The expression of an activated from of Dsor1 in each of the mutants effectively induced a normal, functional vulva, that is, suppressed the vulvaless phenotype. The wild type Dsor1 also suppressed albeit less effectively. These results suggest that a MAPKK is involved in the vulval induction of C. elegans.
Mech Dev 1995 Sep
PMID:Drosophila MAP kinase kinase suppresses the vulvaless phenotype of lin-3, let-23 and lin-45 mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans. 855 7

MKK1/MKK2 and SLT2 (MPK1) are three Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, coding for protein kinases, that have been postulated to act sequentially as part of the Pkc1p signalling pathway, a phosphorylation cascade essential for cell integrity. By using the 'two-hybrid system' and co-purification experiments on glutathione-agarose beads, we have shown that Slt2p interacts in vivo and in vitro with both Mkk1p and Mkk2p, thus confirming a previous suggestion based on epistasis experiments of the corresponding genes. Plasmid constructs of the SLT2 gene, deleted in the whole C-terminal non-kinase region or part of it, and therefore containing all of the conserved kinase subdomains, were still functional in complementation of the slt2 lytic phenotype and in vivo interaction with Mkk1p and Mkk2p. In contrast, the Slt2p C-terminal domain (162 residues) that carries a glutamine-rich fragment followed by a 16 polyglutamine tract, was shown to be dispensable for complementation and in vivo association with Mkk1p and Mkk2p. We have also demonstrated that the N-terminal putative regulatory domain of these two MAP kinase activators is the main region involved in the interaction with Slt2p.
Mol Microbiol 1995 Sep
PMID:Characterization of domains in the yeast MAP kinase Slt2 (Mpk1) required for functional activity and in vivo interaction with protein kinases Mkk1 and Mkk2. 859 33

Rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of key cellular proteins is a crucial event in signal transduction. The regulatory role of protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) in this process was explored by studying the effects of a powerful PTP inhibitor, pervanadate, on the activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade. Treatment of HeLa cells with pervanadate resulted in a marked inhibition of PTP activity, accompanied by a drastic increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins. The increased tyrosine phosphorylation coincided with the activation of the MAP kinase cascade as indicated by enzymatic activity assays of MEK (MAP kinase/ERK-kinase) and MAP kinase and gel mobility shift analyses of Raf-1 and MAP kinase. The activation was sustained but reversible. Upon removal of pervanadate, both tyrosine phosphorylation and MAP kinase activation declined to basal levels. Therefore, inhibition of PTP activity is sufficient per se to initiate a complete MAP kinase activation program.
J Biol Chem 1996 Sep 06
PMID:Activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway by pervanadate, a potent inhibitor of tyrosine phosphatases. 870 41

To understand the molecular mechanism by which the angiotensin II (AII) type 1 receptor (AT1 receptor) transduces its biological signal, we examined the role of various signaling molecules involved in AT1 receptor signaling in Chinese hamster ovary cells stably transfected with the AT1 receptor. AT1 receptor-transfected cells responded to AII treatment by inhibiting adenylyl cyclase, increasing the intracellular Ca2+ concentration, and activating protein kinase C (PKC) alpha and PKC epsilon. AII also activated the c-fos gene and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases. The activation of PKC, the c-fos gene, and MAP kinases was blocked by inhibition of PKC induced by pretreatment with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate but not by pretreatment with pertussis toxin, suggesting that PKC couples to the activation of the the c-fos gene and MAP kinases. In addition, AII activated Raf-1 and MAP kinase kinase in a PKC-dependent manner. A dominant negative mutant of Ras had no effect on AII-induced MAP kinase or c-fos gene activation. Thus, the AT1 receptor signals through Raf-1 and its downstream signaling molecules by a PKC-dependent mechanism that does not involve Ras activation.
Mol Pharmacol 1996 Sep
PMID:Angiotensin II type 1 receptor signals through Raf-1 by a protein kinase C-dependent, Ras-independent mechanism. 879 90

We reported recently that angiotensin II (AII) and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) transiently inhibit interleukin 6 (IL-6)-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (Stat3) and subsequent formation of sis-inducing factor-A (SIF-A). However, the AII-mediated inhibition was independent of PMA-sensitive isoforms of protein kinase C (Bhat, G. J., Thekkumkara, T. J., Thomas, W. G., Conrad, K. M., and Baker, K. M. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 19059-19065). In this study, we demonstrate that the inhibition of IL-6-induced Stat3/SIF-A by AII is concentration-dependent and does not involve degradation of Stat3 protein. We hypothesized that the activation profile of the AII- and PMA-induced mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade may be different from that of IL-6 and could contribute to the inhibitory effect; therefore, blocking the MAP kinase pathway at the level of MAPK kinase (MAPKK) would attenuate this inhibitory effect. AII and PMA rapidly induced high levels of MAP kinase activity (8-fold), which contrasted with the delayed and weak activation by IL-6 (1. 7-fold). Treatment of cells with PD98059, a specific inhibitor of MAPKK1, attenuated the inhibitory effects of AII and PMA on IL-6-induced Stat3 tyrosine phosphorylation and SIF-A formation. These data suggest that differences in magnitude and/or duration of activation of the MAP kinase cascade differentially affects the status of Stat3 tyrosine phosphorylation, and that MAPKK1 or a downstream intermediate is involved in the inhibition of IL-6-induced Stat3 by AII and PMA. Modulatory cross-talk between AII and IL-6 may have relevance in pathophysiological conditions such as cardiac hypertrophy and in acute phase and inflammatory responses.
J Biol Chem 1996 Sep 13
PMID:Angiotensin II interferes with interleukin 6-induced Stat3 signaling by a pathway involving mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1. 879 9


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