Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P05412 (c-Jun)
 11,453 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

c-Jun N-terminal kinases/stress-activated protein kinases (JNKs/SAPKs) are mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-related protein kinases that are involved in several cellular events, including growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Mixed lineage kinases (MLKs) form a family of protein kinases sharing two leucine zipper-like motifs and a kinase domain whose primary structure is similar to both the tyrosine-specific and the serine/threonine-specific kinase classes. We have reported that a member of the MLK family, MUK/DLK/ZPK, can activate JNK/SAPK in vivo, and here we show that another member of the MLK family, MST/MLK2, activates JNK/SAPK. Both MUK/DLK/ZPK and MST/MLK2 cause a slight activation of p38/Mpk2 when overexpressed in COS-1 cells, whereas MST/MLK2, but not MUK/DLK/ZPK, activates extracellular response kinase (ERK) to a certain degree. The activity of SEK1/MKK4/JNKK, a MAPK kinase class protein kinase designated as a direct activator of JNK/SAPK, is also induced by MUK/DLK/ZPK or MST/MLK2 overexpression. Furthermore, recombinant MST/MLK2 produced in bacteria directly phosphorylates and activates SEK1/MKK4/JNKK in vitro, showing that MST/MLK2 acts like a MAPK kinase kinase. Taken together, these results suggest that MLK family members are MAPK kinase kinases preferentially acting on the JNK/SAPK pathway.
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PMID:MST/MLK2, a member of the mixed lineage kinase family, directly phosphorylates and activates SEK1, an activator of c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase. 918 38

Mixed lineage kinase-3 (MLK-3) is a mitogen-activated kinase kinase kinase that mediates stress-activating protein kinase (SAPK)/c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase activation. MLK-3 and other MLK family kinases are characterized by the presence of multiple protein-protein interaction domains including a tandem leucine/isoleucine zipper (LZs) motif. Leucine zippers are known to mediate protein dimerization raising the possibility that the tandem leucine/isoleucine zippers may function as a dimerization motif of MLK-3. Using both co-immunoprecipitation and nonreducing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we demonstrated that MLK-3 forms disulfide bridged homo-dimers and that the LZs motif is sufficient for MLK-3 homodimerization. We next asked whether MLK-3 utilizes a dimerization-based activation mechanism analogous to that of receptor tyrosine kinases. We found that dimerization via the LZs motif is a prerequisite for MLK-3 autophosphorylation. We then demonstrated that co-expression of Cdc42 lead to a substantial increase in MLK-3 dimerization, indicating that binding by this GTPase may induce MLK-3 dimerization. Moreover, the LZs minus form of MLK-3 failed to activate the downstream target SAPK, and expression of a MLK-3 LZs polypeptide was found to block SAPK activation by wild type MLK-3. Taken together, these findings indicate that dimerization plays a pivotal role in MLK-3 activation.
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PMID:Dimerization via tandem leucine zippers is essential for the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase, MLK-3. 982 70

Mixed lineage kinases (MLKs) belong to the family of mitogen activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK) and cause neuronal cell death mediated through c-Jun, N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. Recently, genetic studies in Drosophila revealed the presence of an MLK termed slipper (slpr). However, its biochemical features like physiological substrate, role in different MAPK pathways and developmental and tissue-specific expression pattern were not reported. Here, we report cDNA cloning, expression analysis and biochemical characterization of a Drosophila mixed lineage kinase (dMLK) that is also known as slipper. The protein structure analysis of dMLK/slipper revealed, in addition to the conserved domains, a stretch of glutamine in the amino terminus and an asparagine-threonine stretch at the carboxy-terminus. In situ hybridization and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that dMLK is expressed in early embryonic stages, adult brain and thorax. Ectopic expression of dMLK either in Drosophila S2 or in mammalian HEK293 cells leads to activation of JNK, p38 and extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) pathways. Further, dMLK directly phosphorylates Hep, dMKK4 and also their mammalian counterparts, MKK7 and SEK1, in an in vitro kinase assay. Taken together, our results provide for the first time a comprehensive expression profile and new biochemical insight of dMLK/slipper.
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PMID:Drosophila mixed lineage kinase/slipper, a missing biochemical link in Drosophila JNK signaling. 1267 57