Elizabeth J Goldsmith
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA
Title: The excursion model for MAP kinase signaling in health and disease
Biography
Biography: Elizabeth J Goldsmith
Abstract
MAP kinase modules, a cascade of three kinase enzymes, a MAP3K, MAP2K and MAPK, propagate diverse extracellular signals to downstream effectors. The two double phosphorylation reactions catalyzed by the modules occur in a precise order that maximizes the number of reaction steps between signal and final activation. Activation is associated with the final Thr phosphorylation of the MAPK. The observed order of phosphorylation events suggests an excursion from the Ser/Thr kinase activity of the MAP3K into Tyr kinase activity of the central dual specificity MAP2K and back to Ser/Thr kinase activity. The reaction order, and thus the tempo of MAPK activation changes in cancer mutants of the MAP2K.
