Mitogen-activated protein kinase

A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK or MAP kinase) is a type of protein kinase that is specific to the amino acids serine and threonine (i.e., a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase). MAPKs are involved in directing cellular responses to a diverse array of stimuli, such as mitogens, osmotic stress, heat shock and proinflammatory cytokines. They regulate cell functions including proliferation, gene expression, differentiation, mitosis, cell survival, and apoptosis. A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK or MAP kinase) is a type of protein kinase that is specific to the amino acids serine and threonine (i.e., a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase). MAPKs are involved in directing cellular responses to a diverse array of stimuli, such as mitogens, osmotic stress, heat shock and proinflammatory cytokines. They regulate cell functions including proliferation, gene expression, differentiation, mitosis, cell survival, and apoptosis. MAP kinases are found in eukaryotes only, but they are fairly diverse and encountered in all animals, fungi and plants, and even in an array of unicellular eukaryotes. MAPKs belong to the CMGC (CDK/MAPK/GSK3/CLK) kinase group. The closest relatives of MAPKs are the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). The first mitogen-activated protein kinase to be discovered was ERK1 (MAPK3) in mammals. Since ERK1 and its close relative ERK2 (MAPK1) are both involved in growth factor signaling, the family was termed 'mitogen-activated'. With the discovery of other members, even from distant organisms (e.g. plants), it has become increasingly clear that the name is a misnomer, since most MAPKs are actually involved in the response to potentially harmful, abiotic stress stimuli (hyperosmosis, oxidative stress, DNA damage, low osmolarity, infection, etc.). Because plants cannot 'flee' from stress, terrestrial plants have the highest number of MAPK genes per organism ever found. Thus the role of mammalian ERK1/2 kinases as regulators of cell proliferation is not a generic, but a highly specialized function. Most MAPKs have a number of shared characteristics, such as the activation dependent on two phosphorylation events, a three-tiered pathway architecture and similar substrate recognition sites. These are the 'classical' MAP kinases. But there are also some ancient outliers from the group as sketched above, that do not have dual phosphorylation sites, only form two-tiered pathways, and lack the features required by other MAPKs for substrate binding. These are usually referred to as 'atypical' MAPKs. It is yet unclear if the atypical MAPKs form a single group as opposed to the classical ones. Mitogen-activated protein kinases are catalytically inactive in their base form. In order to become active, they require (potentially multiple) phosphorylation events in their activation loops. This is conducted by specialized enzymes of the STE protein kinase group. In this way protein dynamics can induce a conformational change in the structure of the protein via long-range allostery. In the case of classical MAP kinases, the activation loop contains a characteristic TxY (threonine-x-tyrosine) motif (TEY in mammalian ERK1 and ERK2, TDY in ERK5, TPY in JNKs, TGY in p38 kinases) that needs to be phosphorylated on both the threonine and the tyrosine residues in order to lock the kinase domain in a catalytically competent conformation. In vivo and in vitro, phosphorylation of tyrosine oftentimes precedes phosphorylation of threonine, although phosphorylation of either residue can occur in the absence of the other. This tandem activation loop phosphorylation (that was proposed to be either distributive or processive, dependent on cellular environment) is performed by members of the Ste7 protein kinase family, also known as MAP2 kinases. MAP2 kinases in turn, are also activated by phosphorylation, by a number of different upstream serine-threonine kinases (MAP3 kinases). Because MAP2 kinases display very little activity on substrates other than their cognate MAPK, classical MAPK pathways form multi-tiered, but relatively linear pathways. These pathways can effectively convey stimuli from the cell membrane (where many MAP3Ks are activated) to the nucleus (where only MAPKs may enter) or to many other subcellular targets. In comparison to the three-tiered classical MAPK pathways, some atypical MAP kinases appear to have a more ancient, two-tiered system. ERK3 (MAPK6) and ERK4 (MAPK4) were recently shown to be directly phosphorylated and thus activated by PAK kinases (related to other MAP3 kinases). In contrast to the classical MAP kinases, these atypical MAPKs require only a single residue in their activation loops to be phosphorylated. The details of NLK and ERK7 (MAPK15) activation remain unknown.