Pathway Analysis of Highly Conserved Mitogen Activated Protein Kinases (MAPKs)

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are stimulated by a large variety of signals, including mitogens, growth factors, cytokines, T-cell antigens, pheromones, UV and ionizing radiations, osmotic stress, heat shock and oxidative stress. They participate in the generation of various cellular responses, including gene transcription, induction of cell death or maintenance of cell survival, malignant transformation, and regulation of cell-cycle progression. MAPKs are involved in the action of most nonnuclear oncogenes and responsible for cell response to growth factors. MAPK pathway has been shown to play a pivotal role in diverse dental diseases, including chronic pain, and periodontal diseases as well as in majority of various cancers. In this work, an attempt has been made to determine the participation of a particular MAPK in one specific pathway. Various computational analysis tools such as ClustalW, phylogenetic tree re-construction, PDB, Phosphosite etc. were utilized and based on evolutionary relationships, identification of phosphorylated sites and comparison of active site residues, the specificity of MAPK 1 and 3 in growth factor pathway, MAPK 8, 9, 10 in stress and MAPK 11, 12, 13 in inflammatory pathway are emphasized.