Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 1998, p. 5788-5796, Vol. 18, No. 10
0270-7306/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Received 5 June 1998/Returned for modification 9 July 1998/Accepted 13 July 1998
Exposure of yeast cells to increases in extracellular osmolarity
activates the HOG1 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade,
which is composed of three tiers of protein kinases: (i) the SSK2,
SSK22, and STE11 MAP kinase kinase kinases (MAPKKKs), (ii) the PBS2
MAPKK, and (iii) the HOG1 MAP kinase. Activation of the MAP kinase
cascade is mediated by two upstream mechanisms. The SLN1-YPD1-SSK1
two-component osmosensor activates the SSK2 and SSK22 MAPKKKs by direct
interaction of the SSK1 response regulator with these MAPKKKs. The
second mechanism of HOG1 MAP kinase activation is independent of the
two-component osmosensor and involves the SHO1 transmembrane protein
and the STE11 MAPKKK. Only PBS2 and HOG1 are common to the two
mechanisms. We conducted an exhaustive mutant screening to identify
additional elements required for activation of STE11 by osmotic stress.
We found that strains with mutations in the STE50 gene, in
combination with ssk2
ssk22
mutations, were unable to
induce HOG1 phosphorylation after osmotic stress. Both two-hybrid
analyses and coprecipitation assays demonstrated that the N-terminal
domain of STE50 binds strongly to the N-terminal domain of STE11. The
binding of STE50 to STE11 is constitutive and is not affected by
osmotic stress. Furthermore, the two proteins relocalize similarly
after osmotic shock. It was concluded that STE50 fulfills an essential
role in the activation of the high-osmolarity glycerol response pathway
by acting as an integral subunit of the STE11 MAPKKK.
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