Identifying novel nuclear targets for MAP kinase/Erk in Drosophila

Ze'ev Paroush 1 Rona Grossman 1 Tatyana Shestkin 1 David Engelberg 2 Adi Salzberg 3 Gerardo Jiménez 4
1Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research, IMRIC, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
2Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
3Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
4Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona-CSIC, and Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) control key cellular processes such as proliferation, migration and fate specification. RTKs often transduce extracellular signals via the common Ras/Raf/MEK/MAPK cytoplasmic cascade. Once MAPK/Erk, the key pathway effector kinase, is activated, it enters the nucleus where it phosphorylates target transcription factors, and in this way alters profiles of gene expression. Surprisingly, despite the critical roles played by RTK signaling in multiple developmental processes, only a handful of confirmed transcription factors that are directly targeted by MAPK/Erk have been identified to date in Drosophila. We are, therefore, utilising a high throughput genome-wide proteomics approach aimed at uncovering novel, direct nuclear MAPK/Erk targets.









Powered by Eventact EMS