Intermediate MAPK activator

This intermediate MAPK activator (MAPK kinase, MAPKK) is a 45 kDa phosphoprotein capable of phosphorylating MAPK on serine/threonine and tyrosine residues (Matsuda et al., 1992 Nakielny et al., 1992a Kosako et al., 1993). Like MAPK, the activity of MAPKK is regulated by phosphorylation. During oocyte maturation MAPKK is phosphorylated on threonine residues (Kosako et al., 1992), and this phosphorylation is required for its activity (Ahn et al., 1991 Gomez and Cohen, 1991 Kosako et al., 1992 Matsuda et al., 1992). MPF can activate both MAPKK and MAPK in vitro, with the activation of MAPK lagging behind that of MAPKK however, MPF cannot activate either purified MAPKK or MAPK that has been dephosphorylated by phosphatases (Matsuda et al., 1992). MAPKK and MAPK are therefore believed to function downstream of MPF (Fig. 3). 

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