Signalling tyrosine residues

There are five known classes of enzyme-linked receptors (1) receptor tyrosine kinases, which phosphorylate specific tyrosine residues on intracellular signaling proteins (2) tyrosine kinase-associated receptors, such as the prolactin and growth hormone receptors we have already discussed, which... 

MAPK cascades are composed of three cytoplasmic kinases, the MAPKKK, MAPKK, and MAPK, that are regulated by phosphorylation (Fig. 1) [1, 2]. The MAPKKK, also called MEKK for MEK kinase, is a serine/threonine kinase. Selective activation of MAPKKKs by upstream cellular stimuli results in the phosphorylation of MAPKK, also called MEK for MAP/ERK kinase by the MAPKKK. MAPKKK members are structurally diverse and are differentially regulated by specific upstream stimuli. The MAPKK is phosphorylated by the MAPKKK on two specific serine/ threonine residues in its activation loop. The MAPKK family members are dual specificity kinases capable of phosphorylating critical threonine and tyrosine residues in the activation loop of the MAPKs. MAPKKs have the fewest members in the MAPK signaling module. MAPKs are a family of serine/threonine kinases that upon activation by their respective MAPKKs, are capable of phosphorylating cytoplasmic substrates as well as... 

Phosphorylation is the reversible process of introducing a phosphate group onto a protein. Phosphorylation occurs on the hydroxyamino acids serine and threonine or on tyrosine residues targeted by Ser/Thr kinases and tyrosine kinases respectively. Dephosphorylation is catalyzed by phosphatases. Phosphorylation is a key mechanism for rapid posttranslational modulation of protein function. It is widely exploited in cellular processes to control various aspects of cell signaling, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell survival, cell metabolism, cell motility, and gene transcription. 

Noncatalytic phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domains are 100-150 residue modules, which bind Asn-Pro-X-Tyr motifs. PTB-domain binding specificity is determined by residues at the amino-terminal side of the phosphotyrosine. In most cases, the tyrosine residue must be phosphorylated in order to mediate binding. PTB domain containing proteins are often found in signal transduction pathways. 

Besides cytoplasmic protein kinases, membrane receptors can exert protein kinase activity. These so-called receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) contain a ligandbinding extracellular domain, a transmembrane motif, and an intracellular catalytic domain with specificity for tyrosine residues. Upon ligand binding and subsequent receptor oligomerization, the tyrosine residues of the intracellular domain become phosphory-lated by the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity of the receptor [3, 4]. The phosphotyrosine residues ftmction as docking sites for other proteins that will transmit the signal received by the RTK. 

The RTK activity phosphorylates tyrosine residues within the intracellular domain of the receptor. These phosphorylated residues function as docking sites for proteins that will convey the signal to downstream signal transduction components. PKI can be developed that bind these phosphorylated docking sites in order to abrogate inappropriate downstream signalling. 

In contrast to tyrosine kinases, Tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are enzymes which act on phosphorylated proteins and catalyze the transfer of a phosphate group from a tyrosine residue to a water molecule, generating orthophosphates in a process which is referred to as dephosphorylation. PTPs are involved in many cellular signal transduction pathways. 

Dumoutier L, Tounsi A, Michiels T, Sommereyns C, Kotenko SV, Renauld JC (2004) Role of the interleukin (lL)-28 receptor tyrosine residues for antiviral and antiproliferative activity of lL-29/interferon-lambda 1 similarities with type I interferon signaling. J Biol Chem 279 ... 

Dimerization allows the kinase activity of both intracellular chains to encounter target sequences on the other, linked receptor molecule. This enables the intermolecular cross-phosphorylation of several tyrosine residues (Figure 8.2). The phosphorylated dimer then constitutes the active receptor. It possesses an array of phosphotyrosines that enable it to bind proteins to form receptor signaling complexes. Additionally, the dimerized and phosphorylated receptor has the potential of phospho-rylating its targets. 

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