Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: MAP2K5
Cytogenetic location: 15q23 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 15:67,542,703-67,807,114 (from NCBI)
Some cell surface receptors respond to extracellular stimuli via a sequential protein kinase cascade. The kinase signaling cascades involve multiple protein kinases, including the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MAP2KS, also called MAPKKs or PRKMKs) and the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs, or PRKMs). Specific MAP2Ks have been shown to phosphorylate specific MAPKs in a given pathway. By degenerate PCR and screening of a human fetal brain cDNA library, Zhou et al. (1995) cloned a cDNA encoding MAP2K5, called MEK5 by them. The 444-amino acid protein is approximately 40% identical to other MAP2Ks and contains all 11 conserved kinase subdomains. MAP2K5 differs from other MAP2Ks by having a long N-terminal sequence. The authors suggested that this region may be important in coupling GTPases to the MAP2K5 protein kinase cascade. Zhou et al. (1995) demonstrated that MAP2K5 interacts specifically with MAPK7 (602521) in vitro. Since these proteins did not interact with kinases in the MAP2K1 (176872)/MAPK3 (601795) pathway, the authors proposed that the MAP2K5/MAPK7 protein cascade is a novel signaling pathway. Northern blot analysis detected a 2.7-kb MAP2K5 transcript in many human tissues, with the highest levels in heart and skeletal muscle.
Zhou, G., Bao, Z. Q., Dixon, J. E. Components of a new human protein kinase signal transduction pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 270: 12665-12669, 1995. [PubMed: 7759517] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.270.21.12665]