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Mutsuhiro Takekawa

Publications and source records attributed to Mutsuhiro Takekawa.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Characterization of a novel low-molecular-mass dual-specificity phosphatase-3 (LDP-3) that enhances activation of JNK and p38.

We have isolated a mouse cDNA for a novel dual-specificity phosphatase designated LDP-3 (low-molecular-mass dual-specificity phosphatase 3). The 450 bp open reading frame encodes a protein of 150 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 16 kDa. Northern blot and reverse transcription-PCR analyses show that LDP-3 transcripts are expressed in almost all mouse tissues examined. In vitro analyses using several substrates and inhibitors indicate that LDP-3 possesses intrinsic dual-specificity phosphatase activity. When expressed in mammalian cells, LDP-3 protein is localized mainly to the apical submembrane area. Forced expression of LDP-3 does not alter activation of ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase), but rather enhances activation of JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and p38 and their respective upstream kinases MKK4 (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4) and MKK6 in cells treated with 0.4 M sorbitol. By screening with a variety of stimuli, we found that LDP-3 specifically enhances the osmotic stress-induced activation of JNK and p38.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

GADD45beta/GADD45gamma and MEKK4 comprise a genetic pathway mediating STAT4-independent IFNgamma production in T cells.

The stress-inducible molecules GADD45beta and GADD45gamma have been implicated in regulating IFNgamma production in CD4 T cells. However, how GADD45 proteins function has been controversial. MEKK4 is a MAP kinase kinase kinase that interacts with GADD45 in vitro. Here we generated MEKK4-deficient mice to define the function and regulation of this pathway. CD4 T cells from MEKK4-/- mice have reduced p38 activity and defective IFNgamma synthesis. Expression of GADD45beta or GADD45gamma promotes IFNgamma production in MEKK4+/+ T cells, but not in MEKK4-/- cells or in cells treated with a p38 inhibitor. Thus, MEKK4 mediates the action of GADD45beta and GADD45gamma on p38 activation and IFNgamma production. During Th1 differentiation, the GADD45beta/GADD45gamma/MEKK4 pathway appears to integrate upstream signals transduced by both T cell receptor and IL12/STAT4, leading to augmented IFNgamma production in a process independent of STAT4.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

NF-kappaB inhibits TNF-induced accumulation of ROS that mediate prolonged MAPK activation and necrotic cell death.

NF-kappaB downregulates tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation that promotes cell death, but the mechanism is not yet fully understood. By using murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) that are deficient in TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF) 2 and TRAF5 (DKO) or p65 NF-kappaB subunit (p65KO), we demonstrate here that TNF stimulation leads to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which is essential for prolonged mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation and cell death. Interestingly, dying cells show necrotic as well as apoptotic morphological changes as assessed by electron microscopy and flow cytometry, and necrotic, but not apoptotic, cell death is substantially inhibited by antioxidant. Importantly, TNF does not induce ROS accumulation or prolonged MAPK activation in wild-type MEFs, indicating that TRAF-mediated NF-kappaB activation normally suppresses the TNF-induced ROS accumulation that subsequently induces prolonged MAPK activation and necrotic cell death

Animals↗
PubMed2003

A docking site determining specificity of Pbs2 MAPKK for Ssk2/Ssk22 MAPKKKs in the yeast HOG pathway.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are conserved signaling modules composed of three sequentially activated kinases (MAPKKK, MAPKK and MAPK). Because individual cells contain multiple MAPK cascades, mechanisms are required to ensure the fidelity of signal transmission. In yeast, external high osmolarity activates the HOG (high osmolarity glycerol) MAPK pathway, which consists of two upstream branches (SHO1 and SLN1) and common downstream elements including the Pbs2 MAPKK and the Hog1 MAPK. The Ssk2/Ssk22 MAPKKKs in the SLN1 branch, when activated, exclusively phosphorylate the Pbs2 MAPKK. We found that this was due to an Ssk2/Ssk22-specific docking site in the Pbs2 N-terminal region. The Pbs2 docking site constitutively bound the Ssk2/Ssk22 kinase domain. Docking site mutations drastically reduced the Pbs2-Ssk2/Ssk22 interaction and hampered Hog1 activation by the SLN1 branch. Fusion of the Pbs2 docking site to a different MAPKK, Ste7, allowed phosphorylation of Ste7 by Ssk2/Ssk22. Thus, the docking site contributes to both the efficiency and specificity of signaling. During these analyses, we also found a nuclear export signal and a possible nuclear localization signal in Pbs2.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Smad-dependent GADD45beta expression mediates delayed activation of p38 MAP kinase by TGF-beta.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), when bound to its specific receptor, activates the transcription factor Smad by phosphorylation. TGF-beta also activates the p38 MAPK pathway, but there seem to be disparate mechanisms for the early p38 activation and delayed p38 activation. In this report, we demonstrate that Smad-dependent expression of GADD45beta is responsible for the delayed activation of p38 by TGF-beta. The GADD45beta protein binds and activates MTK1 (= MEKK4), which is a member of the MAPKKK family kinases and an upstream activator of the p38 MAPK cascade. Both TGF-beta-induced GADD45beta expression and the delayed p38 activation require functional Smad proteins. Antisense inhibition of GADD45beta expression suppresses the TGF-beta-induced delayed p38 activation, whereas overexpression of GADD45beta activates the p38 MAPK via MTK1. Expression of the angiogenesis inhibitor thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is induced by TGF-beta via Smad-dependent p38 activation. Thus TGF-beta-induced p38 activation, mediated by GADD45beta expression, may play an important role in the biological effects of TGF-beta.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Usage of tautomycetin, a novel inhibitor of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1), reveals that PP1 is a positive regulator of Raf-1 in vivo.

Protein phosphatase type 1 (PP1), together with protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), is a major eukaryotic serine/threonine protein phosphatase involved in regulation of numerous cell functions. Although the roles of PP2A have been studied extensively using okadaic acid, a well known inhibitor of PP2A, biological analysis of PP1 has remained restricted because of lack of a specific inhibitor. Recently we reported that tautomycetin (TC) is a highly specific inhibitor of PP1. To elucidate the biological effects of TC, we demonstrated in preliminary experiments that treatment of COS-7 cells with 5 microm TC for 5 h inhibits endogenous PP1 by more than 90% without affecting PP2A activity. Therefore, using TC as a specific PP1 inhibitor, the biological effect of PP1 on MAPK signaling was examined. First, we found that inhibition of PP1 in COS-7 cells by TC specifically suppresses activation of ERK, among three MAPK kinases (ERK, JNK, and p38). TC-mediated inhibition of PP1 also suppressed activation of Raf-1, resulting in the inactivation of the MEK-ERK pathway. To examine the role of PP1 in regulation of Raf-1, we overexpressed the PP1 catalytic subunit (PP1C) in COS-7 cells and found that PP1C enhanced activation of Raf-1 activity, whereas phosphatase-dead PP1C blocked Raf-1 activation. Furthermore, a physical interaction between PP1C and Raf-1 was also observed. These data strongly suggest that PP1 positively regulates Raf-1 in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

A novel low-molecular-mass dual-specificity phosphatase, LDP-2, with a naturally occurring substitution that affects substrate specificity.

We have identified a novel dual-specificity phosphatase (DSP), called LDP-2 (low-molecular-mass DSP-2), composed of 220 amino acid residues showing high sequence homology to VHR and LDP-1/TMDP, which belong to a family of DSPs with low molecular masses. The LDP-2 gene is ubiquitously expressed, and LDP-2 is localized in the cytoplasm. The main structural feature of LDP-2 is that the serine-156 residue located in the common active site sequence motif, HCXXGXXRS, for DSP is naturally substituted with an alanine residue. The recombinant LDP-2 protein showed extremely low phosphatase activity towards p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP). Back-mutation of Ala-156 in LDP-2 to a serine (A156S mutation) conferred significant phosphatase activity towards pNPP. However, both LDP-2 and LDP-2 (A156S) exhibited substantial phosphatase activities towards both phospho-seryl/threonyl and -tyrosyl residues of myelin basic protein, with similar specific activities. Ala-156 of LDP-2 might be crucially involved in the recognition of a physiological substrate. We analyzed the effect of VHR and LDP-2 on mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in vivo. We first found that VHR inhibits the activation of p38 as well as ERK and JNK, with similar efficiency. Under the conditions used, LDP-2 specifically suppressed JNK activation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Regulation of MTK1/MEKK4 kinase activity by its N-terminal autoinhibitory domain and GADD45 binding.

A variety of cellular stresses activate the stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases p38 and JNK. In this study, we studied the activation mechanism of a human MAP kinase kinase kinase, MTK1 (also known as MEKK4), which mediates activation of both p38 and JNK. MTK1 has an extensive N-terminal noncatalytic domain composed of approximately 1,300 amino acids. Full-length or near full-length MTK1 is catalytically inactive when expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, as it is in mammalian cells. Deletion of a segment including positions 253 to 553 activates kinase, indicating that this segment contains the autoinhibitory domain. In the autoinhibited conformation, the MTK1 kinase domain cannot interact with its substrate, MKK6. By a functional complementation screening with yeast cells, GADD45 proteins (GADD45alpha, beta, and gamma) were identified as MTK1 activators. GADD45 proteins bind a site in MTK1 near the inhibitory domain and relieve autoinhibition. Mutants of full-length MTK1 were isolated that can interact with MKK6 in the absence of the activator GADD45 proteins. These MTK1 mutants are constitutively active, in both yeast and mammalian cells. A model of MTK1 autoinhibition by the N-terminal inhibitory domain and activation by GADD45 binding is presented.

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