title: Dephosphorylation and inactivation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase by a mitogen-induced Thr/Tyr protein phosphatase.
abstract: The activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) or mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) by a dual specific kinase, MEK (MAPK or ERK kinase), is a critical event in the mitogenic signal transduction pathway. However, little is known about the mechanism of ERK inactivation, which occurs after stimulation. In this report, we demonstrated that a dual specific protein phosphatase, HVH1 (human VH1 phosphatase homolog) whose expression is induced by mitogenic growth factors, specifically inactivates ERK. When several phosphoproteins were tested for recombinant HVH1, only MEK-activated ERK1 was dephosphorylated. HVH1 selectively dephosphorylated threonine and tyrosine residues but not serine residues of the activated ERK1. Inactivation of ERK1 by HVH1 could be reversed by MEK, suggesting that HVH1 dephosphorylates the same residues that are recognized and phosphorylated by MEK. Our results suggest that mitogenic growth factors transiently activate ERK (peak at 5 min followed by a rapid decline) by temporally activating MEK (the on signal) and inducing the expression of HVH phosphatase (the off signal).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA; D054637:Dual-Specificity Phosphatases; D004790:Enzyme Induction; D006801:Humans; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010766:Phosphorylation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; D048052:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; C489855:dual specificity phosphatase 12; D054637:Dual-Specificity Phosphatases; D017027:Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases