Identification and molecular analysis of a novel protein associating with JNK interacting protein

Abstract

JNK is a subfamily of the mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPKs). JNK is thought to be involved in the regulation of apoptosis, prolifiration, and differentiation, in response to stress. Resently, JIP was isolated as JNK interacting protein by yeast two hybrid methods. JIP is thought to tether different MAPK kinase kinase (MEKKs), MAPK kinase (MKKs), and MAPKs into close proximity so that the successive phosphorylation events can occur efficiently, thus conferring specificity to a particular combination of kinases for activation. However, the regulation of the interaction between JIP and MAPK family is still remained. Here, we isolated a novel JIP interacting protein that is a protien kinase, identified the interacting domain of the kinase, and studied the effect of JNK signaling.