Organisms from all domains of life are infected by viruses. In eukaryotes, serine/threonine kinases play a central role in antiviral response. Bacteria, however, are not commonly known to use protein phosphorylation as part of their defense against phages. Here we identify Stk2, a staphylococcal serine/threonine kinase that provides efficient immunity against bacteriophages by inducing abortive...

Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a key role in the regulation of the cell cycle. PLK1 is overexpressed in a variety of human tumors, and its expression level often correlates with increased cellular proliferation and poor prognosis in cancer patients. It has been suggested that PLK1 controls cancer development through multiple mechanisms that include canonical r...

Staphylococcus aureus is a common human cutaneous and nasal commensal and a major life-threatening pathogen. Adaptation to the different environments encountered inside and outside the host is a crucial requirement for survival and colonization. We identified and characterized a eukaryotic-like serine/threonine kinase with three predicted extracellular PASTA domains (SA1063, or Stk1) and its as...

The polo-like kinases (Plks) are a family of conserved serine/threonine kinases that play a critical role in the normal progression of cells through mitosis. The Plk3 serine/threonine kinase is a mammalian member of this family. Overexpression of Plk3 in mammalian cells suppresses proliferation and inhibits colony formation. Subsequent analysis demonstrated that overexpression of Plk3 induces c...

The Hippo signal transduction cascade controls cell growth, proliferation and death, all of which are frequently deregulated in tumour cells. Since initial studies in Drosophila melanogaster were instrumental in defining Hippo signalling, the machinery was named after the central Ste20-like kinase Hippo. Moreover, given that loss of Hippo signalling components Hippo, Warts, and Mats resulted in...

Normal actin cytoskeleton organization in budding yeast requires the function of the Pan1p/ End3p complex. Mutations in PAN1 and END3 cause defects in the organization of actin cytoskeleton and endocytosis. By screening for mutations that can suppress the temperature sensitivity of a pan1 mutant (pan1-4), a novel serine/threonine kinase Prk1p is now identified as a new factor regulating the act...

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a downstream serine/threonine kinase of the PI3K/Akt pathway that integrates signals from the tumor microenvironment to regulate multiple cellular processes. Rapamycin and its analogs have not shown significant activity in multiple myeloma (MM), likely because of the lack of inhibition of TORC2. In the present study, we investigated the baseline activity ...

Pim-1 is a proto-oncogene that encodes a serine/threonine kinase that is overexpressed in a range of haematopoietic malignancies and solid cancers. Pim-1 expression is tightly regulated by multiple biomolecules at different levels. Several lines of evidence have indicated that dysregulation of Pim-1 can interfere with the cell cycle and apoptosis to promote malignant transformation of a number ...

AKT1 is a cytosolic serine/threonine kinase that is overexpressed in various types of cancer and has a central role in human tumorigenesis. Although it is known that AKT1 is post-translationally modified in various ways including phosphorylation and ubiquitination, methylation has not been reported so far. Here we demonstrate that the protein lysine methyltrasnferase SMYD3 methylates lysine 14 ...

TGF-beta (transforming growth factor-beta-) mediated signal transduction affects growth and patterning in a variety of organisms. Here we report a genetic characterization of the Drosophila punt gene that encodes a type II serine/threonine kinase TGF-beta/Dpp (Decapentaplegic) receptor. Although the punt gene was originally identified based on its requirement for embryonic dorsal closure, we ha...