Protein-protein interaction is one of the crucial ways to decipher the functions of proteins and to understand their role in complex pathways at cellular level. Such a protein-protein interaction network in many crop plants remains poorly defined owing largely to the involvement of high costs, requirement for state of the art laboratory, time and labour intensive techniques. Here, we employed c...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades have pivotal roles in plant innate immunity. However, downstream signaling of plant defense-related MAPKs is not well understood. Here, we provide evidence that the Nicotiana benthamiana WRKY8 transcription factor is a physiological substrate of SIPK, NTF4, and WIPK. Clustered Pro-directed Ser residues (SP cluster), which are conserved in group I...

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are activated in innate immune cells such as macrophages upon the detection of microbial infection, critically regulating the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as TNF-α, IL-6, and MCP-1. As a result, activation of MAPKs is tightly regulated to ensure appropriate and adequate immune responses. Dual-specificity phospha...

Antrodia camphorata (AC) has been used as a health supplement in Asia to control different cancers; however, the cellular mechanisms of its effects are unclear. The effect of AC on cultured human prostate cancer cells (PC3) has not been explored. This study examined the effect of AC on viability, apoptosis, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) phosphorylation and Ca2+ handling in PC3 cells...

The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) family, which is comprised of four protein isoforms, p38α, p38β, p38γ and p38δ, forms one of the key MAPK pathways. The p38 MAPKs are implicated in many cellular processes including inflammation, differentiation, cell growth, cell cycle and cell death. The function of p38 MAPKs in mitotic entry has been well established, but their role in mito...

BACKGROUND/AIMS It remains elusive whether there is a crosstalk between Smad and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and whether it regulates cyclosporine A (CyA)-induced apoptosis in renal proximal tubular cells (RPTCs). METHODS The effect of CyA on nuclear translocation of Smad2/3 and MAPKs (measured by Western blotting or immunofluorescence) and apoptosis (determined by Hoechst 33258...

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine with a pivotal role in normal hepatic growth and liver regeneration. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the effect of IL-6 on cell proliferation and the related signaling pathways in primary cultured chicken hepatocytes. IL-6 increased the level of [(3)H]thymidine incorporation in a time (>or= 6 hr)- and a dose (>or= 0.1 ng/ml)-dependent ...

The influence of zinc deficiency on the modulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2), p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) was studied. Using human IMR-32 cells as a model of neuronal cells, the role of oxidants on MAPKs and activator protein-1 (AP-1) activation in zinc deficiency was investigated, characterizing the participation ...

Inflammatory diseases such as sepsis and autoimmune colitis, characterized by an overwhelming activation of the immune system and the counteracting anti-inflammatory response, remain a major health problem in worldwide. Emerging evidence suggests that methane have a protective effect on many animal models, like ischaemia reperfusion injury and diabetes-associated diseases. Whether methane could...

Plants respond to biotic and abiotic stresses by inducing overlapping sets of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and response genes. To define the mechanisms of how different signals can activate a common signaling pathway, upstream activators of SIMK, a salt stress- and pathogen-induced alfalfa MAPK, were identified. Here, we compare the properties of SIMKK, a MAPK kinase (MAPKK) that m...