Rewiring MAP Kinase Pathways Using Alternative Scaffold Assembly Mechanisms
How scaffold proteins control information flow in signaling pathways is poorly understood: Do they simply tether components, or do they precisely orient and activate them? We find that the yeast mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase scaffold Ste5 is tolerant to major stereochemical perturbations; heterologous protein interactions can functionally replace native kinase recruitment interactions, indicating that simple tethering is largely sufficient for scaffold-mediated signaling. Moreover, by engineering a scaffold that tethers a unique kinase set, we can create a synthetic MAP kinase pathway with non-natural input-output properties. These findings demonstrate that scaffolds are highly flexible organizing factors that can facilitate pathway evolution.
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Supplemental Data
Commentary
in Science by Mark Ptashne and Alexander Gann
Commentary in Molecular Cell by
James
E. Ferrell, Jr. and Karlene A.
Cimprich