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The Drosophila proteins Pelle and Tube induce JNK/AP‐1 activity in mammalian cells
Author(s) -
Bacher Susanne,
Großhans Jörg,
Dröge Wulf,
Schmitz M.Lienhard
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(01)02454-1
Subject(s) - schneider 2 cells , microbiology and biotechnology , signal transduction , biology , mutant , kinase , regulator , protein kinase a , transcription factor , gene , biochemistry , rna interference , rna
The mammalian interleukin‐1 (IL‐1) signal transduction pathways display remarkable homology to the Toll signaling cascade in Drosophila . To address the question whether members of the Drosophila Toll pathway are functional in mammalian cells, inactive and constitutively active versions of the protein kinase Pelle and its regulator Tube were expressed in HeLa cells and tested for their impact on IL‐1‐dependent signaling events. The Drosophila proteins failed to induce the IL‐1‐responsive transcription factor, nuclear factor‐κB, but selectively activated the IL‐1‐regulated kinase, c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), thus resulting in elevated AP‐1 activity. Activation of JNK/AP‐1 activity was seen upon expression of a Pelle mutant lacking its C‐terminal half or by a membrane‐bound and multimerised Tube protein, showing the functionality of the Drosophila proteins in mammalian cells.