Cloning of MASK, a novel member of the mammalian germinal center kinase III subfamily, with apoptosis-inducing properties

Ippeita Dan, Shao En Ong, Norinobu M. Watanabe, Blagoy Blagoev, Mogens M. Nielsen, Eriko Kajikawa, Troels Z. Kristiansen, Matthias Mann, Akhilesh Pandey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have cloned a novel human GCK family kinase that has been designated as MASK (Mst3 and SOK1-related kinase). MASK is widely expressed and encodes a protein of 416 amino acid residues, with an N-terminal kinase domain and a unique C-terminal region. Like other GCK-III subfamily kinases, MASK not activate any mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Wild type MASK, but not a form lacking the C terminus, exhibits homophilic binding in the yeast two-hybrid system and in coimmunoprecipitation experiments. Additionally, deletion of this C-terminal region of MASK leads to an increased kinase activity toward itself as well as toward an exogenous substrate, myelin basic protein. A potential caspase 3 cleavage site (DESDS) is present in the C-terminal region of MASK, and we show that MASK is cleaved in vitro by caspase 3. Finally, wild type and C-terminally truncated forms of MASK can both induce apoptosis upon overexpression in mammalian cells that is abrogated by CrmA, suggesting involvement of MASK in the apoptotic machinery in mammalian cells.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5929-5939
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume277
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 22 2002
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry

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