QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online March 7, 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

STAT activation: DIF-ining a new mechanism

The accepted mechanism of STAT activation involves its phosphorylation by a ligand-activated tyrosine kinase, which induces STAT dimerisation and its nuclear entry. Now, though, Jeffrey Williams and colleagues reveal that STAT activation - an important regulator of gene expression - can be driven by phosphatase inhibition rather than just by kinase activation. In Dictyostelium, they report, the prestalk cell inducer DIF-1 activates STATc by inhibiting the protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP3 (see p. 1347). DIF-1 controls the differentiation of certain prestalk cells by inducing the nuclear localisation of STATc in these cells. The researchers show that PTP3 interacts directly with STATc and that its inhibition causes the constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of STATc and its nuclear localisation throughout the developing slug. The treatment of developing Dictyostelium cells with DIF-1 or their exposure to hyper-osmotic shock (which also induces STATc nuclear localisation) reduces PTP3's activity; significantly, both treatments induce the serine-threonine phosphorylation of PTP3. Together, these results provide important new insights into STAT activation.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Evidence that DIF-1 and hyper-osmotic stress activate a Dictyostelium STAT by inhibiting a specific protein tyrosine phosphatase

Tsuyoshi Araki, Judith Langenick, Marianne Gamper, Richard A. Firtel, and Jeffrey G. Williams
Development 2008 135: 1347-1353. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?