We recently showed that EGF and anisomycin activate two kinases, p45 a
nd p55, whose distinguishing feature is that their detection in in-gel
kinase assays is enhanced by copolymerised poly-Glu/Tyr or poly-Glu/P
he (Cane E, Hazzalin CA and Mahadevan LC, Mol. Cell, Biol,, 20:117-121
). Their activation characteristics and sizes are strikingly similar t
o those of JNK/SAPKs, which are also strongly activated by anisomycin.
However, we show here that p45 and p55 are not JNK/SAPKs but murine f
orms of MAPKAP kinase-2 because: (i) Detection of immunoprecipitated J
NK/SAPKs is completely dependent on the presence of c-Jun as substrate
in the in-gel kinase assays, whereas detection of p45 and p55 is not,
(ii) Detection of p45 and p55 activity is enhanced by the presence of
poly-Glu/Tyr or poly-Glu/Phe, whereas JNK/SAPKs are not detectable un
der these conditions. (iii) Although the sizes of the murine JNK/SAPKs
and MAPKAP K-2 are similar, human JNK/SAPKs migrate at 45 and 55 kDa
whereas human MAPKAP K-2 migrates at 50 kDa; the poly-Glu/Tyr-enhanced
activity in human cells migrates at 50 kDa. (iv) Purified rabbit musc
le MAPKAP K-2 is detectable as two bands of activity on in-gel kinase
assays and their detection is enhanced by poly-Glu/Tyr. (v) Finally, t
he anisomycin-activated poly-Glu/Tyr-enhanced p45 and p55 kinases can
be immunoprecipitated from murine cells using an anti-MAPKAP K-2 antib
ody. Thus, EGF- and anisomycin-activated p45 and p55 are not JNK/SAPKs
but MAPKAP K-2, implying that both these agents activate the p38/RK M
AP kinase cascade.