Kinase Family Wee
I recently did some analysis of this fascinating family as part of a project on new Schizosaccharomyces sequence data. This stub contains a few convenient links and references to informative publications. There are two WEE family kinases in S. pombe, wee1 and mik1, both of which inhibit entry into mitosis. Wee1 inhibits entry into mitosis based on cell-size, while Mik1 inhibits entry into mitosis based replicative stress. Budding yeast appears to have lost the mik1 ortholog (JMG, 3/8/11).
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee1-like_protein_kinase
References:
1: Lundgren K, Walworth N, Booher R, Dembski M, Kirschner M, Beach D. mik1 and
wee1 cooperate in the inhibitory tyrosine phosphorylation of cdc2. Cell. 1991 Mar
22;64(6):1111-22. PubMed PMID: 1706223.
2: Rhind N, Russell P. Roles of the mitotic inhibitors Wee1 and Mik1 in the G(2)
DNA damage and replication checkpoints. Mol Cell Biol. 2001 Mar;21(5):1499-508.
PubMed PMID: 11238887; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC86696.
3: Nurse P. Wee beasties. Nature. 2004 Dec 2;432(7017):557. PubMed PMID:
15577889. (MUST READ!)
4: Nurse P, Thuriaux P. Regulatory genes controlling mitosis in the fission
yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Genetics. 1980 Nov;96(3):627-37. PubMed PMID:
7262540; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1214365.