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 by phosphorylating Cdc2 on Tyr15. Wee1 inhibits entry into mitosis based on cell-size, while Mik1 inhibits entry into mitosis based on 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: Nurse P. Wee beasties. Nature. 2004 Dec 2;432(7017):557. PubMed PMID: 15577889. (MUST READ!)

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: 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.

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.