Kinase Family Wee
Wee kinase was discovered in S. pombe (1). For a perspective on its discovery see (2). There are two WEE family kinases in the Schizosaccharomyces, wee1 and mik1 (3), 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 (4). 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, 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.
2: Nurse P. Wee beasties. Nature. 2004 Dec 2;432(7017):557. PubMed PMID:
15577889. (MUST READ!)
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: 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.
