Molecular Biology

Rony Seger (University of Washington, Seattle): “Protein kinases were traditionally classified into two main subgroups: those that phosphorylate serine or threonine residues on their protein substrates and those that phosphorylate tyrosine residues. However, several protein kinases recently have been shown to phosphorylate both types of residues. Our paper was one of the firstto describe these 'dual-specificity kinases,' showing that the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, ERK1 and ER

Written byRony Seger
| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

Rony Seger (University of Washington, Seattle): “Protein kinases were traditionally classified into two main subgroups: those that phosphorylate serine or threonine residues on their protein substrates and those that phosphorylate tyrosine residues. However, several protein kinases recently have been shown to phosphorylate both types of residues. Our paper was one of the firstto describe these 'dual-specificity kinases,' showing that the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, ERK1 and ERK2, undergo autophosphorylation on both tyrosine and threonine residues. “Although the number of dual-specificity kinases is constantly growing, the physiological relevance of many of them is not well understood (R.A. Lindberg, et al., Trends In Biochemical Sciences, 17:114-9, 1992). Our finding—that the autophosphorylation of MAP kinases occurs on threonine and tyrosine residues as the in vivo regulatory phosphorylation (N.G. Anderson, et al., Nature, 343:651-3, 1990) and is accompanied by some autoactivation—led us to propose that this autophosphorylation might be involved in the MAP kinase ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Published In

Share
July Digest 2025
July 2025, Issue 1

What Causes an Earworm?

Memory-enhancing neural networks may also drive involuntary musical loops in the brain.

View this Issue
Genome Modeling and Design: From the Molecular to Genome Scale

Genome Modeling and Design: From the Molecular to Genome Scale

Twist Bio 
Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Screening 3D Brain Cell Cultures for Drug Discovery

Discover how to streamline tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte production.

Producing Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapeutics

cytiva logo
Explore synthetic DNA’s many applications in cancer research

Weaving the Fabric of Cancer Research with Synthetic DNA

Twist Bio 

Products

The Scientist Placeholder Image

Sino Biological Sets New Industry Standard with ProPure Endotoxin-Free Proteins made in the USA

sartorius-logo

Introducing the iQue 5 HTS Platform: Empowering Scientists  with Unbeatable Speed and Flexibility for High Throughput Screening by Cytometry

parse_logo

Vanderbilt Selects Parse Biosciences GigaLab to Generate Atlas of Early Neutralizing Antibodies to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella

shiftbioscience

Shift Bioscience proposes improved ranking system for virtual cell models to accelerate gene target discovery