Disease relevance of mek-1

• Like mek-1 nulls, jnk-1(gk7) showed copper and cadmium hypersensitivity [1].

High impact information on mek-1

• jkk-1 and mek-1 regulate body movement coordination and response to heavy metals through jnk-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans [1].
• While jkk-1 or mek-1 inactivation mimicked jnk-1(gk7) locomotion and heavy metal stress defects, respectively, mkk-4 inactivation did not, but rather yielded defective egg laying [1].
• Double mutants of mek-1 with an eat-5, eat-11 or eat-18 mutation, which are characterized by a limited feeding defect, showed distinct growth defects under normal conditions [2].
• A mek-1 deletion mutant is hypersensitive to copper and cadmium ions and to starvation [2].
• These results suggest a role for mek-1 in stress responses, with a focus in the pharynx and/or intestine [2].

Biological context of mek-1

• A wild-type mek-1 transgene rescued the hypersensitivity to the metal ions [2].

Other interactions of mek-1

• We identified the Caenorhabditis elegans mek-1 gene, which encodes a 347 amino acid protein highly homologous to mammalian MKK7, an activator of JNK [2].

References