Resting and active states of the ERK2:HePTP complex.

Dana M Francis, Bartosz Różycki, Antoni Tortajada, Gerhard Hummer, Wolfgang Peti, Rebecca Page

Journal of the American Chemical Society 2011 Nov 2

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The MAP kinase ERK2 (ERK2, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2) is regulated by numerous phosphatases that tightly control its activity. For example, the hematopoietic tyrosine phosphatase (HePTP) negatively regulates T cell activation in lymphocytes via ERK2 dephosphorylation. However, only very limited structural information is available for these biologically important complexes. Here, we use small-angle X-ray scattering combined with EROS ensemble refinement to characterize the structures of the resting and active states of ERK2:HePTP complexes. Our data show that the resting state ERK2:HePTP complex adopts a highly extended, dynamic conformation that becomes compact and ordered in the active state complex. This work experimentally demonstrates that these complexes undergo significant dynamic structural changes in solution and provides the first structural insight into an active state MAPK complex.

Citation

Dana M Francis, Bartosz Różycki, Antoni Tortajada, Gerhard Hummer, Wolfgang Peti, Rebecca Page. Resting and active states of the ERK2:HePTP complex. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2011 Nov 2;133(43):17138-41