The ins and outs of protein phosphorylation (Meeting report)

Abstract

Dissecting the interrelationships among components of the molecular signaling pathways involved in the control of key physiological processes such as cell growth, differentiation, survival and development is a timely issue in biology. The activation of these pathways is generally triggered at the plasma membrane by specific agonists acting through their cognate receptors. The activated receptors in turn initiate signaling cascades that ultimately control the activities of specific intracellular effectors. Much of the regulation of these pathways is achieved by manipulating the phosphorylation states of various components of these cascades. The kinases and phosphatases that mediate this control were the topic of a recent Juan March Workshop held in Madrid (March 13–15, 2000). It became clear during this meeting that the vast amounts of data generated from cell culture experiments must be validated in more complex in vivo systems to determine the contribution of each signaling pathway to a given function