Substrates of mitotic kinases

Abstract

Most signaling pathways in cells involve numerous phosphorylation reactions. Some of the rules for kinase-substrate specificity are known, but a complete description of all substrates is missing. Research published in Science Signaling addresses the process of mitosis and asks how the relevant kinases recognize substrate sequence motifs and, in the cellular context, what substrates are phosphorylated and where. The results increase our molecular understanding of how individual events are coordinated during the process of cell division and show the importance of both sequence epitopes for kinase specificity and the notion of a sense of place through localization in subcellular compartments.