Multiple growth factors and extracellular signals can lead to activation of the c-Jun amino N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) pathway. Activation of JNK can in turn lead to a multitude of downstream changes in phosphorylation and transcriptional activation within the cell. Mapping the upstream and downstream connectivity within the JNK network reveals an enrichment of bi-fan and feed-forward network motifs formed immediately upstream and downstream of JNK. In addition, negative feedback loops also exist through transcriptional activation of phosphatases that target the JNK pathway. The combinations of these motifs allow flexibility and tunability in signal integration and processing within the JNK network and may confer the wide range of biological responses that can be regulated by JNK activation. In this review, we highlight the pathways and motifs leading to JNK activation and its downstream signaling as well as the complexity in isoforms within this network.
Keywords: JNK pathway; motifs; networks; signaling.