akt-1;akt-2;jnk-1

Serine/threonine-protein kinase akt-1

Locus: CELE_C12D8.10

Wormbase description: akt-1 encodes an ortholog of the serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB; akt-1 genetically interacts with the insulin signaling pathway and functions to regulate such processes as dauer larval development and salt chemotaxis learning; AKT-1 binds calmodulin in vitro in a calcium-dependent manner; an AKT-1::GFP fusion protein is widely expressed beginning in late stage embryos and continuing through adulthood; expression is seen in head, tail, and dorsal and ventral cord neurons, with additional expression seen in other cells including those of the pharynx, hypodermis, intestine, and spermatheca; two alleles of akt-1 (sa573 and sa700) have a Daf-c mutant phenotype at 27 degrees C (Hid phenotype).

Serine/threonine-protein kinase akt-2

Locus: CELE_F28H6.1

Wormbase description: akt-2 encodes a homolog of the serine/threonine kinase Akt/PKB, AKT-2, that is required for progression through the dauer stage of development and for the negative regulation of adult lifespan; inactivation of akt-2 causes animals to arrest constitutively at the dauer stage, while having an increased life span; widely expressed, AKT-2 is activated by the phospholipid products of phosphoinositide 3-kinase AGE-1/PI3K and by PDK-1, a homolog of vertebrate 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK-1) Normal akt-2 (and akt-1) activity is required for excess pdk-1 activity to suppress the dauer-arrest phenotype of age-1, indicating that the 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 homolog PDK-1 transduces signals from AGE-1 to AKT-2 (and AKT-1); conversely, the akt-2 loss-of-function phenotype is suppressed by daf-16 null mutations, indicating that the Fork head transcription factor DAF-16 is downstream of AKT-2 (and AKT-1), and that AKT-1 and AKT-2 act primarily to antagonize DAF-16.

Stress-activated protein kinase jnk-1

Locus: CELE_B0478.1

Wormbase description: jnk-1 encodes a serine/threonine kinase that is the sole C. elegans member of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) subgroup of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases; jnk-1 is required for normal coordinated locomotion as well as for normal adult lifespan and response to heat and oxidative stress; JNK-1 exhibits kinase activity in vitro that is dependent upon activation by the JKK-1/MAPKK; in addition, JKK-1-dependent JNK-1 phosphorylation is required for JNK-1-mediated lifespan extension, as is DAF-16, with which JNK-1 physically interacts and phosphorylates and whose nuclear translocation is under JNK-1 control; a JNK-1::GFP translational fusion protein is expressed in nearly all neuronal cell bodies and processes, including the nerve ring, head and tail ganglions, and the dorsal and ventral nerve cords, at all stages of development.