Oliver's mTOR Atlas Evidence Platform
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Pathway link ERK-NUCL

ERK / RSK (MAPK) Nucleotide synthesis

ERK / RSK (MAPK) activates Nucleotide synthesis.

ERK2 switches on an enzyme that makes purines.

ERK2 directly phosphorylates the purine-making enzyme PFAS within minutes, speeding de novo purine synthesis. This growth signal for DNA and RNA building blocks runs in parallel to mTORC1's own routes.

The conditions it holds under

Human cancer cell lines and xenograft tumours; ERK2, not ERK1; post-translational and parallel to mTORC1. Single study.

Time it takes
minutes
Step
direct (one molecule acts on the other)
Measured in
human cells, mouse xenograft
Where in the cell
cytosol
Reaches people?
plausible in people, not shown directly
How settled
emerging, few independent studies

Studies behind it

YearEvidenceStudy
2020 M ERK2 phosphorylates PFAS to mediate posttranslational control of de novo purine synthesisALI2020 The Atlas records several routes by which mTORC1 drives purine synthesis. This study shows mTORC1 is not the only growth pathway with that power: RAS-ERK signalling stimulates purine synthesis directly and within minutes, because ERK2 - but not ERK1 - phosphorylates the purine synthesis enzyme PFAS at Thr619. Cells expressing a PFAS that cannot be phosphorylated make fewer purines, form fewer colonies and grow smaller tumors. Two points bound the mTOR claim: the control is posttranslational, so it acts far faster than transcription or translation, and it is a parallel input, so purine synthesis in a RAS-driven tumor is not read out from mTORC1 activity alone.

Points the other way

No study in the Atlas contradicts this link. That means none in this curated set, not none in the literature.

Who has checked this

Checked by
No researcher outside the project has checked this link yet.
Curator sign-off
Not signed off yet. This link was drafted with AI help and has not been reviewed link by link; treat it as a proposal until it is.
Curated by
Oliver Barton, with AI help for drafting; see how links are checked.

“How settled” describes how far researchers in the field agree. It is not the same as the sign-off above, which only says whether a named curator has checked this page.

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