This gene product is a 626-amino acid polypeptide that is 96.5% identical to mouse Mekk3. Its catalytic domain is closely related to those of several other kinases, including mouse Mekk2, tobacco NPK, and yeast Ste11. Northern blot analysis revealed a 4.6-kb transcript that appears to be ubiquitously expressed. This protein directly regulates the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) pathways by activating SEK and MEK1/2 respectively; it does not regulate the p38 pathway. In cotransfection assays, it enhanced transcription from a nuclear factor kappa-B (NFKB)-dependent reporter gene, consistent with a role in the SAPK pathway. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been observed. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]