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;