REGULATION OF MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE (MAPK)

Described is a protein with a Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase-Activity (MAPKK-Activity) comprising a) the amino acid sequence as given in Fig. 1, or b) a fragment of the amino acid sequence as given in Fig. 1 comprising at least the 11 kinase domains as given in Fig. 2A, or c) an amino acid sequence having at least 90% homology to the amino acid sequence as given in Fig. 1 when determined with the FAST/A algorithm and said protein with the amino acid sequence a), b) or c) further exhibiting an activating activity on the Salt Stress-Induced MAP Kinase (SIMK), DNA molecules comprising a region encoding such a protein and plant cells and plants comprising such DNA molecules.