Dual specificity mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the MAP2K1 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the dual specificity protein kinase family, which acts as a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase. MAP kinases, also known as extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), act as an integration point for multiple biochemical signals. This protein kinase lies upstream of MAP kinases and stimulates the enzymatic activity of MAP kinases upon activation by a wide variety of extra- and intracellular signals. As an essential component of the MAP kinase signal transduction pathway, this kinase is involved in many cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, transcription regulation and development. Rampoldi et al. (1997) localized the MAP2K1 gene to 15q22.1-q22.33.