pCMV-myc-MST1 and kinase-dead (MST1-K59; dnMST1) was kindly provided by Dr. Junichi Sadoshima and Dr. Yasuhiro Maejima (UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School) 30 (link). Mouse pB.RSV.PDX1-GFP plasmid was kindly provided by Dr. Ingo Leibiger (Karolinska University, Stockholm). pcDNA3 Myr-HA Akt1, HA-Ubiquitin and pCDNA3 Jnk1a1 (apf)(dn-JNK) plasmids were obtained from Addgene (Cambridge, MA). Mouse PDX1 mutants (T11, T126, T152, T155, T214 and T231) in pCGIG5 vector were generated by site-directed mutagenesis as described previously 38 (link). All mutations were verified by sequencing. To make bacterial expression plasmids for PDX1 mutants, the complete mouse PDX1 CDS (wild type and mutants) has been amplified by PCR using a specific set of primers from pCGIG5 plasmids and cloned into a pGEX-6P-1 bacterial expression vector (kindly provided by Dr. Reinhard Walther, University of Greifswald). The rat insulin driven luciferase vector (RIP-Luc) was constructed by subcloning a 700bp fragment containing -660bp of the rat 2 insulin promoter (kindly provided by Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel, University of Zurich) into a pMCS-Green-Renilla-Luc vector (Thermo Scientific). pCMV-Red firefly Luc vector was obtained from Thermo Scientific.