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Protein Kinases

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer
  • 201 Accesses

Definition

Protein kinases play an important role in many cellular functions including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, or metabolic changes. They function by regulating protein phosphorylation. In so doing, phosphorylated proteins now have an altered conformation and thus an altered activity and localization, or association with other proteins.

Characteristics

There are more than 500 protein kinases representing about 2% of all genes encoded by the human genome (Manning et al. 2002). Protein kinases phosphorylate approximately 30% of cellular proteins, and there are as many as 500,000 phosphorylation sites in most of the 23,000 proteins in the human genome. Protein kinases are also found in bacteria as well as in plants and yeasts.

Chemical Activity

Protein kinases catalyze the transfer of phosphate from ATP to a free hydroxyl group on a substrate. All kinases have an ATP-binding site (GXGXXG).

Classification

Kinases show specificity for serine/threonine or tyrosine...

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References

  • Hank SK, Quinn AM, Hunter T (1988) The protein kinase family: conserved features and deduced phylogeny of the catalytic domains. Science 241:42–52

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Correspondence to Alice Wong .

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Wong, A. (2016). Protein Kinases. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46875-3_6621

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