| Symbol: | Choline_kinase |
| Choline_kinase | |
| Pfam: | PF01633 |
| Pfam Clan: | CL0016 |
| Interpro: | IPR002573 |
In molecular biology, the choline/ethanolamine kinase family includes choline kinase and ethanolamine kinase .
Ethanolamine and choline are major membrane phospholipids, in the form of glycerophosphoethanolamine and glycerophosphocholine. Ethanolamine is also a component of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor, which is necessary for cell-surface protein attachment.[1] The de novo synthesis of these phospholipids begins with the creation of phosphoethanolamine and phosphocholine by ethanolamine and choline kinases in the first step of the CDP-ethanolamine pathway.[2] [3] There are two putative choline/ethanolamine kinases (C/EKs) in the Trypanosoma brucei genome.
Ethanolamine kinase has no choline kinase activity [1] and its activity is inhibited by ADP.[3] Inositol supplementation represses ethanolamine kinase, decreasing the incorporation of ethanolamine into the CDP-ethanolamine pathway and into phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine.[4]