NLK explained

Serine/threonine protein kinase NLK is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the NLK gene.^{[1] [2] [3]} Its name is an abbreviation for Nemo-Like Kinase, Nemo (nmo) being the Drosophila ortholog of the mammalian NLK gene.^[4] This enzyme is a member of the Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, although not explicitly designated as such (it does not even have a numbered MAPK code). It is a highly divergent, atypical member of the MAPK group, lacking most features so characteristic of most mitogen-activated protein kinases (e.g. it does not have the dual phosphorylation motifs of typical MAPKs, and is not phosphorylated by any known MAP2 kinases). Its activation mechanism and downstream targets are still not well characterized.^[5]

Further reading

• Bonaldo MF, Lennon G, Soares MB . Normalization and subtraction: two approaches to facilitate gene discovery. . Genome Res. . 6 . 9 . 791–806 . 1997 . 8889548 . 10.1101/gr.6.9.791 . free .
• Volorio S, Simon G, Repetto M, etal . Sequencing analysis of forty-eight human image cDNA clones similar to Drosophila mutant protein. . DNA Seq. . 9 . 5–6 . 307–15 . 1999 . 10524757 . 10.3109/10425179809008469 .
• Kortenjann M, Wehrle C, Nehls MC, Boehm T . Only one nemo-like kinase gene homologue in invertebrate and mammalian genomes. . Gene . 278 . 1–2 . 161–5 . 2002 . 11707333 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(01)00710-7 .
• Wistow G, Bernstein SL, Wyatt MK, etal . Expressed sequence tag analysis of human retina for the NEIBank Project: retbindin, an abundant, novel retinal cDNA and alternative splicing of other retina-preferred gene transcripts. . Mol. Vis. . 8 . 196–204 . 2002 . 12107411 .
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences. . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Ishitani T, Kishida S, Hyodo-Miura J, etal . The TAK1-NLK mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade functions in the Wnt-5a/Ca(2+) pathway to antagonize Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. . Mol. Cell. Biol. . 23 . 1 . 131–9 . 2003 . 12482967 . 10.1128/MCB.23.1.131-139.2003 . 140665 .
• Ishitani T, Ninomiya-Tsuji J, Matsumoto K . Regulation of lymphoid enhancer factor 1/T-cell factor by mitogen-activated protein kinase-related Nemo-like kinase-dependent phosphorylation in Wnt/beta-catenin signaling. . Mol. Cell. Biol. . 23 . 4 . 1379–89 . 2003 . 12556497 . 10.1128/MCB.23.4.1379-1389.2003 . 141159 .
• Yasuda J, Tsuchiya A, Yamada T, etal . Nemo-like kinase induces apoptosis in DLD-1 human colon cancer cells. . Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. . 308 . 2 . 227–33 . 2003 . 12901858 . 10.1016/S0006-291X(03)01343-3 .
• Yasuda J, Yokoo H, Yamada T, etal . Nemo-like kinase suppresses a wide range of transcription factors, including nuclear factor-kappaB. . Cancer Sci. . 95 . 1 . 52–7 . 2004 . 14720327 . 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2004.tb03170.x . 29269901 . free . 11158368 .
• Smit L, Baas A, Kuipers J, etal . Wnt activates the Tak1/Nemo-like kinase pathway. . J. Biol. Chem. . 279 . 17 . 17232–40 . 2004 . 14960582 . 10.1074/jbc.M307801200 . free .
• Kanei-Ishii C, Ninomiya-Tsuji J, Tanikawa J, etal . Wnt-1 signal induces phosphorylation and degradation of c-Myb protein via TAK1, HIPK2, and NLK. . Genes Dev. . 18 . 7 . 816–29 . 2004 . 15082531 . 10.1101/gad.1170604 . 387421 .
• Kanei-Ishii C, Nomura T, Tanikawa J, etal . Differential sensitivity of v-Myb and c-Myb to Wnt-1-induced protein degradation. . J. Biol. Chem. . 279 . 43 . 44582–9 . 2004 . 15308626 . 10.1074/jbc.M407831200 . free .
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 .
• Kojima H, Sasaki T, Ishitani T, etal . STAT3 regulates Nemo-like kinase by mediating its interaction with IL-6-stimulated TGFbeta-activated kinase 1 for STAT3 Ser-727 phosphorylation. . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 102 . 12 . 4524–9 . 2005 . 15764709 . 10.1073/pnas.0500679102 . 555521 . 2005PNAS..102.4524K . free .
• Kimura K, Wakamatsu A, Suzuki Y, etal . Diversification of transcriptional modulation: large-scale identification and characterization of putative alternative promoters of human genes. . Genome Res. . 16 . 1 . 55–65 . 2006 . 16344560 . 10.1101/gr.4039406 . 1356129 .
• Lim J, Hao T, Shaw C, etal . A protein-protein interaction network for human inherited ataxias and disorders of Purkinje cell degeneration. . Cell . 125 . 4 . 801–14 . 2006 . 16713569 . 10.1016/j.cell.2006.03.032 . 13709685 . free .
• Gohda J, Irisawa M, Tanaka Y, etal . HTLV-1 Tax-induced NFkappaB activation is independent of Lys-63-linked-type polyubiquitination. . Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. . 357 . 1 . 225–30 . 2007 . 17418100 . 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.03.125 .

Notes and References

1. Brott BK, Pinsky BA, Erikson RL . Nlk is a murine protein kinase related to Erk/MAP kinases and localized in the nucleus . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 95 . 3 . 963–8 . Mar 1998 . 9448268 . 18639 . 10.1073/pnas.95.3.963 . 1998PNAS...95..963B . free .
2. Kehrer-Sawatzki H, Moschgath E, Maier C, Legius E, Elgar G, Krone W . Characterization of the Fugu rubripes NLK and FN5 genes flanking the NF1 (Neurofibromatosis type 1) gene in the 5' direction and mapping of the human counterparts . Gene . 251 . 1 . 63–71 . Jul 2000 . 10863097 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(00)00188-8 .
3. Web site: Entrez Gene: NLK nemo-like kinase.
4. Ishitani T, Ishitani S . Nemo-like kinase, a multifaceted cell signaling regulator . Cell. Signal. . 25 . 1 . 190–7 . January 2013 . 23000342 . 10.1016/j.cellsig.2012.09.017 .
5. Coulombe P, Meloche S . Atypical mitogen-activated protein kinases: structure, regulation and functions . Biochim. Biophys. Acta . 1773 . 8 . 1376–87 . August 2007 . 17161475 . 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2006.11.001 . free .