VRK2 explained

Serine/threonine-protein kinase VRK2 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the VRK2 gene.^[1]

This gene encodes a member of the vaccinia-related kinase (VRK) family of serine/threonine protein kinases. This gene is widely expressed in human tissues and has increased expression in actively dividing cells, such as those in testis, leukocytes, fetal liver, and carcinomas. Its protein localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and has been shown to phosphorylate casein and undergo autophosphorylation.

While several transcript variants may exist for this gene, the full-length nature of only one has been biologically validated to date.^[1]

Further reading

• Blanco S, Santos C, Lazo PA . Vaccinia-related kinase 2 modulates the stress response to hypoxia mediated by TAK1. . Mol. Cell. Biol. . 27 . 20 . 7273–83 . 2008 . 17709393 . 10.1128/MCB.00025-07 . 2168905 .
• Li LY, Liu MY, Shih HM, etal . Human cellular protein VRK2 interacts specifically with Epstein-Barr virus BHRF1, a homologue of Bcl-2, and enhances cell survival. . J. Gen. Virol. . 87 . Pt 10 . 2869–78 . 2006 . 16963744 . 10.1099/vir.0.81953-0 . free .
• Blanco S, Klimcakova L, Vega FM, Lazo PA . The subcellular localization of vaccinia-related kinase-2 (VRK2) isoforms determines their different effect on p53 stability in tumour cell lines. . FEBS J. . 273 . 11 . 2487–504 . 2006 . 16704422 . 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2006.05256.x . 10261/7155 . 6110354 . 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 .
• Nichols RJ, Traktman P . Characterization of three paralogous members of the Mammalian vaccinia related kinase family. . J. Biol. Chem. . 279 . 9 . 7934–46 . 2004 . 14645249 . 10.1074/jbc.M310813200 . free .
• 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 .
• Suzuki Y, Yoshitomo-Nakagawa K, Maruyama K, etal . Construction and characterization of a full length-enriched and a 5'-end-enriched cDNA library. . Gene . 200 . 1–2 . 149–56 . 1997 . 9373149 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(97)00411-3 .
• Nezu J, Oku A, Jones MH, Shimane M . Identification of two novel human putative serine/threonine kinases, VRK1 and VRK2, with structural similarity to vaccinia virus B1R kinase. . Genomics . 45 . 2 . 327–31 . 1998 . 9344656 . 10.1006/geno.1997.4938 .
• Maruyama K, Sugano S . Oligo-capping: a simple method to replace the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs with oligoribonucleotides. . Gene . 138 . 1–2 . 171–4 . 1994 . 8125298 . 10.1016/0378-1119(94)90802-8 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Entrez Gene: VRK2 vaccinia related kinase 2.