Functional characterization of protein kinase NLK (nemo-like kinase)

Abstract

Nemo-like kinase (NLK) is a species conserved serine/threonine kinase that belongs to the mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) families. TAK.1 (Transforming Growth Factor-beta activated protein kinase) acts as the upstream kinase of NLK and regulates the function of NLK in multiple signaling pathways such as Wnt-1, IL6 and TGF0. The preliminary findings of my research work highlight the versatile function of NLK because of its substrates that range from adaptor proteins like TAB2/3 (TAK1 binding protein 2/3) to transcriptional factors like c-jun (Activator protein 1 or AP-1) in the same signaling pathway to regulate TAK1 mediated signaling.