Adenosine kinase is an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''ADK''

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

Function

This gene encodes

adenosine kinase Adenosine kinase (AdK; EC 2.7.1.20) is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of gamma-phosphate from Adenosine triphosphate ( ATP) to adenosine (Ado) leading to formation of Adenosine monophosphate ( AMP). In addition to its well-studied role in ...

, an abundant enzyme in mammalian tissues. The enzyme

catalyzes Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

the transfer of the gamma-phosphate from ATP to

adenosine Adenosine (symbol A) is an organic compound that occurs widely in nature in the form of diverse derivatives. The molecule consists of an adenine attached to a ribose via a β-N9- glycosidic bond. Adenosine is one of the four nucleoside build ...

, thereby serving as a regulator of concentrations of both extracellular adenosine and intracellular adenine nucleotides. Adenosine has widespread effects on the cardiovascular, nervous, respiratory, and immune systems and inhibitors of the enzyme could play an important pharmacological role in increasing intravascular adenosine concentrations and acting as

anti-inflammatory Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation, fever or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs, also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics. These drugs reduce pain by inhibiting mechan ...

agents.

Alternative splicing Alternative splicing, alternative RNA splicing, or differential splicing, is an alternative RNA splicing, splicing process during gene expression that allows a single gene to produce different splice variants. For example, some exons of a gene ma ...

results in two transcript variants encoding different

isoforms A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isoforms have uniqu ...

. Both isoforms of the enzyme

phosphorylate In biochemistry, phosphorylation is described as the "transfer of a phosphate group" from a donor to an acceptor. A common phosphorylating agent (phosphate donor) is ATP and a common family of acceptor are alcohols: : This equation can be writt ...

adenosine with identical

kinetics Kinetics (, ''movement'' or ''to move'') may refer to: Science and medicine * Kinetics (physics), the study of motion and its causes ** Rigid body kinetics, the study of the motion of rigid bodies * Chemical kinetics, the study of chemical ...

and both require Mg²⁺ for activity.

Function

References

External links

Further reading