Cyclin G-associated kinase (GAK) is a

serine/threonine kinase A serine/threonine protein kinase () is a kinase enzyme, in particular a protein kinase, that phosphorylates the OH group of the amino-acid residues serine or threonine, which have similar side chains. At least 350 of the 500+ human prote ...

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

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

In all

eukaryote The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

s, the

cell cycle The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the sequential series of events that take place in a cell (biology), cell that causes it to divide into two daughter cells. These events include the growth of the cell, duplication of its DNA (DNA re ...

is governed by cyclin-dependent protein kinases (CDKs), whose activities are regulated by

cyclin Cyclins are proteins that control the progression of a cell through the cell cycle by activating cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK). Etymology Cyclins were originally discovered by R. Timothy Hunt in 1982 while studying the cell cycle of sea urch ...

s and CDK inhibitors in a diverse array of mechanisms that involve the control of

phosphorylation 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 writ ...

and dephosphorylation of Ser, Thr or Tyr residues. Cyclins are molecules that possess a consensus domain called the 'cyclin box.' In mammalian cells, 9 cyclin species have been identified, and they are referred to as cyclins A through I. Cyclin G is a direct transcriptional target of the

p53 p53, also known as tumor protein p53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory transcription factor protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thou ...

tumor suppressor gene product and thus functions downstream of p53. GAK is an association partner of cyclin G and

CDK5 Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 is a protein, and more specifically an enzyme, that is encoded by the Cdk5 gene. It was discovered 15 years ago, and it is saliently expressed in post-mitotic central nervous system neurons (CNS). The molecule belongs t ...

. Cyclin G-associated kinase received its name because it immunoprecipitated with cyclin G though it now appears to not be associated with it. Cyclin G-associated kinase is homologous in function to the protein auxilin which when in association with

Hsc70 Heat shock 70 kDa protein 8 also known as heat shock cognate 71 kDa protein or Hsc70 or Hsp73 is a heat shock protein that in humans is encoded by the ''HSPA8'' gene on chromosome 11. As a member of the heat shock protein 70 family and a chapero ...

uncoats clathrin in neuronal cells. However, the location of Cyclin G-associated kinase is not in the brain but near the trans-Golgi network of non-neuronal cells such as those found in the liver and testes. GAK is also known to be associated with

focal adhesion In cell biology, focal adhesions (also cell–matrix adhesions or FAs) are large macromolecular assemblies through which mechanical force and regulatory signals are transmitted between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and an interacting Cell (biolo ...

s though the exact relationship between the two is unknown.

Structure

A structure of GAK was determined using X-ray diffraction to a resolution of 2.10 Å. Cyclin G-associated kinase is a two domain cystolic protein. The domain of interest is the

C-terminal The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When t ...

domain which consists of three subdomains such as a C-terminal J domain, a

clathrin Clathrin is a protein that plays a role in the formation of coated vesicles. Clathrin was first isolated by Barbara Pearse in 1976. It forms a triskelion shape composed of three clathrin heavy chains and three light chains. When the triskel ...

-binding domain, and a tension-like

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the amin ...

domain. The other domain is the N terminal kinase domain which is a functional Ser/Thr protein kinase. The N-terminal kinase domain is able to phosphorylate histone H1. The subdomain tension-like N terminal function has not yet determined, though the domain shares high homology to the tumor suppressant PTEN. The key characteristic is the cysteine group which is required for phosphorylation; however the tension-like N terminal subdomain is absent of some important functional residues that PTEN has. The C-terminal J domain is responsible for the interaction with

, which is a molecular chaperone responsible for the uncoating of clathrin-coated vesicles during

endocytosis Endocytosis is a cellular process in which Chemical substance, substances are brought into the cell. The material to be internalized is surrounded by an area of cell membrane, which then buds off inside the cell to form a Vesicle (biology and chem ...

. The clathrin-binding domain gathers clathrin into baskets. At pH 7 GAK allows Hsc70 to uncoat clathrin baskets and at pH 6 Hsc70 binds clathrin baskets without uncoating clathrin. Without taking into account GAK’s kinase domain, GAK is 43% identical to

auxilin Putative tyrosine-protein phosphatase auxilin is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''DNAJC6'' gene. Function DNAJC6 belongs to the evolutionarily conserved DNAJ/HSP40 family of proteins, which regulate molecular chaperone activity by ...

, a neuronal cell uncoating clathrin cofactor, in its amino acid composition. GAK is 57% homologous to auxilin if conserved residues are included in the comparison. Though similar domains of these two molecules suggest and have similar functions, the proteins carry these functions out in different manners. GAK initiates the assembly of clathrin baskets stoichiometrically, but at the different pHs it will either bind the Hsc70 to the baskets or induce the Hsc70 to uncoat the clathrin baskets catalytically which is one difference between auxilin and GAK. This catalytic route explains why less GAK than auxilin is needed to carry out a similar function.

Function

Structure

References

Further reading