title: Developmentally expressed myosin heavy-chain kinase possesses a diacylglycerol kinase domain.
abstract: In Dictyostelium, an ordered actin and myosin assembly-disassembly process is necessary for proper development, differentiation, and motility (Yumura S, Fukui F, 1985, Nature 314(6007): 194-196; Ravid S, Spudich JA, 1989, J Biol Chem 264(25): 15144-15150), and phosphorylation of myosin heavy chains has been implicated in the myosin assembly-disassembly process (Egelhoff TT, Lee RJ, Spudich JA, 1993, Cell 75(2):363-371). The developmentally expressed 84-kDa myosin heavy-chain kinase (MHCK) from Dictyostelium (Ravid S, Spudich JA, 1992, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89(13):5877-5881) is known to be a member of the protein kinase C (PKC) family. We have observed a rather striking homology between the large central domain of MHCK and the catalytic domain of diacylglycerol kinase (DGK), indicating that MHCK is in fact a gene fusion between a DGK and a PKC, possessing two separate kinase domains. The combined diacylglycerol kinase/myosin heavy-chain kinase (DGK/MHCK) may therefore have dual functionality, possessing the ability to phosphorylate both protein and lipid. We present a hypothesis that DGK/MHCK can antagonize both actin and myosin assembly, as well as other cellular processes, by coordinated down regulation of signaling via myosin heavy-chain kinase activity and diacylglycerol kinase activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology Institute UCLA 90095-1570, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Thanos
authors.forename: J U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Bowie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D015800:Protozoan Proteins
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); D019852:Diacylglycerol Kinase; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; C033142:myosin-heavy-chain kinase