title: Deoxyribonucleoside kinases: two enzyme families catalyze the same reaction.
abstract: Mammals have four deoxyribonucleoside kinases, the cytoplasmic (TK1) and mitochondrial (TK2) thymidine kinases, and the deoxycytidine (dCK) and deoxyguanosine (dGK) kinases, which salvage the precursors for nucleic acids synthesis. In addition to the native deoxyribonucleoside substrates, the kinases can phosphorylate and thereby activate a variety of anti-cancer and antiviral prodrugs. Recently, the crystal structure of human TK1 has been solved and has revealed that enzymes with fundamentally different origins and folds catalyze similar, crucial cellular reactions.
authors.affiliation: Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 35, SE-22732 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Michael P B
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sandrini
authors.forename: Jure
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piskur
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D005810:Multigene Family; D009694:Nucleic Acid Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D009694:Nucleic Acid Precursors; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C020018:deoxyribonucleoside kinases