title: Pak GITs to Aurora-A.
abstract: The protein kinase Aurora-A orchestrates key aspects of cell division, but its regulation has remained a major puzzle. That puzzle is now one step closer to being solved thanks to a recent paper by Zhao et al. appearing in the October 28(th) issue of Molecular Cell. In this work, the authors show that p21-activated kinases (Paks), previously best known for their role in cytoskeletal and transcriptional signaling pathways, also play an important role in centrosome dynamics via phosphorylation and activation of Aurora-A.
authors.affiliation: Fox Chase Cancer Center, 333 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19111, USA.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cotteret
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chernoff
mesh_terms: D064127:Aurora Kinases; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018385:Centrosome / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D064067:Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D064067:Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D064127:Aurora Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases