title: Microbial protein-tyrosine kinases.
abstract: Microbial ester kinases identified in the past 3 decades came as a surprise, as protein phosphorylation on Ser, Thr, and Tyr amino acids was thought to be unique to eukaryotes. Current analysis of available microbial genomes reveals that "eukaryote-like" protein kinases are prevalent in prokaryotes and can converge in the same signaling pathway with the classical microbial "two-component" systems. Most microbial tyrosine kinases lack the "eukaryotic" Hanks domain signature and are designated tyrosine kinases based upon their biochemical activity. These include the tyrosine kinases termed bacterial tyrosine kinases (BY-kinases), which are responsible for the majority of known bacterial tyrosine phosphorylation events. Although termed generally as bacterial tyrosine kinases, BY-kinases can be considered as one family belonging to the superfamily of prokaryotic protein-tyrosine kinases in bacteria. Other members of this superfamily include atypical "odd" tyrosine kinases with diverse mechanisms of protein phosphorylation and the "eukaryote-like" Hanks-type tyrosine kinases. Here, we discuss the distribution, phylogeny, and function of the various prokaryotic protein-tyrosine kinases, focusing on the recently discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis PtkA and its relationship with other members of this diverse family of proteins.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and.
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Yossef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Av-Gay
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: BY-kinases; Bacterial Protein Kinases; Bacterial Signal Transduction; Mycobacterium tuberculosis PtkA; Protein-tyrosine Kinase (Tyrosine Kinase); Signal Transduction; Signaling; Tyr Kinase