title: Non-Viral Deoxyribonucleoside Kinases--Diversity and Practical Use.
abstract: Deoxyribonucleoside kinases (dNKs) phosphorylate deoxyribonucleosides to their corresponding monophosphate compounds. dNks also phosphorylate deoxyribonucleoside analogues that are used in the treatment of cancer or viral infections. The study of the mammalian dNKs has therefore always been of great medical interest. However, during the last 20 years, research on dNKs has gone into non-mammalian organisms. In this review, we focus on non-viral dNKs, in particular their diversity and their practical applications. The diversity of this enzyme family in different organisms has proven to be valuable in studying the evolution of enzymes. Some of these newly discovered enzymes have been useful in numerous practical applications in medicine and biotechnology, and have contributed to our understanding of the structural basis of nucleoside and nucleoside analogue activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Slot Christiansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; Department of Science, Systems and Models, Roskilde University, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Birgitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Munch-Petersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; Lund Protein Production Platform, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden. Electronic address: wolfgang.knecht@biol.lu.se.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Knecht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011122:Polyphosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D011122:Polyphosphates; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C020018:deoxyribonucleoside kinases; C005692:triphosphoric acid
keywords: Deoxynucleoside kinases; Deoxynucleosides; Deoxynucleotides; Evolution; Nucleoside salvage pathway; Nucleosides; Nucleotides; Suicide gene therapy