※ VRK family introduction

    VRK (vaccinia related kinases) belong to CK1 family. Three members have been identified in human genome, known as VRK1, VRK2 and VRK3. Sequence alignment of VRKs shows that all VRKs share a similar ser/thr protein kinase catalytic domain. Human VRK1 and VRK3 also contain a nuclear localization signal region and VRK2 contain a transmembrane domain in its C-terminal. VRKs act as key activator for activation or stabilization of a variety of transcription factors, including p53, ATF1, c-Jun and CREB. In addition, VRKs play an important role in regulation of cellular processes, including stress response and patterning of chromatin modifications (1).

Reference
1. Klerkx, E.P., Lazo, P.A. and Askjaer, P. (2009) Emerging biological functions of the vaccinia-related kinase (VRK) family. Histol Histopathol, 24, 749-759. PMID: 19337973