※ LISK family introduction

    LISK contains two subfamilies, LIMK and TESK. LIMKs refer to LIM domain kinase, and two genes encode LIMKs have been indentified in human genome, LIMK1 and LIMK2, which locate on human chromosomes 7q11.23 and 22q12.2 respectively. LIMKs have a common structure with two LIM domains in N-terminal, followed by a PDZ domain and a serine/proline rich region and a protein kinase in C-terminal. Sequences analysis show that LIMK1 and LIMK2 share a 50% overall identity and 70% identity in kinase domain. PDZ domain is involved in protein-protein interaction. LIMKs are activated via the phosphorylation of conserved threonine residues of activation loop by ROCK. LIMKs are most characterized by their ability to phosphorylate and consequent deactivate cofilin family proteins, which will lead to the actin cytoskeleton reorganization. LIMKs have been found in mediate the regulation of cell morphology and motility. Moreover, LIMKs also participate in control of cell cycle and regulation of several gene transcriptions. (1)Another subfamily is TESK. Two members have been identified in human genome, TESK1 and TESK2. TESKs contain an N-terminal protein kinase domain and C-terminal prolin-rich domain. Sequences of TESKs are similar to LIMKs. TESKs play an important role at and after meiotic phase of spermatogenesis (2).

Reference
1. Scott, R.W. and Olson, M.F. (2007) LIM kinases: function, regulation and association with human disease. J Mol Med (Berl), 85, 555-568. PMID: 17294230
2. Wikipedia annotation:     TESK1