Exp Mol Med.  2007 Oct;39(5):565-573.

WNKs: protein kinases with a unique kinase domain

• Huang CL
• Cha SK
• Wang HR
• Xie J
• Cobb MH

Abstract

WNKs (with-no-lysine [K]) are a family of serine-threonine protein kinases with an atypical placement of the catalytic lysine relative to all other protein kinases. The roles of WNK kinases in regulating ion transport were first revealed by the findings that mutations of two members cause a genetic hypertension and hyperkalemia syndrome. More recent studies suggest that WNKs are pleiotropic protein kinases with important roles in many cell processes in addition to ion transport. Here, we review roles of WNK kinases in the regulation of ion balance, cell signaling, survival, and proliferation, and embryonic organ development.

Keyword

genome, human; hyperkalemia; hypertension; neoplasms; protein kinases; pseudohypoaldosteronisms; WNK1 protein, human

MeSH Terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Cell Proliferation
Cell Survival
Humans
Hyperkalemia/enzymology/etiology/genetics
Hypertension/enzymology/etiology/genetics
Kidney/enzymology
Models, Molecular
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutation
Neoplasms/enzymology/etiology/genetics
Protein Structure, Tertiary
Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/*chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
Pseudohypoaldosteronism/enzymology/etiology/genetics
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Signal Transduction
Syndrome