PKA

By Jacqueline Carrico, BS, MD Candidate

By Bethany Veo, PhD

AKT1 is a serine/threonine protein kinase with homology to protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase C (PKC). AKT1 contains the central kinase domain sandwiched between a pleckstrin homology domain and a regulatory domain (1). AKT1 is regulated by receptor tyrosine kinase pathways and is activated in a PI3K-dependent manner following growth factor stimulation (1).

A-kinase anchor proteins (AKAPs), such as AKAP95/AKAP8, are scaffold proteins that contain a binding domain for the RI/RII subunit of protein kinase A (PKA). AKAPs orchestrate and synchronize cellular events by tethering the cAMP-dependent PKA and other signaling enzymes to organelles and membranes. This gene encodes a nuclear A-kinase anchor protein that binds to the RII alpha subunit of PKA and may play a role in chromosome condensation during mitosis (1).