Protein tyrosine kinases receptors that contain

Single protein kinases such as PKA, PKC, and Ca +-calmodulin (CaM)-kinases, which result in the phosphorylation of serine and threonine residues in target proteins, play a very important role in hormone action. The discovery that the EGF receptor contains an intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity that is activated by the binding of the hgand EGF was an important breakthrough. The insuhn and IGF-I receptors also contain intrinsic... 

The family of heterotrimeric G proteins is involved in transmembrane signaling in the nervous system, with certain exceptions. The exceptions are instances of synaptic transmission mediated via receptors that contain intrinsic enzymatic activity, such as tyrosine kinase or guanylyl cyclase, or via receptors that form ion channels (see Ch. 10). Heterotrimeric G proteins were first identified, named and characterized by Alfred Gilman, Martin Rodbell and others close to 20 years ago. They consist of three distinct subunits, a, (3 and y. These proteins couple the activation of diverse types of plasmalemma receptor to a variety of intracellular processes. In fact, most types of neurotransmitter and peptide hormone receptor, as well as many cytokine and chemokine receptors, fall into a superfamily of structurally related molecules, termed G-protein-coupled receptors. These receptors are named for the role of G proteins in mediating the varied biological effects of the receptors (see Ch. 10). Consequently, numerous effector proteins are influenced by these heterotrimeric G proteins ion channels adenylyl cyclase phosphodiesterase (PDE) phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2), which catalyzes the hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids to yield arachidonic acid. In addition, these G proteins have been implicated in... 

Since then, a plethora of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins has been discovered. Originally, tyrosine phosphorylation was believed to be involved primarily in regulating cell proliferation, since many oncogene products and growth factor receptors are protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs). However, it has become clear that tyrosine phosphorylation is involved in regulating a variety of cellular processes. In fact, the nervous system contains a large variety of PTKs and protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), and some of these are exclusively expressed in neuronal tissues. Figure 24-1 shows the... 

Fig. 11.11. Signal transduction by tyrosine kinase receptors. (1) Binding and dimerizaion. (2) Autophosphorylation. (3) Binding of Grb2 and SOS. (4) SOS is a GEF (guanine nucleotide exchange protein) that binds Ras, a monomeric G protein anchored to the plasma membrane. (5) GEE activates the exchange of GTP for bound GDP on Ras. (6) Activated Ras containing GTP binds the target enzyme Raf, thereby activating it.

It remains unclear whether such approaches are truly general, in particular for proteins such as receptors that span different cellular compartments. For example, some receptor tyrosine kinases contain a kringle domain in their extracellular regions. Would such protocols predict common functions for intracellular tyrosine kinases and extracellular kringle-containing proteins, such as those of the hlood coagulation pathway Nevertheless, it is apparent that considerable functional constraints exist for domains to co-occur and that domain combinations are often very limited. 

Cytokine receptors are composed of two or more polypeptide chains. Some of these are shared between different receptors while others are unique to particular receptors. They all have (1) an N-terminal extracellular domain that provides binding sites for their cytokine ligands (2) a hydrophobic a-helix that spans the cell membrane and (3) a C-terminal cytoplasmic domain that contains binding sites for protein tyrosine kinases that play roles in signal transduction from these receptors (see Fig. 6-3). 

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