The alpha kinase family is a novel family of eukaryotic protein kinase catalytic domains, which have no detectable similarity to conventional serine/threonine protein kinases. The family contains myosin heavy chain kinases, elongation factor-2 kinases, and bifunctional ion channel kinases. These kinases are implicated in a large variety of cellular processes such as protein translation, Mg2+/Ca2+ homeostasis, intracellular transport, cell migration, adhesion, and proliferation. The alpha-kinase family was named after the unique mode of substrate recognition by its initial members, the Dictyostelium heavy chain kinases, which targeted protein sequences that adopt an alpha-helical conformation. More recently, alpha-kinases were found to also target residues in non-helical regions.
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