Histidine protein kinases: key signal transducers outside the animal kingdom

Genome Biol. 2002 Sep 25;3(10):REVIEWS3013. doi: 10.1186/gb-2002-3-10-reviews3013. Epub 2002 Sep 25.

Abstract

Histidine protein kinases (HPKs) are a large family of signal-transduction enzymes that autophosphorylate on a conserved histidine residue. HPKs form two-component signaling systems together with their downstream target proteins, the response regulators, which have a conserved aspartate in a so-called 'receiver domain' that is phosphorylated by the HPK. Two-component signal transduction is prevalent in bacteria and is also widely used by eukaryotes outside the animal kingdom. The typical HPK is a transmembrane receptor with an amino-terminal extracellular sensing domain and a carboxy-terminal cytosolic signaling domain; most, if not all, HPKs function as dimers. They show little similarity to protein kinases that phosphorylate serine, threonine or tyrosine residues, but may share a distant evolutionary relationship with these enzymes. In excess of a thousand known genes encode HPKs, which are important for multiple functions in bacteria, including chemotaxis and quorum sensing, and in eukaryotes, including hormone-dependent developmental processes. The proteins divide into at least 11 subfamilies, only one of which is present in eukaryotes, suggesting that lateral gene transfer gave rise to two-component signaling in these organisms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Eukaryotic Cells / enzymology
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Histidine Kinase
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Prokaryotic Cells / enzymology
  • Protein Kinases / chemistry
  • Protein Kinases / genetics*
  • Protein Kinases / physiology*
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / chemistry
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / genetics
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / physiology
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Signal Transduction*

Substances

  • Receptors, Cell Surface
  • Protein Kinases
  • Histidine Kinase