※ PKG family introduction

    PKG (cGMP-dependent protein kinase) belongs to AGC group. Two genes have been identified in mammalian cells. The alternative splicing of the first two exons encoding the N-terminal of PKG-I cause the two isoforms, known as PKG-Iα and PKG-Iβ, PKG-Iα can be activated in a lower concentrations compared with PKG-Iβ, PKG-Iα and PKG-Iβ contain the different substrate specificity, which is meidated by the N-terminal domain. PKGs are activated downstream of cGMP signaling pathway and activated PKGs involve in a varieties of cellular processes via mediating phosphorylation of different proteins including platelet activation and adhesion, sooth muscle contraction, cardiac function and gene expressing (1).

Reference
1. Casteel, D.E., Zhang, T., Zhuang, S. and Pilz, R.B. (2008) cGMP-dependent protein kinase anchoring by IRAG regulates its nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity. Cell Signal, 20, 1392-1399. PMID: 18450420