Protein Kinase Classification:      TK/Musk

※ Musk family introduction

    MUSK (Muscle Specific Kinase) belongs to receptor tyrosine kinase. One member has been identified in human genome and can be mapped on chromosome 9. The extracellular region of MUSK consists of four immunoglobulin-like domains and a cysteine-rich domain. The intracellular region contains a juxtamembrane domain (JM), which adjacent the transmembrane domain (TM), and a tyrosine kinase domain. Muscle is essential in regulation the formation of NMJ during embryonic development. Studies show that lack of MUSK will lead to NMJs formation defect. MUSK can also mediate AChRs, acetylcholinesterase and postsynaptic proteins targeting to the developing synapse. In addition, MUSK can also contribute to guide the growing motor axons. Furthermore, MUSK can mediate the membrane domain construction through the positive feedback cycle. Studies show that MUSK is associated with some congenital and autoimmune diseases, including muscle weakness, congenital myasthenic syndromes and autoimmune myasthenia gravis (1).

Reference
1. Ghazanfari, N., Fernandez, K.J., Murata, Y., Morsch, M., Ngo, S.T., Reddel, S.W., Noakes, P.G. and Phillips, W.D. (2011) Muscle specific kinase: organiser of synaptic membrane domains. Int J Biochem Cell Biol, 43, 295-298. PMID: 20974278


TK Musk in eukaryotes:

Ailuropoda melanoleuca (1)Anas platyrhynchos (1)Anolis carolinensis (1)
Astyanax mexicanus (1)Bos taurus (1)Callithrix jacchus (1)
Canis familiaris (1)Carlito syrichta (1)Cavia porcellus (1)
Cercocebus atys (1)Chlorocebus sabaeus (1)Choloepus hoffmanni (1)
Danio rerio (1)Dasypus novemcinctus (1)Dipodomys ordii (1)
Drosophila melanogaster (1)Echinops telfairi (1)Equus caballus (1)
Erinaceus europaeus (1)Felis catus (1)Ficedula albicollis (1)
Fukomys damarensis (1)Gadus morhua (1)Gallus gallus (1)
Gasterosteus aculeatus (1)Glycine max (2)Gorilla gorilla (1)
Helianthus annuus (1)Homo sapiens (1)Ictidomys tridecemlineatus (1)
Latimeria chalumnae (1)Lepisosteus oculatus (1)Loxodonta africana (1)
Macaca fascicularis (1)Macaca mulatta (1)Meleagris gallopavo (1)
Mesocricetus auratus (1)Microcebus murinus (1)Monodelphis domestica (1)
Mustela putorius furo (1)Mus musculus (1)Myotis lucifugus (1)
Nomascus leucogenys (1)Ochotona princeps (1)Octodon degus (1)
Oreochromis niloticus (1)Ornithorhynchus anatinus (1)Oryctolagus cuniculus (1)
Oryza indica (1)Oryza longistaminata (4)Oryza punctata (1)
Oryzias latipes (1)Otolemur garnettii (1)Ovis aries (1)
Pan paniscus (1)Pan troglodytes (1)Papio anubis (1)
Pelodiscus sinensis (1)Petromyzon marinus (1)Poecilia formosa (1)
Pongo abelii (1)Populus trichocarpa (1)Procavia capensis (1)
Prunus persica (1)Pteropus vampyrus (1)Rattus norvegicus (1)
Sarcophilus harrisii (1)Selaginella moellendorffii (1)Sorex araneus (1)
Sus scrofa (1)Taeniopygia guttata (1)Takifugu rubripes (1)
Tetraodon nigroviridis (1)Theobroma cacao (1)Triticum aestivum (2)
Tupaia belangeri (1)Tursiops truncatus (1)Vicugna pacos (1)
Vitis vinifera (1)Xenopus tropicalis (1)Xiphophorus maculatus (1)
Zea mays (1)