Lymphocyte Alpha Kinase (LaK)

Unlike most eukaryotic kinases, alpha kinases, such as LAK, recognize phosphorylation sites in which the surrounding peptides have an alpha-helical conformation.By EST database searching for homologs of the alpha kinase EEF2K, Ryazanov et al. (1999) identified LAK, which they termed 'chromosome 4 kinase.'

By screening for cDNAs with the potential to encode large proteins expressed in brain, Nagase et al. (2000) identified a partial cDNA encoding LAK, which they called KIAA1527. Using RT-PCR analysis, they detected moderate expression of LAK in all tissues tested except liver, where expression was high. By genomic sequence analysis, Ryazanov et al. (1999) and Nagase et al. (2000) mapped the ALPK1 gene to chromosome 4.