WNK Lysine Deficient Protein Kinase 3 (WNK3)

Members of the 'with no lysine' (WNK) kinase family, such as WNK3, are serine-threonine protein kinases that lack the almost invariant catalytic lysine in subdomain II, which is important for binding ATP in the catalytic site. Instead, these kinases have a conserved lysine in subdomain I that is thought to provide this function.

The 3-prime UTR contains an Alu element. RT-PCR ELISA detected highest WNK3 expression in adult whole brain, liver, kidney, testis, ovary, fetal liver, and all specific adult brain regions examined. Expression was lower in fetal brain and was not detected in adult heart, lung, skeletal muscle, spleen, and pancreas.The deduced 1,800-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 198 kD, and it shares 3 conserved regions (CR) with other WNK proteins.