Protein kinases 1988: a current perspective.

This review focuses on several recent developments in the field of protein kinases. In the area of protein serine/threonine kinases, much has been learned recently about protein kinase C structure and function. Novel lipid mediators, both stimulatory and inhibitory, have been discovered, and kinase has been shown to be an increasingly large family of gene products. Heterogeneity of cellular localization and function has been documented. Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases are now believed to consist of at least five enzymes, which range from those with extreme substrate specificity such as phosphorylase kinase and myosin light-chain kinases to calcium calmodulin kinase II, with several known substrates. Several of these enzymes appear to be important in synaptic transmission and, for calcium/calmodulin kinase III, in the regulation of protein synthesis. Several new examples of pseudosubstrate prototopes as endogenous kinase inhibitors have been described, including regions intrinsic to kinase primary sequences, which could serve as constitutive inhibitors of enzyme activity. In the field of protein tyrosine kinases, new enzyme species are being discovered at a rapid rate. There are several well-documented examples of kinase autophosphorylation on tyrosine leading to stimulation of catalytic activity. For the growth factor receptors with intrinsic protein tyrosine kinase activity, it now seems clear that kinase catalytic activity is necessary for most hormone effects on cells, with the general exceptions of ligand binding and, possibly, receptor cycling. Finally, several groups have recently described a close association between protein tyrosine kinases and a phosphatidylinositol kinase activity, a link that might eventually explain some of the initial steps in signal transduction that occur after kinase activation.