Structure
Cdk1 is a small protein (approximately 34 kilodaltons), and is highly conserved. The human homolog of Cdk1, CDC2, shares approximately 60-65% amino-acid similarity with its yeast homolog. Furthermore, human CDC2 is capable of rescuing budding yeast carrying a cdc28 mutation. Cdk1 is comprised mostly by the bare protein kinase motif, which other protein kinases share. Cdk1, like other kinases, contains a cleft in which ATP fits. Substrates of Cdk1 bind near the mouth of the cleft, and Cdk1 residues catalyze the covalent bonding of the γ-phosphate to the oxygen of the hydroxyl serine/threonine of the substrate.
In addition to this catalytic core, Cdk1, like other cyclin-dependent kinases, contains a T-loop, which, in the absence of an interacting cyclin, prevents substrate binding to the Cdk1 active site. Cdk1 also contains a PSTAIRE helix, which, upon cyclin binding, moves and rearranges the active site, facilitating Cdk1 kinase activities.
Read more about this topic: Cyclin-dependent Kinase 1
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
“For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)