Arginine kinase

Function

Arginine kinase (AK) is a phosphagen kinase which catalyzes the conversion of L-arginine and ATP to N-phospho-L-arginine and ADP. AK is part of arginine and proline metabolism. The phosphagen kinase reaction of AK is central to cellular energy homeostasis, i.e. maintenance of ATP level in invertebrates. ^[1] Another phosphagen kinase found mostly in vertebrates is Creatine Kinase whose substrate is creatine.

For more details see Arginine Kinase AK.

Relevance

High levels of Arg are found in plasma of patients with chronic hemolytic anemia.

Structural highlights

The of AK is located between its N-terminal helical region and the larger C-terminal region. ^[2] Water molecules are shown as red spheres. .