Protein kinase CK2: Intricate relationships within regulatory cellular networks

Abstract

Protein kinase CK2 is a small family of protein kinases that has been implicated in an expanding array of biological processes. While it is widely accepted that CK2 is a regulatory participant in a multitude of fundamental cellular processes, CK2 is often considered to be a constitutively active enzyme which raises questions about how it can be a regulatory participant in intricately controlled cellular processes. To resolve this apparent paradox, we have performed a systematic analysis of the published literature using text mining as well as mining of proteomic databases together with computational assembly of networks that involve CK2. These analyses reinforce the notion that CK2 is involved in a broad variety of biological processes and also reveal an extensive interplay between CK2 phosphorylation and other post-translational modifications. The interplay between CK2 and other post-translational modifications suggests that CK2 does have intricate roles in orchestrating cellular events. In this respect, phosphorylation of specific substrates by CK2 could be regulated by other post-translational modifications and CK2 could also have roles in modulating other post-translational modifications. Collectively, these observations suggest that the actions of CK2 are precisely coordinated with other constituents of regulatory cellular networks.