Sphingosine kinases are a group of enzymes, highly conserved in eukaryotes, which catalyze the phosphorylation of the lipid sphingosine, to produce the bioactive signaling molecule sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) (Fig.
1). Sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2), transcribed from the
SPHK2 gene located on chromosome 19 (19q13.2), was the second of two functional mammalian sphingosine kinase isoforms to be identified (Liu et al.
2000). The first, sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1), shares a high level of sequence similarity with SK2, although, as outlined below, some differences exist.
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