Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules

2018 Edition
| Editors: Sangdun Choi

Sphingosine Kinase 2 (SPHK2)

  • Heidi Neubauer
  • Stuart Pitson
Reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67199-4_101836
How to cite

Synonyms

 SK2;  Sphingosine kinase 2;  SPHK2

Historical Background

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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References

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Centre for Cancer BiologyUniversity of South Australia and SA PathologyAdelaideAustralia
  2. 2.School of Biological SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia
  3. 3.School of MedicineUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia