Description |
The serine/threonine kinase Akt also known as protein kinase B (PKB) or Rac, plays a crucial role in controlling many diverse and important cellular functions such as cell survival and glycogen metabolism (Hajduch et al., 2001 and Nicholson & Anderson, 2002). Three isoforms (alpha, beta, and gamma) have been identified that can be activated rapidly in response to insulin and growth factors in a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent fashion (Hajduch et al., 2003). Phosphorylation of Aktalpha occurs at two specific regulatory sites in Drosophila, one localized 342 in the kinase domain, Thr, and the other in the C-terminal 505 regulatory domain, Ser these two activation sites are 473 308 homologous to mammalian Ser and Thr respectively (Powell et al., 2004). |