Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) is a nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinase,which is also known as Ca2 +-dependent tyrosine kinase or related adhesion focal tyrosine kinase.Pyk2 activation exerts a critical regulat...Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) is a nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinase,which is also known as Ca2 +-dependent tyrosine kinase or related adhesion focal tyrosine kinase.Pyk2 activation exerts a critical regulatory mechanism for various physiological processes including cytoskeleton function,regulation of cell growth and death,modulation of ion channels and multiple signaling events.However,mechanisms underlying the functional diversity of Pyk2 are not clear.A Pyk2 isoform that encodes only part of the C-terminal domain of Pyk2,named as PRNK (Pyk2-related non-kinase),acts as a dominant-negative inhibitor of Pyk2-dependent signaling by displacing Pyk2 from focal adhesions.Research on functional PRNK probably provides new potential inhibitory tool targeting Pyk2 and makes it possible to explore more of Pyk2 pathological mechanism.PRNK is a promising candidate targeting Pyk2 modulation.This review focuses on the functional investigation of Pyk2 and its structure and localization,including recent research with inhibitory strategies targeting Pyk2 by the method of PRNK.展开更多
Undoubtedly, the sensory organs of biological systems have been evolved to accurately detect and locate the external stimuli, even if they are very weak. However, the mechanism underlying this ability is still not ful...Undoubtedly, the sensory organs of biological systems have been evolved to accurately detect and locate the external stimuli, even if they are very weak. However, the mechanism underlying this ability is still not fully understood. Previously, it had been shown that stochastic resonance may be a good candidate to explain this ability, by which the response of a system to an external signal is amplified by the presence of noise. Recently, it is pointed out that the initial phase diversity in external signals can be also served as a simple and feasible mechanism for weak signal detection or amplification in excitable neurons. We here make a brief review on this progress. We will show that there are two kinds of effects of initial phase diversity: one is the phase disorder, i.e., the initial phases are different and static, and the other is the phase noise, i.e., the initial phases are time-varying like noise. Both cases show that initial phase diversity in subthreshold periodic signals can indeed play a constructive role in the emergence of sustained spiking activity. As initial phase diversity can mimic different arrival times from source signal to sensory organs, these findings may provide a cue for understanding the hunting behaviors of some biological systems.展开更多
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(30700822)
文摘Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) is a nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinase,which is also known as Ca2 +-dependent tyrosine kinase or related adhesion focal tyrosine kinase.Pyk2 activation exerts a critical regulatory mechanism for various physiological processes including cytoskeleton function,regulation of cell growth and death,modulation of ion channels and multiple signaling events.However,mechanisms underlying the functional diversity of Pyk2 are not clear.A Pyk2 isoform that encodes only part of the C-terminal domain of Pyk2,named as PRNK (Pyk2-related non-kinase),acts as a dominant-negative inhibitor of Pyk2-dependent signaling by displacing Pyk2 from focal adhesions.Research on functional PRNK probably provides new potential inhibitory tool targeting Pyk2 and makes it possible to explore more of Pyk2 pathological mechanism.PRNK is a promising candidate targeting Pyk2 modulation.This review focuses on the functional investigation of Pyk2 and its structure and localization,including recent research with inhibitory strategies targeting Pyk2 by the method of PRNK.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.11305078)
文摘Undoubtedly, the sensory organs of biological systems have been evolved to accurately detect and locate the external stimuli, even if they are very weak. However, the mechanism underlying this ability is still not fully understood. Previously, it had been shown that stochastic resonance may be a good candidate to explain this ability, by which the response of a system to an external signal is amplified by the presence of noise. Recently, it is pointed out that the initial phase diversity in external signals can be also served as a simple and feasible mechanism for weak signal detection or amplification in excitable neurons. We here make a brief review on this progress. We will show that there are two kinds of effects of initial phase diversity: one is the phase disorder, i.e., the initial phases are different and static, and the other is the phase noise, i.e., the initial phases are time-varying like noise. Both cases show that initial phase diversity in subthreshold periodic signals can indeed play a constructive role in the emergence of sustained spiking activity. As initial phase diversity can mimic different arrival times from source signal to sensory organs, these findings may provide a cue for understanding the hunting behaviors of some biological systems.
