CASK Mouse, Unlabeled, Clone: 7, BD

Description

• CASK is a recently identified cytosolic protein kinase with homology to the Ca2+/CaM-dependent kinases and the synaptic associated proteins SAPs/PSDs
• Like the SAPs, CASK contains a PDZ domain, an SH3 region, and a guanylate kinase domain
• However, unlike the rest of the PDZ protein family, the amino terminus of CASK has significant homology with the Ca2+/Calmodulin-dependent kinases
• Although widely expressed, CASK is highly enriched in the synaptic plasma membrane where it associates with neurexins, the neuronal cell surface proteins
• Neurexins are a complex family of surface proteins that act as receptors for a number of venoms and toxins and regulate the clustering of several ion channels at the synapse
• In addition, neurexins bind heterotypically to neuroligins, therefore adjoining different cell types
• Neuroligins bind intracellularly to PSD95 and related proteins, whereas neurexins bind to CASK through their C-terminal region and at CASK's PDZ domain
• The interaction of neurexins and CASK at the outside of the cell may modulate CASK's activity and trigger an intracellular signaling cascade.