Aurora A kinase

Aurora kinase A also known as serine/threonine-protein kinase 6 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the AURKA gene.

Aurora A is a member of a family of mitotic serine/threonine kinases. It is implicated with important processes during mitosis and meiosis whose proper function is integral for healthy cell proliferation. Aurora A is activated by one or more phosphorylations and its activity peaks during the G2 phase to M phase transition in the cell cycle.

Discovery

The aurora kinases were first identified in 1990 during a cDNA screen of Xenopus eggs. The kinase discovered, Eg2, is now referred to as Aurora A. It was not until 1998, however, that Aurora A's meiotic and mitotic importance was realized.

Aurora kinase family

The human genome contains three members the Aurora kinase family: Aurora A kinase, Aurora B kinase and Aurora C kinase. The Xenopus, Drosophila, and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes, on the other hand, contain orthologues only to Aurora A and Aurora B.