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Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules pp 1686–1690Cite as

ROCK Kinases

  • Reference work entry

  • 101 Accesses

Synonyms

p160ROCK; Rho-associated coiled coil kinase; Rho-associated kinase; Rho-associated protein kinase; Rho kinase; ROCK I; ROCK II; ROCK: ROK kinase; ROCK1; ROCK2; ROKα; ROKβ

Historical Background

The small molecular weight GTP-binding proteins of the Rho family, which comprises 22 proteins including RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42, were originally isolated based on their high degree of homology with the Ras proto-oncogenes (Rho = Ras homologue). Following their identification, a variety of approaches were used to isolate interacting proteins that might convey signals downstream to regulate numerous biological processes. One approach was to use GTP-loaded RhoA as a high-affinity reagent to fish for interacting proteins, and the ROCK kinases were identified in this way (Leung et al. 1995; Ishizaki et al. 1996; Matsui et al. 1996). A number of different names have been used to describe the two kinases and early reports were sometimes not careful in accurately describing which isoforms were...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Cancer Biology, SA Pathology, Frome Road, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 5000

    Dr. Michael S. Samuel

  2. Molecular Cell Biology Laboratory, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Switchback Road, Garscube Estate, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK

    Dr. Michael F. Olson

Authors
  1. Dr. Michael S. Samuel
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  2. Dr. Michael F. Olson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael F. Olson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea

    Sangdun Choi

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Samuel, M.S., Olson, M.F. (2012). ROCK Kinases. In: Choi, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0461-4_328

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