Mixed lineage kinase domain like pseudokinase
Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Mixed lineage kinase domain like pseudokinase (MLKL) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MLKL gene.
01Function
This gene belongs to the protein kinase superfamily. The encoded protein contains a protein kinase-like domain; however, is thought to be inactive because it lacks several residues required for activity. This protein plays a critical role in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced necroptosis, a programmed cell death process, via interaction with receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3), which is a key signaling molecule in necroptosis pathway. Inhibitor studies and knockdown of this gene inhibited TNF-induced necrosis.
Influence in diseases
High levels of this protein and RIP3 are associated with inflammatory bowel disease in children. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been described for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2015]. A unique neurodegenerative disease has been reported in association with a homozygous frameshift mutation, rs561839347, in MLKL that causes replacement of part of the C-terminal pseudokinase domain with a 21-residue sequence of random amino acids.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mixed lineage kinase domain like pseudokinase”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ideogram human chromosome 16.svg by National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Public domain
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