ULK2 Antibody (YA4362)

ULK2 (unc-51-like kinase 2) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that functions as a core regulator of autophagy, particularly under nutrient-deprived conditions, and acts upstream of the class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase machinery that supports autophagosome formation^[1][2]. Mechanistically, ULK2 participates in the autophagy-initiation network together with ATG13 and FIP200 and contributes to starvation-induced autophagic signaling through pathways linked to AMPK and mTOR regulation^[3][4]. In experimental systems, ULK1 and ULK2 display substantial functional overlap, and nutrient-dependent autophagy is most effectively suppressed when both kinases are absent, demonstrating their cooperative role in autophagy induction^[3][2]. Disease-related interest in ULK2 arises from the broad involvement of autophagy in cancer, inflammatory disorders, and other pathologies in which cellular adaptation to metabolic stress is critical. Compared with the closely related isoform ULK1, ULK2 shares major structural and functional characteristics but may exhibit distinct regulatory interactions and biological functions, indicating that the two kinases are not completely redundant^[5]. For experimental applications, pharmacological inhibitors targeting ULK1/2 signaling are widely used to investigate autophagy mechanisms; compounds such as MRT68921 inhibit both ULK1 and ULK2 with nanomolar potency and suppress autophagic activity in cellular models^[6].