Fer

The Fer family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases consists of FER and FES, which arose from a common ancestor and retain a distinctive domain arrangement of an N-terminal F-BAR coiled-coil region, a central SH2 domain and a C-terminal kinase domain. Unlike many oncogenic kinases, they lack SH3 and membrane-targeting motifs. FES is mainly expressed in myeloid and endothelial cells, where it transduces signals from cytokine and immune receptors and supports granulocyte differentiation and vascular development, and was first identified as the oncogene of feline and avian sarcoma retroviruses. FER is ubiquitous, localizing at adherens junctions, centrosomes and the nucleus, and regulates cell-cell adhesion, p120-catenin signaling and DNA damage responses.