MLCK

The MLCK group encodes myosin light chain kinases, calcium/calmodulin-dependent enzymes dedicated to phosphorylating the regulatory light chain of myosin II on serine 19, stimulating actomyosin ATPase activity and contraction. The group spans the long smooth-muscle MLCK gene, which also produces non-muscle isoforms governing cell migration and endothelial barrier integrity, and dedicated skeletal and cardiac muscle paralogs that tune contraction kinetics in each tissue. Through regulatory light chain phosphorylation these kinases control vascular tone, epithelial permeability, cytokinesis, and cardiomyocyte contractility, and their inhibition or dysregulation affects hypertension, asthma, inflammatory edema, and heart disease.