TLK

Tousled-like kinases TLK1 and TLK2 were named after the Arabidopsis tousled mutant, which shows disrupted floral and leaf development. Both are nuclear serine/threonine kinases with an extended C-terminal region, and their best-characterized substrates are the histone chaperones ASF1A and ASF1B plus the DNA damage regulator Rad9, linking them to chromatin assembly during S phase, DNA replication and checkpoint control. TLK activity peaks in S phase and is shut down by Chk1- and Chk2-mediated phosphorylation after genotoxic stress, transiently halting chromatin duplication. TLK1 and TLK2 also support homologous recombination and spermatogenesis, and TLK1 splice variants have been described in tumors.