ADK (adenosine kinase)

symbol
ADK
locus group
protein-coding gene
location
10q22.2
gene_family
-
alias symbol
AK
alias name
adenosine 5'-phosphotransferase
entrez id
132
ensembl gene id
ENSG00000156110
ucsc gene id
uc001jwi.4
refseq accession
NM_006721
hgnc_id
HGNC:257
approved reserved
1986-01-01
10q22.2
ChineseEnglish

Adenosine kinase (ADK) is a critical metabolic enzyme within the purine metabolism family that catalyzes the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of adenosine to adenosine monophosphate (AMP), thereby serving as a primary mechanism for regulating intracellular adenosine homeostasis. As adenosine is a potent signaling molecule involved in neurotransmission, vasodilation, immune modulation, and energy metabolism, ADK activity is essential for fine-tuning these physiological processes, particularly in tissues with high expression levels such as the liver, brain, and skeletal muscle. In the central nervous system, ADK-mediated clearance of adenosine is crucial for modulating neuroinhibitory signaling; consequently, loss-of-function mutations lead to adenosine accumulation and excessive activation of adenosine receptors (such as A1 and A2A), which can result in altered sleep patterns, reduced neuroprotection, or paradoxical effects on seizure thresholds, whereas overexpression lowers adenosine levels, potentially increasing neuronal excitability, exacerbating inflammatory responses, and disrupting cardiovascular function. This regulatory role positions ADK as a significant target in various pathological contexts, including epilepsy, where its upregulation diminishes the anticonvulsant effects of adenosine, and ischemic brain injury, where its inhibition enhances adenosine-mediated neuroprotection. Furthermore, given that cancer cells often rely on purine salvage pathways to support rapid proliferation, ADK may contribute to tumor metabolic reprogramming, and its dysregulation is implicated in inflammatory diseases and cardiac disorders. As a key component of the purine nucleotide recycling network alongside enzymes like adenosine deaminase (ADA) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), ADK maintains cellular purine pool stability, linking metabolic flux to critical signaling outcomes such as neuroexcitotoxicity, inflammation, and cardiac protection, thereby establishing it as a promising therapeutic target for metabolic and neurological diseases.

Nucleotide sequence of ADK:[NCBI]
Loading Gene Browser...
Protein Sequence
1MAAAEEEPKP KKLKVEAPQA LRENILFGMG NPLLDISAVV
41DKDFLDKYSL KPNDQILAED KHKELFDELV KKFKVEYHAG
81 GSTQNSIKV AQWMIQQPHK AATFFGCIGI DKFGEILKRK
121AAEAHVDAHY YEQNEQPTGT CAACITGDNR SLIANLAAAN
161C YKKEKHLD LEKNWMLVEK ARVCYIAGFF LTVSPESVLK
201VAHHASENNR IFTLNLSAPF ISQFYKESLM KVMPYVDILF
241GN ETEAATF AREQGFETKD IKEIAKKTQA LPKMNSKRQR
281IVIFTQGRDD TIMATESEVT AFAVLDQDQK EIIDTNGAGD
321AFV GGFLSQ LVSDKPLTEC IRAGHYAASI IIRRTGCTFP
361EKPDFH
Structure predicted by AlphaFold DB(UniProt: P55263). Color indicates pLDDT confidence (dark blue = high, yellow/orange = low).
SNP variants of ADK:           Showing partial SNPs
rs1529       rs1531       rs714446       rs719624       rs719944       rs726120       rs730660       rs768959       rs871267       rs946184       rs946185       rs946186       rs949720       rs956118       rs958620       rs961321       rs1051938      

Tissue expression of ADK:    [UniProt]

Gene expression across tissues
Forward Primer
Forward Tm
Reverse Primer
Reverse Tm
Score
AATGAGACAGAAGCTGCCA
59
GAGTTCATCTTTGGCAGGG
59
GCTGTAGTGGACAAAGATTTCC
60
GCCAAGATTTGGTCATTTGGT
60
AATGAGACAGAAGCTGCCA
59
GAGTTCATCTTTGGCAGGG
59
AAATGAGACAGAAGCTGCC
58
TGAGTTCATCTTTGGCAGG
58
ATATAGCAGAAGCTGCCAC
57
CTCTTTGAGTTCATCTTTGGC
58
ATGAGACAACTTACCACATCTG
58
GACACTTGGAAGCAAGAGG
59
TACTACGAGCAGAATGAGCAG
60
AAGATTAGCTATGAGGGACCTG
59
AAATGAGACAGAAGCTGCC
58
GAGTTCATCTTTGGCAGGG
59
TGGAAATGAGACAACTTACCAC
59
AAGAGGGCCACTCTATTAAGG
59
CTGTAGTGGACAAAGATTTCCT
58
CACAAGTTCATCAAACAGTTCC
59

Subcellular localization of ADK (and its protein):

[UniProt]     [GenomeNet]

" d="M482.414,245.296c3.539,4.293,4.455,10.009,0.202,11 c-4.244,0.996-4.983-10.983-8.293-8.438c-5.271,4.08,9.834,12.271,5.144,17.287c-3.717,3.607-6.172-5.75-10.839-1.976 c-4.673,3.776,6.781,7.299,2.831,11.326c-4.354,4.045-6.979-1.449-9.837-5.517c-1.193-1.742-2.059-3.851-3.595-2.748 c-1.516,1.078-1.854,1.795-0.938,3.666c2.374,4.854,9.235,10.119,5.156,12.535c-5.636,3.346-5.044-8.871-9.426-7.574 c-4.388,1.291,2.557,10.66-1.245,11.141c-4.089,0.545-3.483-10.239-6.979-8.575c-2.522,1.206-0.929,3.071-0.938,4.899 c0.004,1.32-0.964,3.6-2.372,4.062c-3.593,1.171-8.544-1.065-10.251-3.59c-6.04-8.93,0.396-15.997,4.639-7.015 c3.023,4.642,5.182,0.834,2.839-2.219c-1.032-1.354-4.309-5.901-0.781-7.252c2.904-1.113,4.271,1.941,5.985,4.592 c2.61,4.016,5.485,0.117,3.031-3.414c-1.828-2.633-2.74-3.803,3.156-7.42c6.405-4.369,6.52,3.869,10.077,0.646 c2.309-1.832-4.783-5.149,0.06-8.995c2.896-2.293,5.18,6.207,7.961,3.516c3.523-2.737-7.717-7.369,0.117-11.736 C473.413,240.77,480.519,242.891,482.414,245.296z"/> Extracellular space Cytosol Plasma membrane Cytoskeleton Lysosome Endosome Peroxisome ER Golgi Apparatus Nucleus Mitochondrion 0 1 2 3 4 5 Confidence
  • plasma membrane
  • cytoplasm
  • extracellular
  • golgi
  • vesicle
  • cytoskeleton
  • endoplasmic reticulum
  • nucleus
  • endosome
  • lysosome
  • mitochondrion

Gene Ontology (GO) terms for ADK:

GO ID
Protein
Source DB
GO:0004001
P55263 (UniProtKB)
EXP
GO:0004001
P55263 (UniProtKB)
EXP
GO:0005524
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0005654
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IDA
GO:0005737
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IDA
GO:0005829
P55263 (UniProtKB)
TAS
GO:0006175
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0009156
P55263 (UniProtKB)
TAS
GO:0010613
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0016310
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0032922
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0042102
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0043101
P55263 (UniProtKB)
TAS
GO:0044209
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0044342
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0044822
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IDA
GO:0046085
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA
GO:0046872
P55263 (UniProtKB)
IEA

microRNAs potentially regulating ADK:     

String
BioGrid
IntAct
mentha
Reactome
Loading…
Interacting Gene Interaction Source/Score
Disease Score NofPmids NofSnps Source
Disease Score NofPmids NofSnps Source
HYPERMETHIONINEMIA DUE TO ADENOSINE KINASE DEFICIENCY 0.36 1 2 CLINVAR_ORPHANET_UNIPROT
Anoxia 0.12272435 2 0 CTD_human_LHGDN
Hypospadias 0.12 1 1 GWASCAT
Intellectual Disability 0.12 1 0 CTD_human
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe 0.080271442 2 0 BeFree_RGD
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental 0.08 1 0 RGD
Hypotension 0.08 1 0 RGD
Arthritis, Experimental 0.08 1 0 RGD
Fatty metamorphosis of viscera 0.08 0 0 MGD
Brain Infarction 0.08 1 0 RGD
Adenosine metabolic clearance maintains liver homeostasis by licensing arginine methylation of RIPK1.
Liu R, Wang G, Jiang Z, Zou T, Wang C, Wang W, Cai M, Zhang S, Wang G, Cao H, Zhang D, Wang X, Deng S, Li T, Gu J J Exp Med IF: 11.6 2026-01-05
Alzheimer disease knowledge among gerontologists in Turkiye.
Tanriverdi İ, Bilgic İ, Pasin O, Oren C, Irmak HS, Smith L, Hajek A, Soysal P Gerontol Geriatr Educ IF: 1.6 2026-02-15
Integrative multi-cohort analysis identifies urinary microbiota as non-invasive biomarkers of bladder cancer.
Tao L, Zhao T, Xu Y, Chen W, Zhu X, Hao Y, Zhu L, Jiao N, Cao M, Pu X, Zhu R BMC Microbiol IF: 5.4 2026-02-09
Validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale among Iranian healthcare professionals and students.
Aghaei M, Gheisavandi O, Carpenter BD, Vahabi Z, Sharifi F, Etesam F Discov Ment Health 2026-07-22
Allosteric regulation of enzymatic catalysis by molecular crowding.
Ren W, Lu J, Huang H, Zhang J, Chen Y, Yan Z, Li W, Wang W Commun Chem IF: 6.9 2026-03-17
NanoCortex: A Unified Agentic System for Nanopore Sequencing Analysis.
Xia Q, Wang Z, Shokoufandeh M, Rouhanifard SH, Wanunu M bioRxiv 2026-05-21
Identification of key metabolic enzymes involved in the activation of obeldesivir and remdesivir to the active triphosphate metabolite.
Xu Y, Liclican A, Zhao X, Chen C, Ortega JT, Chuang H-C, Soulette C, Chaudhuri S, Zhang J, Wang T, Babusis D, Marchand B, Sun K-h, Ramirez R, Ma B, Nayak A, Wang L, Menon S, Belzile J-P, Lai Y, Li L, Mackman RL, Bilello JP, Cihlar T, Feng JY, Lad L Antimicrob Agents Chemother IF: 4.2 2026-08-05
Palmitate drives mitochondrial and ER stress through disruption of the CD73-Adenosine axis.
Dawson S, Batan S, Adams N, Bombin S, Ramos-Junior ES, Morandini AC Res Sq 2026-06-15

Loading comments...

Log in to post comments Log In Sign Up

Contact

No. 2 Wenbo Road, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong

Qilu Normal University · Genelibs Bioinformatics Lab

750 Shunhua Rd, Jinan

2F, Bldg F, University Science Park

Tel: 0531-88819269

WeChat Official Account

Follow our WeChat subscription account for real-time updates and the latest in medical and biological research.


Business Email

E-mail: [email protected]