Abl tyrosine kinase in signal transduction and cell-cycle regulation.

Although the biological function of the c-Abl tyrosine kinase remains unsolved, potentially productive avenues towards the elucidation of that function have been identified by recent progress. An F-actin binding and a sequence-specific DNA-binding domain have been discovered in c-Abl, and DNA binding has been shown to be cell-cycle regulated. Deletion of those two domains in the mouse c-Abl results in a loss of biological function despite the production of an active tyrosine kinase. These findings suggest a role for c-Abl in the regulation of processes occurring on F-actin and on specific DNA elements.