A molecular approach to the concerted action of kinases involved in energy homoeostasis

One of the most important duties of a cell is energy homoeostasis. Several kinases, including AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), creatine kinase and adenylate kinase, are involved in the immediate response to stress, resulting in energy depletion. Here, we present our view of events preceding the downstream processes mediated by AMPK and leading to reduced energy expenditure and increased energy production. Unfortunately, AMPK is very poorly defined at the molecular level. Thus a procedure for production of AMPK in milligram amounts is presented which will greatly facilitate the functional and structural characterization of this protein kinase.