Wettin K, Johansson M, Zheng X, Zhu C, Karlsson A
Division of Clinical Virology, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
FEBS Lett. 1999 Oct 22;460(1):103-6. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(99)01325-3.
Phosphorylation of anti-viral nucleoside analogs by mitochondrial thymidine kinase 2 (TK2) has been implicated as a mechanism for the mitochondrial toxicity caused by several of these compounds. We have cloned the cDNA of mouse TK2 and shown that the enzyme is targeted to the mitochondria when expressed in fusion with the green fluorescent protein. This is the first report on the cloning of a mitochondrial TK2 and will contribute to elucidate the role of TK2 in the pharmacological activation of nucleoside analogs.
