Description
Aurora kinases representing a novel family of serine/threonine kinases have been identified as key regulators of the mitotic cell division process. Aurora kinases are evolutionarily conserved enzymes that regulate different aspects of cell division. Only a single Aurora kinase is present in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Ipl1) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (Ark1p). In contrast, three distinct Aurora family members, termed Aurora A, B, and C, have been described in metazoan organisms. A-type Aurora kinases localize to both centrosomes and spindle microtubules and have been implicated in spindle assembly. The B-type Aurora kinases are present at centromeres in prophase and metaphase, before they relocalize to the central spindle and the midbody in anaphase and telophase. The C-type Aurora kinases have so far been identified only in mammals. They are expressed primarily in testis and some tumor cell lines, where they have been localized to spindle poles. All three members of the mammalian kinase family have a catalytic domain that is highly conserved with a short C-terminal domain and an N-terminal domain of varying sizes