Choline Kinase Alpha (CHKa)

The major pathway for the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine occurs via the CDP-choline pathway. Choline kinase alpha is the initial enzyme in the sequence and may play a regulatory role. The encoded protein also catalyzes the phosphorylation of ethanolamine. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.In melanocytic cells CHKA gene expression may be regulated by MITF.

The deduced sequence of the human enzyme comprised 456 amino acids with a calculated relative molecular mass of 52,065. The human enzyme resembled the rat liver enzyme over the entire sequence. It also resembled the yeast enzyme in the carboxy-terminal region, but not in the amino-terminal region.