Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Pharm Res. 2010 Jan 27;27(6):989–998. doi: 10.1007/s11095-010-0051-8

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

Structure and function of Plk1. A Plk1 structure. Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) consists of a highly conserved kinase activity domain and two polo box domains involved in self regulation, target binding, and localization. The ATP binding site is located at lysine-83, and a phospho-activation site is located at threonine-210. Plk1 activity is increased upon phosphorylation at threonine-210 by Aurora A in conjunction with Bora. B Plk1 functions. Plk1 mRNA, protein and activity levels begin to rise in S-phase, peaking at the G2/M transition. These levels are relatively steady throughout mitosis but decline upon mitotic exit into G1. During cell cycle progression, Plk1 regulates multiple targets, both directly and indirectly, involved in the G2/M transition, spindle pole maturation (SPM), the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), and cytokinesis. (Cell cycle stages are not to scale.)