The Dark Kinase Knowledgebase (the “DKK”) is being developed as a component of the Kinase Data and Resource Generating Center (DRGC) - one of 3 DRGCs supported as part of the Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) Common Fund effort. The goal of the IDG program is to improve our understanding of the properties and functions of proteins that are currently unannotated within the three most commonly drug-targeted protein families: G-protein coupled receptors, ion channels, and protein kinases.
The goal of the DKK is to generate, systematize and disseminate knowledge about dark kinases, biological networks in which they function and connections to cellular phenotypes and human disease. This is being done by (i) establishing a knowledgebase covering the approximately 160 poorly understood “dark kinases”, (ii) distilling primary data into functional biochemical and biological information and promoting further research using genetic and chemical tools, which we are also developing and making available, (iii) placing dark kinases within a new and emerging network-level understanding of cell signaling and physiology and (iv) identifying those dark kinases whose mutation or mis-regulation is associated with human disease, making them possible therapeutic targets.
