Anaplastic lymphoma kinase
Overview
 
Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) also known as ALK tyrosine kinase receptor or CD246 (cluster of differentiation 246) is an enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that in humans is encoded by the ALK gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.
ALK plays an important role in the development of the brain and exerts its effects on specific neurons in the nervous system.

The deduced amino acid sequences reveal that ALK is a novel receptor tyrosine kinase
Receptor tyrosine kinase
Receptor tyrosine kinases s are the high-affinity cell surface receptors for many polypeptide growth factors, cytokines, and hormones. Of the 90 unique tyrosine kinase genes identified in the human genome, 58 encode receptor tyrosine kinase proteins....

 having a putative transmembrane domain and an extracellular domain.
Quotations

[When the Allied forces fire on him] Why are you always messing with me. It's got to be a joke!

[Convincing Shimizu not to kill himself] We can die here, or we can continue fighting. Which would better serve the emperor?

[Letter to his wife] We soldiers dig. We dig all day. This is the hole that we will fight and die in. Am I digging my own grave?

[About Nishi's romancing skills] There are rumors about his womanizing...But there are no women left to woo.

[In response to a soldier saying death is honorable] Kashiwara died of honorable dysentery.

There is no use for a dead soldier.

Damn this island! The Americans can have it.

Do what is right because it is right.

If you want my honest opinion, General, the best thing to do would be to sink this island to the bottom of the sea.

I'm tired of sharing this cave with all of you, I'm a one-man show from now on.

 
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