PAK3

Chr XXLR

p21 (RAC1) activated kinase 3

Serine/threonine protein kinase that plays a role in a variety of different signaling pathways including cytoskeleton regulation, cell migration, or cell cycle regulation. Plays a role in dendrite spine morphogenesis as well as synapse formation and plasticity. Acts as a downstream effector of the small GTPases CDC42 and RAC1. Activation by the binding of active CDC42 and RAC1 results in a conformational change and a subsequent autophosphorylation on several serine and/or threonine residues. Phosphorylates MAPK4 and MAPK6 and activates the downstream target MAPKAPK5, a regulator of F-actin polymerization and cell migration. Additionally, phosphorylates TNNI3/troponin I to modulate calcium sensitivity and relaxation kinetics of thin myofilaments. May also be involved in early neuronal development. In hippocampal neurons, necessary for the formation of dendritic spines and excitatory synapses; this function is dependent on kinase activity and may be exerted by the regulation of actomyosin contractility through the phosphorylation of myosin II regulatory light chain (MLC) (By similarity)

Primary Disease Associations & Inheritance

Intellectual developmental disorder, X-linked 30MIM #300558

XLR

333

ClinVar variants

126

Pathogenic / LP

0.99

pLI score· haploinsufficient

Active trials

Clinical Summary— PAK3

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Gene-Disease Validity (ClinGen)

X-linked syndromic intellectual disability · XLDefinitive

Definitive — sufficient evidence for diagnostic panels

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Population Constraint (gnomAD)

Highly constrained gene — heterozygous loss-of-function variants are very rare in the population (pLI 0.99). One damaged copy is likely sufficient to cause disease.

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ClinVar Variants

126 Pathogenic / Likely Pathogenic· 130 VUS of 333 total submissions

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Clinical Trials

1 active or recruiting trial — potential therapeutic options may be available

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Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

gnomAD

Dual constrained — LoF & missense intolerant

LoF Constraint?LOEUF (Loss-of-function Observed/Expected Upper bound Fraction) is the upper bound of the 90% CI for LoF OE — the preferred gnomAD v4 metric. Lower = more intolerant to LoF. LOEUF < 0.35 = highly constrained.

0.29LOEUF

pLI 0.987

Z-score 3.95

OE 0.09 (0.04–0.29)

Highly constrained

Highly LoF-intolerant (top ~10% of genes)

Missense Constraint?Missense Z-score: standard deviations fewer missense variants observed vs. expected. Z > 3.09 (p < 0.001) = gene does not tolerate missense variation. OE missense < 0.6 is also considered constrained.

3.53Z-score

OE missense 0.32 (0.26–0.39)

69 obs / 214.7 exp

Constrained

Highly missense-constrained (top ~0.1%)

Observed / Expected Ratios?Shaded band = 90% confidence interval. Vertical tick = point estimate. Grey threshold line = gnomAD constraint cutoff for that variant class.

LoF OE?Ratio of observed to expected LoF variants. Upper CI bound (LOEUF) ≤ 0.35 = strong LoF constraint signal.0.09 (0.04–0.29)

0≤0.351.4

Missense OE?Ratio of observed to expected missense variants. OE ≤ 0.6 = fewer missense variants than expected by chance.0.32 (0.26–0.39)

0≤0.61.4

Synonymous OE?Control metric — synonymous variants are largely neutral and expected near OE = 1.0. Significant deviation may indicate annotation issues.0.95

0≤1.21.6

LoF obs/exp: 2 / 22.0Missense obs/exp: 69 / 214.7Syn Z: 0.32