**Introduction**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Introductory Chapter: Vitamin K2**

**Introductory Chapter: Vitamin K2**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

with other genes and modulate their effects substantially.

the more abundant, as well as the more active moiety.

pl?taskId=I2KNgtQWbVsT looks like this (**Figure 1**).

Before going into detail the biological effects of vitamin K2, it must be emphasized that vitamin K2, also known as menaquinones with varying side chain lengths, may in fact associate

In fact, vitamin K2 may associate with a protein nuclear factor or intra‐nuclear hormone receptor, just like what is known for vitamin A and vitamin D. This protein has many names, such as NR1I2, PXR or SXR. Vitamin K2 with its isoprenoid side chain of varying length will, for reasons of simplification, now be referred to as MK‐7, even though there are moieties which are both shorter and longer. MK‐7 is chosen, due to the fact that this molecule might be

First, it might be of interest to see which the genes are, and thus, what are the cellular or biological functions being 'determined' or 'modulated' by MK‐7 and its 'relatives'. A scrutiny of the interactions of NR1I2 taken from 'Gene Cards': http://string‐db.org/cgi/network.

It has been well established that NR1I2‐PXR‐SXR is the receptor, which binds vitamin K2 analogues of different chain lengths, e.g. MK‐4 and MK‐7, and NR1I2 may thus communicate the effects of vitamin K2 via associating with RXRA, forming a heterodimer. Furthermore, one may postulate that vitamin K2 may influence several other genes indirectly, by 'impinging' on elements or members of a 'gene lattice' like the one shown in **Figure 1**. Some of the genes being putatively strongly affected by vitamin K2 are (text from the same web‐page as referred

*RPS6KB1* ribosomal protein S6 kinase, 70 kDa, polypeptide 1; Serine/threonine‐protein kinase that functions downstream of signalling by mTOR responding to growth factors, as well as nutrients in order to sustain cell proliferation, growth and progression of the cell cycle. It modulates protein synthesis via phosphorylation of EIF4B, RPS6 and EEF2K, and ensures cell survival via repression of pro‐apoptotic functions of BAD. When nutrient depletion occurs, inactive forms associate with EIF3 to build a translation

Jan Oxholm Gordeladze

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/66384

to **Figure 1**):

initiation complex.

Jan Oxholm Gordeladze

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**
