Background：

Phosphorylated derivatives of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) regulate cytoskeletal functions， membrane trafficking， and receptor signaling by recruiting protein complexes to cell- and endosomal-membranes. Humans have multiple PtdIns proteins that differ by the degree and position of phosphorylation of the inositol ring. This gene encodes an enzyme (PIKfyve; also known as phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate 5-kinase type III or PIPKIII) that phosphorylates the D-5 position in PtdIns and phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) to make PtdIns5P and PtdIns(3，5)biphosphate. The D-5 position also can be phosphorylated by type I PtdIns4P-5-kinases (PIP5Ks) that are encoded by distinct genes and preferentially phosphorylate D-4 phosphorylated PtdIns. In contrast， PIKfyve preferentially phosphorylates D-3 phosphorylated PtdIns. In addition to being a lipid kinase， PIKfyve also has protein kinase activity. PIKfyve regulates endomembrane homeostasis and plays a role in the biogenesis of endosome carrier vesicl