gene

ULK1

Entity Detail — Knowledge Graph Node

Understanding Entity Pages

This page aggregates everything SciDEX knows about ULK1: its mechanistic relationships (Knowledge Graph edges), hypotheses targeting it, analyses mentioning it, and supporting scientific papers. The interactive graph below shows its immediate neighbors. All content is AI-synthesized from peer-reviewed literature.

2417Connections

3Hypotheses

4Analyses

50Outgoing

50Incoming

0Experiments

4Debates

Summary

ULK1 is a gene implicated in neurodegeneration research. Key relationships include: associated with, activates, interacts with. Associated with AD, ALI, ALS. Connected to 1157 entities in the SciDEX knowledge graph.

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🧬 Gene Info

Gene Symbol	ULK1
Chromosome	2q24
Protein Family	Ser/Thr kinase (ULK family)
Protein Type	Kinase
Target Class	Kinase
Function	ULK1 is the initiating kinase for autophagy
Mechanism of Action	Small molecule activators or inhibitors of ULK1 kinase activity to modulate autophagy
Subcellular Localization	Cytoplasm, autophagosome
Druggability	Low (0.42)
Clinical Stage	Phase I
Molecular Weight	~1,050 amino acids (~112 kDa)
Amino Acids	050 aa
Pathways	AUTOPHAGY, Autophagy, Cell Cycle, Chaperone, Differentiation
UniProt ID	Q8N448
GeneCards	ULK1
Human Protein Atlas	ULK1
Associated Diseases	AD, Aging, ALI, Als, ALZHEIMER
Known Drugs/Compounds	ALT001, echinacoside, metformin, rapamycin, RAPAMYCIN, Shikonin
Interactions	14-3-3, 4E-BP1, ABCA1, ABCG1, ACAT1, ACC
SciDEX Target	View Target Profile (1 clinical trials)
SciDEX Hypotheses	TFEB-Independent Autophagy Bypass
KG Connections	2417 knowledge graph edges
Databases	GeneCards NCBI Gene HPA STRING

🧬 3D Structure Comparison — ULK1 Experimental (PDB) vs Predicted (AlphaFold) — click to expand

📄 Experimental Structure

4WNO — X-ray / Cryo-EM

🔮 AI Predicted Structure

Q8N448 — AlphaFold

Left: Experimental structure from RCSB PDB | Right: AI-predicted structure from AlphaFold | Powered by Mol*

Wiki Pages (4)

Knowledge base pages for this entity

Canonical Page

Pathway Diagram

graph TD
    ULK1["ULK1"] -->|"associated"| neurodegeneration["neurodegeneration"]
    ULK1["ULK1"] -->|"interacts"| CLOCK["CLOCK"]
    ULK1["ULK1"] -->|"co discussed"| PDGFRB["PDGFRB"]
    ULK1["ULK1"] -->|"co discussed"| TGFB1["TGFB1"]
    CLOCK_1["CLOCK"] -->|"interacts"| ULK1["ULK1"]
    BMAL1["BMAL1"] -->|"co discussed"| ULK1["ULK1"]
    CLOCK_2["CLOCK"] -->|"co discussed"| ULK1["ULK1"]
    CRH["CRH"] -->|"co discussed"| ULK1["ULK1"]
    style ULK1 fill:#4a1a6b,stroke:#4fc3f7,stroke-width:2px,color:#e0e0e0

Outgoing (1110)

Target	Relation	Type	Str
benchmark_ot_ad_answer_key:ULK1	data_in	dataset_row	0.00
MTOR	activates	gene	1.00
AUTOPHAGY	regulates	pathway	1.00
Als	activates	disease	1.00
Mtor	activates	pathway	1.00
ds-83b31ef18d49	provides_data_for	dataset	1.00
autophagy	regulates	process	1.00
autophagy	activates	pathway	1.00
Autophagy	activates	pathway	1.00
Autophagy	interacts_with	pathway	1.00
Cancer	inhibits	disease	0.95
Selective Autophagy	involved_in	process	0.95
Autophagosome Biogenesis	involved_in	process	0.95
autophagy initiation	regulates	process	0.95
Als	interacts_with	disease	0.95
Inflammation	activates	disease	0.95
APG115	synthetic_lethal_with	drug	0.93
frontotemporal lobar degeneration	biomarker_for	disease	0.92
pyroptosis	inhibits	process	0.92
PI3KC3-C1	interacts_with	protein	0.90
neural stem cells	regulates	cell_type	0.90
Alzheimer's disease	biomarker_for	disease	0.90
Macroautophagy	activates	process	0.90
microglia	expressed_in	cell_type	0.90
AMPK signaling	participates_in	pathway	0.90
oxidative stress response	participates_in	pathway	0.90
Autophagosome Biogenesis	mediates	process	0.90
Mitophagy	regulates	process	0.90
programmed mitophagy	regulates	process	0.90
autophagy activation	activates	process	0.90
damaged mitochondria accumulation	promotes	phenotype	0.90
NIX-dependent mitophagy	regulates	process	0.90
BECN1	phosphorylates	protein	0.90
neural stem cells	activates	cell_type	0.90
VPS34	activates	protein	0.90
SQSTM1	phosphorylates	protein	0.90
phagophore formation	activates	pathway	0.90
ferritinophagy	activates	pathway	0.90
ATG13	associated_with	protein	0.90
FIP200	associated_with	protein	0.90
Autophagy Initiation	involved_in	process	0.90
Autophagy	associated_with	pathway	0.90
Autophagy	therapeutic_target	pathway	0.90
Mitophagy	activates	pathway	0.90
diabetic kidney disease	protective_against	disease	0.88
kidney injury	prevents	phenotype	0.88
Tumor	therapeutic_target	disease	0.85
SESTRIN2	phosphorylates	protein	0.85
Als	regulates	disease	0.85
Autophagy	mediates	process	0.85

Incoming (1307)

Source	Relation	Type	Str
benchmark_ot_ad_answer_key:ULK1	data_in	dataset_row	0.00
AMPK	regulates	protein	1.00
ds-83b31ef18d49	data_in	dataset	1.00
LC3	activates	gene	1.00
MITOCHONDRIA	activates	gene	1.00
AMPK	activates	protein	1.00
TRIM49	interacts_with	gene	0.95
RAPAMYCIN	activates	drug	0.95
SESTRIN2	interacts_with	protein	0.95
SESTRIN2	modulates	protein	0.92
STAT1	associated_with	protein	0.90
TRIM49	regulates	gene	0.90
MAP1LC3	regulates	gene	0.90
MAP1LC3	activates	gene	0.90
h-1e4bba56	targets	hypothesis	0.90
ATG	regulates	gene	0.90
mTORC1	regulates	protein	0.90
AMPK	associated_with	protein	0.90
rapamycin	targets	drug	0.90
Acetylation	modulates	process	0.90
h-0e0cc0c1	targets	hypothesis	0.90
mTORC1	inhibits	protein	0.90
LC3	interacts_with	gene	0.90
MITOPHAGY	activates	gene	0.90
LC3	regulates	gene	0.90
ATG5	activates	gene	0.90
INFLAMMATION	activates	gene	0.90
SMCR8	regulates	entity	0.88
echinacoside	activates	drug	0.85
STAT1	downregulates	protein	0.85
SQSTM1	phosphorylates	gene	0.85
Energy Deprivation	activates	process	0.85
exercise	activates	phenotype	0.85
PP2Ac	phosphorylates	protein	0.85
XIAP	phosphorylates	protein	0.85
Shikonin	activates	drug	0.85
14-3-3	binds_to	protein	0.85
TBK1	phosphorylates	protein	0.85
FIP200	interacts_with	protein	0.84
TBK1	activates	protein	0.82
MTOR	regulates	protein	0.80
RNA	regulates	gene	0.80
RAS	regulates	gene	0.80
GABA	activates	gene	0.80
ubiquitin	modifies	protein	0.80
mTOR	upstream_of	protein	0.80
LAMP2	regulates	gene	0.80
GABA	regulates	gene	0.80
Autophagy	regulates	pathway	0.80
MLKL	regulates	gene	0.80

Targeting Hypotheses (3)

Hypotheses where this entity is a therapeutic target

Hypothesis	Score	Disease	Analysis
TFEB-Independent Autophagy Bypass	0.697	neurodegeneration	Does TFEB dysfunction cause neurodegener
Autophagy Activation ULK1/VPS34 (H3): Lipid Routing to Lysos	0.600	neurodegeneration	Does restoring neuronal AMPK activity re
Chronic mTORC1-ULK1 signaling blocks autophagy initiation in	0.578	neurodegeneration	What specific autophagy pathways are def

Mentioning Analyses (4)

Scientific analyses that reference this entity

Experiments (0)

Experimental studies targeting or related to this entity

Experiment	Type	Disease	Score	Feasibility	Model	Status	Est. Cost
No experiments found

Related Papers (10)

Scientific publications cited in analyses involving this entity

Title & PMID	Authors	Journal	Year
PSAT1 inhibits mTORC1 activation by preventing Rag heterodimer formation in lung [PMID:40702660]	Liu Y, Cheng Z, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Zhao T	Autophagy	2026
Nanocarrier-enhanced simvastatin modulates AMPK-ULK1 pathway and oxidative stres [PMID:41314452]	Afify AM, El-Sayed EK, Ismail A, Nofal S	Eur J Pharmacol	2026
Macrophage PD-1 regulates energy expenditure and metabolic dysfunction under imm [PMID:41380676]	Wu MM, Yang YC, Hu ZQ, Chang JY, Xiao H	Cell Metab	2026
AMPK promotes TFEB transcriptional activity through dephosphorylation at both MT [PMID:41661247]	Negoita F, Fraguas Bringas C, Hellberg K	Autophagy	2026
Neuronal PPP2R5C in plasma is a potential biomarker for early diagnosis of Alzhe [PMID:41720088]	Luo S, Liu H, Xiao T, Li Y, Liu X et al.	Cell Rep Med	2026
Prussian Blue Nanozyme Disrupts the Self-Reinforcing Loop of Tauopathy via Tripl [PMID:41797478]	Wu F, Huang J, Wang J, Wu R, Zhang H et	Adv Healthc Mater	2026
SLC38A9 Regulation Affects Hippocampal Neuronal Autophagy: A Potential Alzheimer [PMID:41811103]	Chen Y, Ji X, Zhao J, Bao Z, Huang Y	CNS Neurosci Ther	2026
The Human Autophagy Core Complexes. [PMID:41880641]	Hurley JH	Annu Rev Biochem	2026
Exercise-Induced Exerkines Modulate Autophagy: Implications for Interorgan Cross [PMID:41898620]	Deng Q, Huang J, Wang C, Liang J	Int J Mol Sci	2026
The Mitochondrial Guardian α-Amyrin Mitigates Alzheimer's Disease Pathology via [PMID:41572497]	Cao SQ, Jiménez-Loygorri JI, Qiu Y, Kang	Advanced science (Weinheim, Ba	2026

Debates (4)

Multi-agent debates referencing this entity

Related Research

Hypotheses and analyses mentioning ULK1 in their description or question text

No additional research found

ULK1

Understanding Entity Pages

Summary

Wiki Pages (4)

ULK1/2 Kinase Modulation for Mitophagy Induction in Neurodegeneration

ULK1 — UNC-51 Like Kinase 1

ULK1 Protein

ULK1 — ULK1 Protein

Pathway Diagram

Outgoing (1110)

Incoming (1307)

Targeting Hypotheses (3)

Mentioning Analyses (4)

How do non-cell autonomous effects of autophagy dysfunction contribute to ALS pa

Does TFEB dysfunction cause neurodegeneration or represent a compensatory respon

Digital biomarkers and AI-driven early detection of neurodegeneration

Mechanistic role of APOE in neurodegeneration

Experiments (0)

Related Papers (10)

Debates (4)

How do non-cell autonomous effects of autophagy dysfunction contribute to ALS pa

Can speech, gait, retinal imaging, sleep, and smartphone data detect neurodegene

Analysis question not specified

The debate highlighted TFEB's role in mitochondrial-lysosomal coupling but could

Related Research