Open AccessA novel mammalian protein kinase gene (mak) is highly expressed in testicular germ cells at and after meiosis.
Author(s) -
Hitoshi Matsushime,
Atsushi Jinno,
Nobuo Takagi,
Masabumi Shibuya
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.10.5.2261
Subject(s) - biology , cyclin dependent kinase 1 , schizosaccharomyces pombe , cyclin dependent kinase 7 , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , cyclin dependent kinase 9 , protein kinase a , map3k7 , gene product , complementary dna , cyclin dependent kinase 4 , cyclin dependent kinase 2 , gene expression , genetics , kinase , saccharomyces cerevisiae , cell cycle
We isolated a novel gene designated mak (male germ cell-associated kinase) by using weak cross-hybridization with a tyrosine kinase gene (v-ros). Sequence analysis of the cDNA corresponding to the 2.6-kilobase transcript revealed that the predicted product of rat mak consisted of 622 amino acids and contained protein kinase consensus motifs in its amino-terminal region. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of mak in the kinase domain with those of other protein kinase genes demonstrated that mak was approximately 40% identical to the cdc2-CDC28 gene family in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and humans but less identical to most other protein kinase gene products. Expression of mak was highly tissue specific, and its transcripts were detected almost exclusively in testicular cells entering and after meiosis but hardly detectable in ovarian cells including oocytes, after the dictyotene stage. These results suggest that the mak gene plays an important role in spermatogenesis.