Worm Breeder's Gazette 10(1): 43
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
We have inadvertently isolated a partial cDNA clone to a C. elegans protein kinase. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of this clone is shown below aligned with several protein kinases. The clone contains two sequence elements (DFG and APE) that are diagnostic of protein kinases. A third diagnostic element (RDL) would not lie within the peptide encoded by this clone. These three sequence elements are believed to fall within the active site of protein kinases. This clone lacks a tyrosine residue about 14 amino acids upstream of the APE box which is a hallmark of protein tyrosine kinases. In addition, Protein Kinase C gives the best alignment scores with this sequence. These observations lead us to believe that this clone is from a serine or threonine kinase. The sequence of a larger clone is needed to identify the specific kinase class to which this protein belongs. If anybody wishes to collaborate with us in the characterization of this protein kinase please give us a call. [See Figure 1]