Molecular cloning of a novel human cdc2/CDC28-like protein kinase

A homology probing approach was utilized to isolate a new human protein kinase. Deoxyoligonucleotide probes recognizing a conserved subdomain in the COOH-terminal portion of protein kinases identified a cDNA clone encoding a putative kinase with predicted serine/threonine phosphorylation specificity. The full-length, 1.7-kilobase pair cDNA hybridizes to 1.7- and 3.4-kilobase mRNA transcripts in a number of tissues. The size of the encoded protein is 454 amino acids and consists of an NH2-terminal 130-residue segment, which may represent a regulatory region, followed by a 324-residue catalytic domain. Comparisons and alignments of the primary sequence and predicted secondary structure of the catalytic region to other known kinases reveal that the new kinase, denoted "CLK" (for CDC-like kinase), represents a prototype for a new family of human protein kinases bearing significant homology to the yeast cdc2/CDC28 kinases that regulate the cell cycle.