Diversity of the protein kinase gene family in rice

Multiple genes have been found to encode families of protein kinases in animals and yeasts. Little is known of the diversity of protein kinase families in plants. We have used the polymerase chain reaction to identify members of protein kinase gene family in rice. We have cloned eight partial cDNA sequences from which deduced amino acid sequences contained conserved sequences or amino acid residues characteristic of catalytic domains of eukaryotic protein serine/threonine kinases. Our results suggest that there is great complexity in the protein kinase gene family in plants and that protein phophorylation may play an as important role in plants as in in other eukaryotes.