Isolation and characterization of the gene encoding the heavy chain of Drosophila kinesin

An antiserum that recognizes the heavy chain of Drosophila kinesin was used to isolate Drosophila cDNA clones. Immunoblot analysis of the proteolytic fragments of the protein produced by one of the cDNA clones has demonstrated that the cDNA clones encode the heavy chain of Drosophila kinesin. The in vitro-synthesized product of the largest cDNA comigrates with Drosophila kinesin heavy chain on NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gels and binds to taxol-stabilized microtubules in the presence of the nonhydrolyzable analogue of ATP, 5'-adenylyl imidodiphosphate, but not in the presence of ATP or 0.1 M KCl. Analysis of the cDNA clones suggests that there is a single gene encoding kinesin heavy chain in Drosophila located at polytene chromosome position 53A. However, Southern hybridization analyses suggest the presence of related sequences in the Drosophila genome.