Isolation of the cell cycle control gene cdc2 from Paramecium tetraurelia

The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify a cdc2 homologous sequence from Paramecium tetraurelia. The corresponding amino acid sequences exhibits about 50% similarity to the cdc2 proteins of other species. The Paramecium cdc2 encoded protein is 11 amino acids longer than S. pombe p34cdc2. There is one amino acid change in the conserved PSTAIRE region. Southern blot analysis indicates that Paramecium has multiple cdc2 genes. Northern blotting results shows that Paramecium cdc2 is much more expressed in actively dividing cells. It is almost undetectable in starved stationary cells. The mRNA level of cdc2 gene does not change during the vegetative cell cycle.