Cloning, expression, and in situ localization of rat intestinal cGMP-dependent protein kinase II

The cDNA for a membrane-associated cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK II) was cloned from rat intestine using reverse transcriptase PCR and oligonucleotide primers encoding two conserved motifs of known cGMP-dependent protein kinases and subsequently by screening a rat intestine cDNA library. A full-length clone encodes a protein of 761 amino acids with an estimated size of 87 kDa. Sequences of eight peptides from purified pig intestinal mucosa cGK II were found in the derived amino acid sequence of this clone, identifying it as rat intestinal cGK II. Phylogenetic analysis showed that rat intestinal cGK II is less related to mammalian cGK I than to the Drosophila DG1 gene product and most closely related to a recently cloned mouse brain CGKII isoform. Like several other cGK sequences, that of cGK II contained a leucine/isoleucine heptad repeat motif that has been implicated in dimer formation in cGK I. Expression of cGK II cDNA in HEK 293 cells followed by subcellular fractionation revealed cGK II localization in the cell particulate fraction, consistent with the membrane association of endogenous rat cGK II. On Northern blots, the major cGK II poly(A) RNA form was 4.8 kb, with minor forms of 6.2 and 3.1 kb. The cGK II RNA was highly expressed in rat intestinal mucosa and was 20 times less abundant in rat brain and kidney. The localization of endogenous cGK II RNA in rat small intestine was shown by in situ hybridization to be in villous epithelial cells and to some extent in crypt cells.