Molecular cloning of a mouse extracellular signal regulated kinase (erk-1)

A complementary DNA has been cloned and sequenced for the mouse extracellular signal regulated kinase (erk-1). The nucleotide sequence of the 1.7 kb mouse erk-1 cDNA clone (merk-1-34) is 93.5% identical to the published rat DNA sequence (Boulton et al. (1990) Science 249, 64-67). The mouse clone, as with all other reported sequences, did not contain an in-frame translation initiation codon and, therefore, does not appear to be full-length. Attempts to generate cDNA sequence upstream of the 5' end of merk-1-34 using thermostable reverse transcriptase and chemical melting of the mRNA (methylmercury hydroxide) were unsuccessful.