title: Molecular cloning and expression of the human deoxythymidylate kinase gene in yeast.
abstract: (Deoxy)thymidylate (dTMP) kinase is an enzyme which phosphorylates dTMP to dTDP in the presence of ATP and magnesium. This enzyme is important in cellular DNA synthesis because the synthesis of dTTP, either via the de novo pathway or through the exogenous supply of thymidine, requires the activity of this enzyme. It has been suggested that the activities of the enzymes involved in DNA precursor biosynthesis, such as thymidine kinase, thymidylate synthase, thymidylate kinase, and dihydrofolate reductase, are subjected to cell cycle regulation. Here we describe the cloning of a human dTMP kinase cDNA by functional complementation of a yeast dTMP kinase temperature-sensitive mutant at the non-permissive temperature. The nucleotide sequence of the cloned human cDNA is predicted to encode a 24 KD protein that shows considerable homology with the yeast and vaccinia virus dTMP kinase enzymes. The human enzyme activity has been investigated by expressing it in yeast. In this work, we demonstrate that the cloned human cDNA, when expressed in yeast, produces dTMP kinase activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Genetics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262.
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sclafani
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics*; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D013937:Thymidine Kinase