Identification and characterization of a gene encoding a kinesin-like protein in Drosophila.
We identified and sequenced a cDNA clone encoding a kinesin-like protein from Drosophila. The predicted product of this cDNA has a carboxy-terminal domain that is substantially similar to the motor domain of kinesin heavy chain. The amino-terminal domain is unlike that found in previously identified kinesins or kinesin-like proteins. Analyses of this new sequence suggest that the maximal motor unit in the kinesin superfamily may be as little as 350 amino acids, and that the existence of both kinesin and kinesin-like molecules must be an evolutionarily ancient feature of eukaryotes. We also tested some of the biochemical properties of the protein encoded by this cDNA and found them to be similar to those of kinesin. Finally, the clone we isolated appears to correspond to the non-claret disjunctional (ncd) gene, which when mutant causes defects in meiotic and early embryonic mitotic chromosome segregation, and whose recently determined sequence predicts a kinesin-like domain.
McDonald
H B
HB
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Goldstein
L S
LS
D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005796:Genes; D016547:Kinesins; D008868:Microtubule Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008868:Microtubule Proteins; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; C066696:ncd protein, Drosophila; D004247:DNA; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D016547:Kinesins