title: Molecular cloning and sequencing of the cytostatic G protein-activated protein kinase PAK I.
abstract: The serine/threonine protein kinase PAK I (p2l-activated protein kinase), a ubiquitous multipotential protein kinase of 58-60 kDa, has been shown to have cytostatic properties. Data from our laboratory show that PAK I is highly active in oocytes and quiescent and serum-starved cells, and injection of active PAK I into one blastomere of two-cell frog embryos inhibits cleavage of the injected blastomere. To clone the cDNA encoding PAK I, purified peptides from rabbit PAK I were sequenced, degenerate oligonucleotides were used to isolate PAK I clones from a rabbit spleen library, and the 5'-terminus was obtained by polymerase chain reaction. The entire cDNA sequence extends over 4471 nucleotides, with an open reading frame for a protein of 524 residues and a 3'-noncoding region of 2826 nucleotides. Clones with the same open reading frame but with 3'-noncoding regions of 1055 and 2478 nucleotides were isolated, suggesting the generation of different transcripts by alternative termination of transcription. The amino acid sequence of PAK I shows high homology to the p2l-activated protein kinases from human placenta and rat brain and to yeast STE20. PAK I is activated by Cdc42(GTP). The PAK enzymes have been proposed to regulate the stress-activated protein kinase (also known as the Jun kinase) signaling pathway (Coso, O. A., Chiariello, M., Yu, J.-C., Teramoto, H., Crespo, P., Xu, N., Miki, T., and Gutkind, J. S. (1995) Cell 81, 1137-1146; Minden, A., Lin, A., Claret, F.-X., Abo, A., and Karin, M. (1995) Cell 81, 1147-1157).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of California, Riverside 92521, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jakobi
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Tuazon
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Traugh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D011494:Protein Kinases; C036447:protease activated kinase I; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins