title: Nucleotide sequence of ToxPK1 gene from Toxoplasma gondii.
abstract: We report here for the first time a complete nucleotide sequence (6.8 kb) of a protein kinase gene (ToxPK1) from the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite of man, Toxoplasma gondii. This gene comprising putatively of 9 exons and 8 introns forms the Toxoplasma gene with the largest number and size of introns reported so far. The predicted protein with 508 amino acids contains the 15 invariant residues as well as the characteristic motifs specific to protein serine/threonine kinases. Homology-based computational comparisons suggested that TOXPK1 belongs to or closely resembles the SNF1 subfamily of protein-serine/threonine kinases. Based on the functions of SNF1 homologs in other organisms and our RT-PCR results, it is likely that TOXPK1 may be transiently expressed to up-regulate glycogen biosynthesis during the development of tachyzoites into bradyzoites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jeyaseelan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018388:Codon, Terminator; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018388:Codon, Terminator; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C093422:PK1 protein, Toxoplasma gondii; C071570:SNF1-related protein kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases