title: Identification and characterization of a conserved family of protein serine/threonine phosphatases homologous to Drosophila retinal degeneration C.
abstract: The Drosophila retinal degeneration C (rdgC) gene encodes an unusual protein serine/threonine phosphatase in that it contains at least two EF-hand motifs at its carboxy terminus. By a combination of large-scale sequencing of human retina cDNA clones and searches of expressed sequence tag and genomic DNA databases, we have identified two sequences in mammals [Protein Phosphatase with EF-hands-1 and 2 (PPEF-1 and PPEF-2)] and one in Caenorhabditis elegans (PPEF) that closely resemble rdgC. In the adult, PPEF-2 is expressed specifically in retinal rod photoreceptors and the pineal. In the retina, several isoforms of PPEF-2 are predicted to arise from differential splicing. The isoform that most closely resembles rdgC is localized to rod inner segments. Together with the recently described localization of PPEF-1 transcripts to primary somatosensory neurons and inner ear cells in the developing mouse, these data suggest that the PPEF family of protein serine/threonine phosphatases plays a specific and conserved role in diverse sensory neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Macke
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Smallwood
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nathans
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000378:metabolism; D012160:Retina / Q000378:metabolism*; D012162:Retinal Degeneration; D017948:Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C491500:Ppef1 protein, mouse; C107424:PPEF1 protein, human; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; C074643:rdgC protein, Drosophila