title: Caenorhabditis elegans contains a third polo-like kinase gene.
abstract: The Polo family of serine/threonine kinases have been implicated in cell cycle control in a number of diverse organisms. Their localization and biochemical activity suggest that they play an important role in centrosome maturation, G2-to-M phase progression, the promotion of anaphase, and cytokinesis. The Polo family of kinases is distinct from other serine/threonine kinases in that they all contain a polo-box sequence motif in their non-catalytic C-terminal domain. Recently, it was reported that two Polo-related kinases, Plc1 and Plc2, are present in C. elegans. Plc2 has diverged from Plc1 with poor homology within the polo-box sequence and only had 40% amino acid identity with Plc1. We report here the full-length cDNA sequence of another Polo-related kinase from C. elegans. The predicted protein product has greater than 70% amino acid identity with PLK-1/Plc1, and has a highly conserved polo-box domain.
authors.affiliation: NIA, NCI-FCRF, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heidecker
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ferris
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D000097869:Polo-Like Kinase 1