Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on March 9, 2009
Nucleic Acids Research 2009 37(8):2699-2711; doi:10.1093/nar/gkp094
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Nucleic Acids Research, 2009, Vol. 37, No. 8 2699-2711
© 2009 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Molecular Biology |
Identification and characterization of a novel testis-specific gene CKT2, which encodes a substrate for protein kinase CK2
1McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Science, Great Falls, MT 59405, 2Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80206, USA and 3National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM U654), 26, Avenue du Docteur Arnold-Netter, 75571 PARIS Cedex 12 and University Paris XI, France
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 303 398 1537; Fax: +1 303 270 2249; Email: baix{at}njhealth.org
Received August 7, 2008. Revised February 3, 2009. Accepted February 5, 2009.
Protein kinase CK2 is a serine/threonine kinase known to phosphorylate numerous substrates. CK2 is implicated in several physiologic and pathologic processes, particularly in cancer biology. CK2 is comprised of several subunits, including CK2
, CK2' and CK2β. Inactivation of CK2' leads to chromatin degeneration of germ cells, resulting in male sterility. To identify additional targets of CK2' in testes and to determine the role of CK2' in germ cell nuclear integrity, GST pull-down and protein–protein interaction assays were conducted. A novel testis-specific gene, CKT2 (CK2 Target protein 2), was found whose product interacts with and is phosphorylated by CK2 in vitro and in vivo. CKT2 is a 30.2 kDa protein with one coiled-coil domain and six putative phosphorylation sites. High expression of CKT2 correlated with chromatin condensation of spermatids in murine testes. Findings reported herein demonstrate that CKT2 is a target protein of native CK2' in testes and suggest that CKT2 plays a role in chromatin regulation of male germ cells.