Cloning and characterization of a novel gene which encodes a protein interacting with the mitosis-associated kinase-like protein NTKL.

NTKL is an evolutionarily conserved kinase-like protein. The cell-cycle-dependent centrosomal localization of NTKL suggested that it was involved in centrosome-related cellular function. The mouse NTKL protein is highly homologous with human NTKL. A novel mouse protein was identified as an NTKL-binding protein (NTKL-BP1) by yeast two-hybrid screening, and the full-length cDNA was amplified based on the result of a sequence data analysis cloning strategy. The full-length cDNA sequence of the NTKL-BP1 gene consists of 2,537 bp, which encode 368 amino acids. A database search revealed that homologues of NTKL-BP1 exist in different organisms, including Arabidopsis thaliana, Drosophila melanogaster, Plasmodium falciparum, Geobacter metallireducens, Anopheles gambiae and human. It suggests that NTKL-BP1 is an evolutionarily conserved protein. The expression of NTKL-BP1 was observed in multiple normal mouse tissues. The interaction of the two proteins was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. Moreover, immunofluorescent staining indicated that NTKL and NTKL-BP1 were all localized in the cytoplasm.