Molecular cloning of a chicken lung cDNA encoding a novel protein kinase with N-terminal two LIM/double zinc finger motifs.

Using the cDNA fragment of chicken c-sea receptor tyrosine kinase as a probe, we isolated from a chicken lung cDNA library overlapping cDNA clones encoding a novel protein kinase, which we termed LIM-kinase (LIMK). The predicted polypeptide of 642 amino acid residues contains remarkable structural features, composed of the N-terminal two tandemly arrayed LIM/double zinc finger motifs and the C-terminal unusual protein kinase domain. To our knowledge, a protein kinase containing the LIM motif in the molecule has not heretofore been described. The protein kinase domain of LIMK shares highly conserved residues with the known protein kinases, but LIMK is unique in that it contains the sequence DLNSHN in subdomain VIB and a short, highly basic insert sequence, which may function as a signal for nuclear localization, between subdomain VII and VIII in the protein kinase domain. Northern blot analysis revealed that the single species of LIMK mRNA of 3.8 kb is expressed predominantly in the lung, and faintly in the kidney, liver, brain, spleen, gizzard, and intestine. As the LIM motif is thought to be involved in protein-protein interactions by binding to another LIM motif, and is often present in the homeodomain-containing proteins involved in cell fate determination and in the oncogenic nuclear proteins (rhombotins), it is likely that LIMK is involved in developmental or oncogenic processes through interactions with these LIM-containing proteins.