Structure, expression, and functional analysis of the gene coding for calmodulin in the chytridiomycete Blastocladiella emersonii.

ABSTRACT: The single calmodulin (CaM) gene and the corresponding cDNA of the chytridiomycete Blastocladiella emersonii were isolated and characterized. The CaM gene is interrupted by three introns and transcribed in a single 0.7-kb mRNA species encoding a predicted protein 91% identical to human CaM. B. emersonii CaM has been expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with gluthatione S-transferase (GST) and purified by affinity chromatography and cleavage from the GST portion using a site-specific protease. In the presence of Ca(2+), B. emersonii CaM exhibited a shift in apparent molecular mass similar to that observed with bovine CaM and was able to activate the autophosphorylation of CaM-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) from rat brain. CaM expression is developmentally regulated in B.

SUBMITTER: Simao RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC95135 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature