Nullin Divecha

DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit: a relative of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and the ataxia telangiectasia gene product

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), which is involved in DNA double-stranded break repair and V(D)J recombination, comprises a DNA-targeting component called Ku and an approximately 460 kDa catalytic subunit, DNA-PKcs. Here, we describe the cloning of the DNA-PKcs cDNA and show that DNA-PKcs falls into the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase family. Biochemical assays, however, indicate that DNA-PK phosphorylates proteins but has no detectable activity toward lipids. Strikingly, DNA-PKcs is most similar to PI kinase family members involved in cell cycle control, DNA repair, and DNA damage responses. These include the FKBP12-rapamycin-binding proteins Tor1p, Tor2p, and FRAP, S. pombe rad3, and the product of the ataxia telangiectasia gene, mutations in which lead to genomic instability and predisposition to cancer. The relationship of these proteins to DNA-PKcs provides important clues to their mechanisms of action.

Cloning and characterisation of two new cDNAs encoding murine triple LIM domains.

We have cloned and sequenced two new cDNAs that code for proteins carrying the related triple LIM domains (acronym of Lin-11, Isl-1, Mec-3) proteins. These LIM domains show good agreement to the LIM domain consensus sequence, but also exhibit some novel variations. The 1.36-and 2.8-kb cDNAs are probably splice variants of one gene and code for 42- and 50-kDa proteins, respectively. The larger transcript has a 900-nucleotide (nt) 3 untranslated region (UTR). High levels of the 2.8-kb transcript can be detected in many tissues, and all tissues show some level of expression of both transcripts, the larger transcript being more abundant. In adult testis there are very high levels of the 1.36-kb transcript and moderate levels of the 2.8-kb transcript. The wide tissue distribution and high levels of expression suggest an important role for these proteins in cellular function.

The nuclear phosphoinositide cycle — does it play a role in nuclear Ca2+ homoeostasis?

The probable answer to this question is no. Much of the current evidence summarised elsewhere in this issue points to nuclear Ca2+ changes changing in response to cytosolic Ca2+, with little evidence for an independently controlled nuclear Ca2+ homeostasis. There are InsP3 receptors in the nuclear membrane, and it is possible that during nuclear membrane assembly the InsP3 acting on these (Sullivan and Wilson, this issue) is formed by an inositide cycle located on the assembling nuclear skeleton. But our current experimental data suggest that when the nucleus is intact, InsP3 generated by this cycle would have to exit through the nuclear pores to act on any known InsP3 receptors. Thus the nuclear inositide cycle appears more likely to serve to generate diacylglycerol to activate protein kinase C, and/or to generate inositol phosphates such as InsP2, which may have distinct intranuclear functions.