Gay N J, Poole S J, Kornberg T B
Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Jul 25;16(14A):6637-47. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.14.6637.
The engrailed gene is required during embryogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster for normal segmental development and for differentiation of posterior compartments. The protein encoded by the engrailed gene contains a homeodomain, has sequence specific DNA binding activity, and has been proposed as a transcriptional regulator. We show here that the engrailed protein, isolated from both cultured cells and embryos, has been modified by a serine-specific protein kinase. This is the first report that homeobox proteins are post-translationally modified. Phosphorylation of the engrailed protein may directly or allosterically modify its function, and offers the possibility that the engrailed protein becomes phosphorylated in response to extracellular, mitogenic or positional stimuli.
在黑腹果蝇胚胎发育过程中，engrailed基因对于正常的节段发育和后区室的分化是必需的。engrailed基因编码的蛋白质含有一个同源异型结构域，具有序列特异性DNA结合活性，并被认为是一种转录调节因子。我们在此表明，从培养细胞和胚胎中分离出的engrailed蛋白已被一种丝氨酸特异性蛋白激酶修饰。这是关于同源异型框蛋白发生翻译后修饰的首次报道。engrailed蛋白的磷酸化可能直接或通过变构作用改变其功能，并提供了engrailed蛋白可能响应细胞外、促有丝分裂或位置刺激而发生磷酸化的可能性。
