Expression of a putative ATPase suppresses the growth defect of a yeast potassium transport mutant: identification of a mammalian member of the Clp/HSP104 family.

A cDNA encoding a novel mammalian member of the Clp/HSP104 family was isolated from a mouse macrophage-like cell line (J774.1) cDNA library by suppression of the growth defect of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae trk1 trk2 double mutant. The full-length version of this cDNA, termed SKD3, encodes a putative 76-kDa protein of 677 amino acids (aa). The deduced aa sequence of the SKD3 polypeptide contains four ankyrin-like repeats in the N-terminal domain and a single ATP-binding consensus site in the C-terminal domain. The 378-aa C-terminal domain of SKD3 has 57-64% similarity (30-40% identity) with members of the Clp/HSP104 family, including the ClpA regulatory subunit of the Clp protease and S. cerevisiae heat-shock protein 104. Northern analysis showed that the 2.3-kb SKD3 transcript is present in a wide variety of tissues, is abundant in mouse heart, skeletal muscle and kidney, and is most abundant in testis. Members of the Clp/HSP104 family have been identified previously from bacteria, yeast and chloroplasts, and are ATPases regulating Clp protease activity and specificity, or mediating cellular responses involved in thermotolerance. SKD3 is the first member of this protein family identified in a higher eukaryote.