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Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics
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With Professor J. Wade Harper, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas.
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The action of cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) requires that they associate with a cognate cyclin partner. In addition to its role in promoting an active CDK conformation, the cyclin partner is thought to be responsible for targetting the CDK to the appropriate sub-cellular location, and to play a role in substrate selection. Two intriguing questions of recognition are involved in this: how are correct pairings of CDK with cyclin formed ?, and what is the role of the cyclin in substrate selection ?. We have addressed this by looking in detail at sequence conservation among cyclins A, D, and E. As well as modelling D and E type cyclins on the basis of the known structure of cyclin A, we have developed a novel protocol for analysis of a multiple cyclin sequence alignment. Sequence conservation and sequence homology are flexibly analysed to colour the surface of a cyclin structure in the program Aesop. This analysis identifies the core regions responsible for activities common to all cyclins, as well as regions of the cyclin surface which are conserved within one family of cyclins, but which differ from cyclin-family to cyclin-family (Figure 9).
Previous: Arylamine N-acetyltransferase, Next: Aesop, Up: Protein kinases, ..., Return to: Contents.