Cloning, tissue expression pattern, and chromosome localization of human protein kinase Bγ gene

Protein kinase B (PKB) is a member of the second messenger-regulated subfamily of protein kinases, and plays a key role in cell-cycle regulation, glucose uptake and promotion of cell differentiation. Evidence shows that PKB undergoes activation in some human tumors and is involved in Ras pathway, which implies that PKB can trigger a pathway to induce oncogenic transformation. A nucleotide sequence of mousePkbγ was used as a probe to screen homolog in a human liver cDNA library. A fragment of 1998 bp containing a 1440 bp ORF encoding 479 amino acid residues was obtained. Then the 3′-terminal of this fragment was extended to 2788 bp by ‘electronic walking’ screening, and the extended fragment was confirmed by PCR amplification. The protein deduced by the gene had a high identity of 83% and 78% to the human PKBα and β, respectively, and was designated as humanPKBγ. Northern hybridization detected two equally expressed transcripts of 8.5 and 6.5 kb in length in all 16 human tissues tested, with the highest expression level in brain, and lower levels with variation in the other tissues. By RH mapping, thePKBγ was placed on chromosome 1q43, between markers D1S304 and D1S2693. It is a valuable clue for cloning the candidate genes related to prostate cancer; Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD); Chediak-Higashi, NK cell Deficiency (CHS); and Hypoparathyrodism with Short Stature, Mental Retardation and Seizures which have already been mapped in this chromosomal region.