ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A HUMAN GENE THAT ENCODES A NEW SUBCLASS OF PROTEIN TYROSINE KINASES

We describe the isolation and cDNA sequence of a novel human gene, which is distinct from all known members of the human src family of proto-oncogenes. In contrast to these, an autophosphorylation site corresponding to Tyr416, as well as the equivalent of Tyr527 in p60c-src, are missing in the amino acid (aa) sequence deduced from this gene. Furthermore, no N-terminal myristylation site is found. Our human clone is 98% identical at the aa level to a gene which was isolated independently from neonatal rat brain and was termed csk for c-src kinase. We, therefore, propose to designate the present human gene CSK. In Northern blot experiments, CSK was found to be expressed in human lung and macrophages. Due to its extreme conservation across species barriers, the CSK product is likely to exert important regulatory functions. On the basis of its expression in tissues, not typically expressing high c-src levels, it can be assumed that its regulatory role is more general and may also involve other tyrosine kinases.