MOLECULAR-CLONING OF RAT P38 MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN-KINASE AND ITSOSMOTIC REGULATION IN RAT-KIDNEY

Rat p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cDNA was isolated from rat kidney cDNA library using a PCR cloning strategy. The deduced amin o acid sequence consists of 360 amino acids and shares 95.3% similarit y with human p38 MAP kinase. The message for rat p38 MAP kinase was ab out 3.4 kilobases and was highly expressed in the kidney. In water-dep rived rat kidneys, the steady-state levels of p38 MAP kinase mRNA incr eased about 2.7-fold as compared with those of control rats. This resu lt suggests that p38 MAP kinase may play an important role in the osmo regulation in the kidney.