Rl. Goodwin et al., The cloning and analysis of LEK1 identifies variations in the LEK centromere protein F mitosin gene family, J BIOL CHEM, 274(26), 1999, pp. 18597-18604
We report the cloning of a novel murine cDNA, LEK1, that is related to huma
n CENP-F and mitosin and more distantly to chicken CMF1, The proteins from
these three organisms have significant homology, yet differ in their tempor
al, spatial, and subcellular localizations. The human proteins bind the kin
etochore in mitotic cells, whereas the chicken protein is found only in ske
letal and cardiac muscle and is developmentally regulated. Mouse LEK1 is a
single copy gene that codes for two developmentally regulated transcripts.
The LEK1 protein is expressed early and ubiquitously in mouse development a
nd is generally down-regulated as development proceeds in a manner that cor
relates to a cessation of mitosis, In adult tissues, the LEK1 protein is de
tected exclusively in the pronucleus of the oocyte and was not observed in
other actively dividing tissues. Subcellular localization revealed that the
LEK1 protein in mitotic cells does not bind the kinetochore, From these da
ta, we hypothesize that chicken CMF1, human CENP-F, mitosin, and mouse LEK1
are members of an emerging family of genes that have important and functio
nally distinct roles in development and cell division.