Rho target protein Rho-kinase

Abstract

The object of the present invention is to provide a target protein for the activated Rho protein. The present invention is a protein having activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof. The molecular weight of the protein derived from bovine is about 164 kDa as measured by SDS-PAGE. The protein kinase activity of this protein is enhanced when it binds to the activated Rho protein.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a novel protein having activated Rho-binding activity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A group of low-molecular-weight GTP-binding proteins (G-proteins) with molecular weights of 20,000-30,000 with no subunit structures is observed in organisms. To date, over fifty or more members have been found as the super family of the low-molecular-weight G-proteins in a variety of organisms, from yeast to mammals. The low-molecular-weight G-proteins are divided into four families of Ras, Rho, Rab and the others based on homologies of amino acid sequences. It has been revealed that the small G-proteins control a variety of cellular functions. For example, the Ras protein is considered to control cell proliferation and differentiation, and the Rho protein is considered to control cell morphological change, adhesion and motility.

The Rho protein, having GDP/GTP-binding activity and intrinsic GTPase activity, is believed to be involved in cytoskeletal responses to extracellular signals such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and certain growth factors. When the inactive GDP bound form of Rho is stimulated, it is transformed to the active GTP bound form of Rho protein (hereinafter referred to as "the activated Rho protein") by GDP/GTP exchange proteins such as Smg GDS, Dbl or Ost. The activated Rho protein then acts on target proteins to form stress fibers and focal contacts, thus inducing the cell adhesion and motility (Experimental Medicine, Vol. 12, No. 8, 97-102 (1994); Takai, Y. et al., Trends Biochem. Sci., 20, 227-231 (1995)). On the other hand, the intrinsic GTPase activity of the Rho protein transforms the activated Rho protein to the GDP bound form of Rho protein. This intrinsic GTPase activity is enhanced by what is called GTPase-activating proteins (GAP) (Lamarche, N. & Hall, A. et al., TIG, 10, 436-440 (1994)).

Natural RhoA proteins bear Cys-A-A-Leu (SEQ ID NO: 6) (A: aliphatic amino acid) on the C-terminal thereof. The Cys residue is geranylgeranylated by geranylgeranyl transferase and its carboxyl group methylated in posttranslational processing, which is considered essential for the binding of the Rho protein to cell membranes and interaction with activity regulating proteins as well as for the expression of the functions thereof (Imazumi, K. et al., Experimental Medicine, Vol. 13, 646-656 (1995)).

The Rho family proteins, including RhoA, RhoB, RhoC, Rac1, Rac2 and Cdc42, share more than 50% sequence identity with each other. The Rho family proteins are believed to be involved in inducing the formation of stress fibers and focal contacts in response to extracellular signals such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and growth factors (A. J. Ridley & A. Hall, Cell, 70, 389-399 (1992); A. J. Ridley & A. Hall, EMBO J., 1353, 2600-2610 (1994)). The subfamily Rho is also considered to be implicated in physiological functions associated with cytoskeletal rearrangements, such as cell morphological change (H. F. Parterson et al., J. Cell Biol., 111, 1001-1007 (1990)), cell adhesion (Morii, N. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 20921-20926 (1992); T. Tominaga et al., J. Cell Biol., 120, 1529-1537 (1993); Nusrat, A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92, 10629-10633 (1995)*; Landanna, C. et al., Science, 271, 981-983 (1996)*, cell motility (K. Takaishi et al., Oncogene, 9, 273-279 (1994), and cytokinesis (K. Kishi et al., J. Cell Biol., 120, 1187-1195 (1993); I. Mabuchi et al., Zygote, 1, 325-331 (1993)). (An asterisk hereinafter indicates a publication issued after the first filed application which provides the right of the priority of the present application.) In addition, it has been suggested that the Rho is involved in the regulation of smooth muscle contraction (K. Hirata et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 8719-8722 (1992); M. Noda et al., FEBS Lett., 367, 246-250 (1995); M. Gong et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93, 1340-1345 (1996)*), and the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3 kinase) (J. Zhang et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268, 22251-22254 (1993)), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PI 4,5-kinase) (L. D. Chong et al., Cell, 79, 507-513 (1994)) and c-fos (C. S. Hill et al., Cell, 81, 1159-1170 (1995)).

Recently, it has also be found that Ras-dependent tumorigenesis is suppressed when the Rho protein of which the amino acid sequence has been partly substituted is introduced to cells, revealing that the Rho protein plays an important role in Ras-induced transformation, that is, tumorigenesis (G. C. Prendergast et al., Oncogene, 10, 2289-2296 (1995); Khosravi-Far, R. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 15, 6443-6453 (1995)*; R. Qiu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92, 11781-11785 (1995)*; Lebowitz, P. et al., Mol. Cell, Biol., 15, 6613-6622 (1995)*).

It has also been proved that the Rho protein enhances not only cell proliferation, cell motility and cell aggregation but also smooth muscle contraction. Recent studies have demonstrated that the Rho protein is involved in the smooth muscle contraction (K. Hirata et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 8719-8722 (1992); Noda, M. et al., FEBS Lett., 367, 246-250 (1995)). Therefore, it can reasonably be assumed that the activated Rho-binding protein is also involved in the smooth muscle contraction.

The phosphorylation of myosin light chain plays vital roles in the smooth muscle contraction (Kamm, K. E. & Stull, J. T., Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 25, 593-603 (1985); Hartshorne, D. J. & Johnson, D. R. (1987) in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, (Johnson, L. R., ed), pp. 423-482, Raven Press, New York; Sellers, J. R. & Adelstein, R. S. in The Enzyme (Boyer, P. and Erevs, E. G., eds), Vol. 18, pp. 381-418, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. (1987)) and the actin-myosin interaction for stress fiber formation in non-muscle cells (Huttenlocher, A. et al., Curr. Opi. Cell Biol., 7, 697-706 (1995)) and, thus, involved in cytokinesis and cell motility (Huttenlocher, A. et al., Curr. Opi. Cell Biol., 7, 697-706 (1995)).

Myosin light chain kinase phosphorylates primarily the Ser-19 of myosin light chain (Kamm, K. E. & Stull, J. T., Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 25, 593-603 (1985); Hartshorne, D. J. & Johnson, D. R., (1987) in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, (Johnson, L. R., ed), pp. 423-482, Raven Press, New York; Sellers, J. R. & Adelstein, R. S. in The Enzyme (Boyer, P. and Erevs, E. G., eds), Vol. 18, pp. 381-418, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. (1987); Ikebe, M. & Hartshorne, D. J., J. Biol. Chem., 260, 10027-10031 (1985)). No protein kinase obtained thus far other than specific kinases such as myosin light chain kinase phosphorylates this site (Tan, J. L. et al., Annu. Rev. Biochem., 61, 721-759 (1992).

When a smooth muscle is stimulated by an agonist such as an angiotonic, Ca.sup.2+ moves into cytoplasm, and activates the calmodulin-dependent myosin light chain kinase. The phosphorylated myosin light chain induces myosin-actin interaction, which in turn activates myosin ATPase (Kamm, K. E. & Stull, J. T., Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 25, 593-603 (1985); Hartshorne, D. J. & Johnson, D. R., (1987) in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, (Johnson, L. R., ed), pp. 423-482, Raven Press, New York; Sellers, J. R. & Adelstein, R. S. in The Enzyme (Boyer, P. and Erevs, E. G., eds), Vol. 18, pp. 381-418, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. (1987)), thus inducing the smooth muscle contraction (Kamm, K. E. & Stull, J. T., Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol., 25, 593-603 (1985); Hartshorne, D. J. & Johnson, D. R., (1987) in Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, (Johnson, L. R., ed), pp. 423-482, Raven Press, New York; Sellers, J. R. & Adelstein, R. S. in The Enzyme (Boyer, P. and Erevs, E. G., eds), Vol. 18, pp. 381-418, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. (1987)). However, Ca.sup.2+ level in the cytosol is not necessarily proportional to the contraction level, indicating another explanation for the mechanism of the regulation of Ca.sup.2+ sensitivity in smooth muscle contraction (Bradley, A. B. & Morgan, K. G., J. Physiol., 385, 437-448 (1987)). As GTP.gamma.S (non-hydrolyzable GTP analog) decreases the Ca.sup.2+ concentration necessary for the contraction of permeabilized (skinned) smooth muscles, GTP-binding proteins were expected to regulate Ca.sup.2+ sensitivity (Kitazawa, T. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 88, 9307-9310 (1991); Moreland, S. et al., Am. J. Physiol., 263, 540-544 (1992)). The Rho protein was proved to be involved in Ca.sup.2+ sensitivity of smooth muscles, which is enhanced by GTP (Hirata, K. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 8719-8722 (1992)). Recently, in permeabilized smooth muscles, it was demonstrated that GTP.gamma.S enhances the phosphorylation of myosin light chain at submaximal Ca.sup.2+ concentration, suggesting that the enhancement was attributed to the activation of the Rho protein and the inhibition of the enzymatic activity of myosin light chain phosphatase, which dephosphorylates myosin light chain (Noda, M. et al., FEBS Lett., 367, 246-250 (1995)). However, it has not been resolved yet how the Rho protein inhibits myosin light chain phosphatase, whether the enhancement of the phosphorylation of myosin light chain by the Rho protein is attributed solely to the inhibition of myosin light chain phosphatase activity, and, thus, how the Rho protein regulates the Ca.sup.2+ sensitivity of smooth muscles and enhances the smooth muscle contraction.

These findings indicate that the Rho protein controls a variety of signal transduction pathways for cell morphological change, cell adhesion, cell motility, cytokinesis, tumorigenesis, metastasis, vascular smooth muscle contraction, etc. The Rho protein appears to be able to act on a number of target molecules to control all these signal transduction pathways.

It is only recently (after the first filed application which provides the right of the priority of the present application) that a several proteins have been reported as candidates of Rho-targets in mammals: protein kinase N (PKN) (Watanabe, G. et al., Science, 271, 645-648 (1996)*; Amano, M. et al., Science, 271, 648-650 (1996)*), rhophilin (Watanabe, G. et al., Science, 271, 645-648 (1996)*, citron (Madaule, P. et al., FEBS Lett., 377, 243-248 (1995)*), ROK.alpha. (Leung, T. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 270, 29051-29054 (1995)*), p160.sup.ROCK (Ishizaki, T. et al., EMBO J., 15, 1885-1893 (1996)*) and rhotekin (Reid, T. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271, 13556-13560 (1996)*). All these proteins bind to GTP-binding RhoA protein, except that citron binds also to GTP-binding Rac1.

Among these proteins, PKN has an enzymatic region which closely resembles the protein kinase region of protein kinase C and exhibits serine/threonine kinase activity (Mukai, H. & Ono, Y., Biochem. Biopys. Res. Commun., 199, 897-904 (1994); Mukai, H. et al., Biochem. Biopys. Res. Commun., 204, 348-356 (1994)). On the other hand, ROK.alpha. (Leung, T. et al. (1995), ibid.) and p160.sup.ROCK (Ishizaki, T. et al. (1996)*, ibid.) also have amino acid sequences resembling a serine/threonine kinase region (Leung, T. et al. (1995)*, ibid.).

In addition to those reported in mammals, protein kinase C1 (PKC1) in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has recently been identified as a target protein of the Rho1 protein, corresponding to RhoA in mammals (Nonaka, H. et al., EMBO J., 14, 5931-5938 (1995)*). Only recently, 1,3-.beta.-glucan synthase has been identified as a target protein of the Rho1p protein in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (Drgonova, J. et al., Science, 272, 277-279 (1996)*; Qadota, H. et al., Science, 272, 279-281 (1996)*).

However, mechanisms of intercellular signal transduction involving the activated Rho protein, particularly those of tumorigenesis and smooth muscle contraction, are still unknown.

An asterisk hereinafter indicates a publication issued after the first filed application which provides the right of the priority of the present application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventors isolated a protein having activated Rho-binding activity and protein kinase activity from gray matter of bovine brain. The molecular weight of the protein was about 164 kDa as measured by SDS-PAGE. Also, the inventors have found that this protein (Rho-kinase) bound to the effector domain of the activated Rho protein, that the Rho-kinase showed kinase activity, that the kinase activity was enhanced by the GTP.gamma.S-Rho protein, and that the Rho-kinase had a coiled-coil domain in the internal region. In other words, the Rho-kinase proved to be a target, serine/threonine kinase, for the Rho protein and a mediator of the Rho protein dependent signal transduction pathway. The inventors also found that the Rho-kinase phosphorylates myosin-binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase and myosin and induces vascular smooth muscle contraction.

Also, the inventors successfully cloned the cDNA of human Rho-kinase. The present invention is based on these findings.

An object of the present invention is thus to provide a protein having activated Rho-binding activity and protein kinase activity (hereinafter referred to as "Rho-kinase").

Another object of the present invention is to provide a partial protein of said protein, the base sequence encoding said protein including the partial protein, a vector containing said base sequence, a host cell transformed by said vector, a process for preparing said proteins, a tumorigenesis or metastasis suppressing agent comprising said protein, a method for screening a material inhibiting the binding between the activated Rho protein and said proteins, a method for screening materials inhibiting the protein kinase activity of said proteins, a partial amino acid sequence of Rho-kinase, an antibody specifically reacting with said amino acid sequences, and a method and kit for detection using said antibody.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an electrophoretic photograph showing a result of the purification of a protein which specifically binds to the activated Rho protein. The crude membrane fraction was loaded onto a glutathione-Sepharose column containing either GST (lane 1), GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 2), or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 3). To enrich bovine Rho-kinase, the crude membrane fraction was loaded onto a glutathione-Sepharose column containing GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, and bovine Rho-kinase was eluted by addition of 1% CHAPS (lane 4).

FIG. 2 is a diagram and an electrophoretic photograph showing results of the purification of bovine Rho-kinase by Mono Q column chromatography. The CHAPS-eluate was subjected to a Mono Q column and Rho-kinase was eluted with a linear gradient of NaCl. The results shown are representative of three independent experiments.

FIG. 3 is an electrophoretic photograph showing binding between bovine Rho-kinase and the activated RhoA. Lanes 1 and 3 indicate membrane extracts and lanes 2 and 4 indicate nitrocellulose filters containing purified Rho-kinase separated by SDS-PAGE. Lanes 1 and 2 were probed with �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA and lanes 3 and 4 were probed with �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala 37. An arrow indicates the position of Rho-kinase on SDS-PAGE. The results shown are representative of three independent experiments.

FIG. 4 is an electrophoretic photograph showing autophosphorylation of bovine Rho-kinase. Rho-kinase was autophosphorylated in the presence of the following proteins (1 .mu.M each): Lane 1: GST, Lane 2: GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 3: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 4: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37. An arrow indicates the position of Rho-kinase on SDS-PAGE. The results shown are representative of three independent experiments.

FIG. 5 shows degrees of phosphorylation of myelin basic protein, S6 peptide, or .alpha.PKC (40 .mu.M each) in the presence of either GST, GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA, or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA by bovine Rho-kinase.

FIG. 6 shows enhancement of the phosphorylation of S6 peptide (40 .mu.M) by bovine Rho-kinase in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (1 .mu.M).

FIG. 7 is an electrophoretic photograph showing enhancement of the phosphorylation of rat myosin-binding subunit by bovine Rho-kinase in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. Lane 1: GST, Lane 2: GDP.cndot.GST-Rho, Lane 3: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. An arrow indicates the position of myosin-binding subunit protein on SDS-PAGE.

FIG. 8 shows phosphorylation of S6 peptide by bovine Rho-kinase. Closed square: GTP.gamma.S-RhoA (posttranslationally processed type), Open square: GDP-RhoA (posttranslationally processed type)

Closed circle: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (posttranslationally unprocessed type), Open circle: GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA (posttranslationally unprocessed type).

FIG. 9 shows the deduced amino acid sequence of bovine Rho-kinase SEQ ID NO: 1. Amino acid sequences determined by partial peptide sequencing of Rho-kinase purified from bovine brain gray matter are indicated by single underlines. The amino acid sequence of the probe used for Rho-kinase cDNA cloning is indicated by double underlines.

FIG. 10 comparatively shows the domain structures of bovine Rho-kinase and myotonic dystrophy kinase.

FIG. 11 is an electrophoretic photograph showing the tissue distribution of bovine Rho-kinase expression. Lane 1: 1% CHAPS-elute from the GST-RhoA affinity column, Lane 2: cerebrum, Lane 3: cerebellum, Lane 4: heart, Lane 5: skeletal muscle, Lane 6: spleen, Lane 7: lung, Lane 8: liver, Lane 9: kidney, Lane 10: pancreas. An arrow indicates the position of Rho-kinase on SDS-PAGE.

FIG. 12 is an electrophoretic photograph showing binding between the activated Rho and a protein corresponding to the coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase prepared by in vitro translation. Lane 1: GST, Lane 2: GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 3: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 4: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37, Lane 5: GDP.cndot.GST-Rac1, Lane 6: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1, Lane 7: GDP.cndot.GST-H-Ras, Lane 8: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-H-Ras.

FIG. 13 is an electrophoretic photograph showing enhancement of the phosphorylation of chicken myosin-binding subunit by bovine Rho-kinase in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. Lane 1: GST, Lane 2: GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 3: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, Lane 4: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37, Lane 5: GDP.cndot.GST-Rac1, Lane 6: GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1. The values in parentheses show fold stimulation relative to Rho-kinase incubated with GST alone (lane 1).

FIG. 14 shows thiophosphorylation of chicken myosin-binding subunit and inhibition of myosin light chain phosphatase activity, as a function of bovine Rho-kinase concentration. Myosin-binding subunit was .sup.35 S-thiophosphorylated with (closed circle) or without (open circle) GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. Myosin light chain phosphatase activity was measured with (closed square) or without (open square) GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, using Rho-kinase that were phosphorylated in the presence of ATP.gamma.S. Myosin light chain phosphatase activity was also measured in the absence of ATP.gamma.S; i.e., using non-phosphorylated Rho-kinase (diamond shape).

FIG. 15 is an electrophoretic photograph showing degree of myosin-binding subunit phosphorylation in each NIH/3T3 cell line overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14. The values in parentheses show fold stimulation of myosin-binding subunit relative to that in the absence of thansfected RhoA (lane 1).

FIG. 16 shows degree of myosin light chain phosphorylation in NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14 .

FIG. 17 is an electrophoretic photograph showing phosphorylation of myosin light chain by bovine Rho-kinase. Isolated myosin light chain (0.5 .mu.g of protein) was phosphorylated by purified bovine Rho-kinase (20 ng of protein) in the presence of either GST (lane 1), GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 2), GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 3), GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 (lane 4), GDP.cndot.GST-Rac1 (lane 5) or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 (lane 6), or by GST-bovine Rho-kinase (5 ng of protein) (lane 7), or by myosin light chain kinase in the absence (lane 8) or presence (lane 9) of Ca.sup.2+ and calmodulin. Intact myosin (5 .mu.g of protein) was phosphorylated in the absence (lane 10) or presence (lane 11) of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. The phosphorylated myosin light chain was resolved by SDS-PAGE and visualized by an image analyzer. The results are representative of three independent experiments.

FIG. 18 shows phosphorylation of various amounts of myosin light chain by bovine Rho-kinase. Symbols hereafter indicate the following: MLC: myosin light chain, MLC kinase: myosin light chain kinase. In the left figure, myosin light chain was phosphorylated by Rho-kinase in the presence (closed circle) or absence (open circle) of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, or by GST-Rho-kinase (closed triangle). In the right figure, myosin light chain was phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase in the presence (closed square) or absence (open square) of Ca.sup.2+ and calmodulin.

FIG. 19 is an electrophoretic photograph showing the phosphopeptide mapping analysis of myosin light chain. Myosin light chain (0.5 .mu.g of protein) was phosphorylated by Rho-kinase, myosin light chain kinase (MLC kinase), or protein kinase C (PKC). The phosphorylated myosin light chain was digested with trypsin, and each sample was loaded onto a silica gel plate. Phosphopeptides were separated by electrophoresis (horizontal dimension) and chromatography (vertical dimension), and were visualized by an image analyzer. Asterisks indicate origins.

FIG. 20 is an electrophoretic photograph showing the phosphorylation of recombinant myosin light chain. Myosin light chain (MLC), GST, GST-MLC or GST-MLC.sup.Ala18,.sup.Ala19 (2 .mu.M each) was phosphorylated by purified Rho-kinase (20 ng of protein), GST-Rho-kinase (10 ng of protein) or myosin light chain kinase (10 ng of protein) as indicated.

Lanes 1-4: MLC was phosphorylated by purified Rho-kinase. Lanes 5-8: MLC was phosphorylated by GST-Rho-kinase. Lanes 9-12: MLC was phosphorylated by MLC kinase. Lanes 1, 5 and 9: MLC Lanes 2, 6 and 10: GST Lanes 3, 7 and 11: GST-MLC Lanes 4, 8 and 12: GST-MLC.sup.Ala18,Ala19 The results are representative of three independent experiments.

FIG. 21 shows effects of myosin phosphorylation by bovine Rho-kinase on MgATPase activity that was stimulated by actin. The vertical axis denotes phosphorylation rate of myosin head. Myosin was incubated with GST-Rho-kinase (closed square), with myosin light chain kinase (closed rhombus), or without kinase (closed circle). After incubation, the ATPase activity was measured in the presence of F-actin of various concentrations. The values shown are means .+-. S.E. of triplicates.

FIG. 22 shows the model for regulation of myosin light chain by Rho protein, Rho-kinase, and myosin light chain phosphatase.

Cat: catalytic subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase. MBS: myosin-binding subunit.

FIG. 23 shows detection of the binding between the Rho protein and human Rho-kinase protein by yeast two hybrid system.

FIG. 24 shows permeabilized smooth muscle contraction by GST-Rho-kinase at pCa 6.5 (Ca.sup.2+ concentration of 10.sup.-6.5 M) as a function of time.

FIG. 25 shows dose-dependent contraction of a permeabilized smooth muscle by GST-Rho-kinase at pCa 8 (Ca.sup.2+ concentration of 10.sup.-8 M) or above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Definitions

The term "amino acid" herein refers to the meaning including either of optical isomers, i.e., an L-isomer and a D-isomer. Thus, the term "peptide" herein refers to the meaning including not only peptides constituted by L-amino acids solely but also peptides comprising D-amino acids partially or totally.

Furthermore, the term "amino acid" herein refers to the meaning including not only twenty .alpha.-amino acids which constitute natural proteins but also other .alpha.-amino acids as well as .beta.-, .gamma.- and .delta.-amino acids, non-natural amino acids, and the like. Thus, amino acids with which peptides are substituted or amino acids inserted into peptides as shown below are not restricted to twenty .alpha.-amino acids which constitute natural proteins but may be other .alpha.-amino acids as well as .beta.-, .gamma.- and .delta.-amino acids, non-natural amino acids, and the like. Such .beta.-, .gamma.- and .delta.-amino acids include .beta.-alanine, .gamma.-aminobutyric acid or ornithine. In addition, the amino acids other than those constituting natural proteins or the non-natural amino acids include 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, phenylglycine, cyclohexylglycine, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-3-carboxylic acid or nipecotinic acid.

The term "protein according to the present invention" refers to the meaning including derivatives of the proteins.

The term "base sequence" herein refers to RNA sequences as well as DNA sequences.

Protein

The protein according to the present invention is a protein having activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity (Rho-kinase) or derivatives thereof. Such Rho family proteins include RhoA, RhoB, RhoC and RhoG proteins.

In the present invention, the term "protein having activated Rho protein binding activity" means a protein which is evaluated by one skilled in the art to bind to the activated Rho protein, e.g., proteins which are evaluated to bind to the activated Rho protein when examined under the same condition as in example 1, 4 or 11.

In this specification, the Rho protein includes Rho protein which has been modified in such a manner that the binding between the Rho protein and the protein according to the present invention is not essentially damaged. Such modified proteins include an RhoA mutant (RhoA.sup.Val14), in which the amino acid 14 is substituted by valine.

In the present invention, the term "protein having protein kinase activity" means a protein which is evaluated by one skilled in the art to have protein kinase activity, e.g., proteins which are evaluated to have protein kinase activity when examined under the same condition as in any one of examples 2, 5, 6-9.

The protein according to the present invention is characterized by the enhancement of the protein kinase activity as it binds to the activated Rho protein. The term "protein kinase activity" refer to the meaning including serine/threonine kinase activity.

The protein according to the present invention is not specifically restricted to any sources but it may be derived from mammals including bovine and humans, or any other sources.

The molecular weight of Rho-kinase from bovine is about 164 kDa as measured by SDS-PAGE.

Examples of the protein according to the present invention include proteins from bovine having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity with a molecular weight of about 164 kDa as measured by SDS-PAGE (hereinafter referred to as "bovine Rho-kinase").

Examples of the protein according to the present invention also include proteins from humans having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity (hereinafter referred to as "human Rho-kinase").

The protein according to the present invention can be obtained, for example, from bovine brain gray matter according the method described in example 1.

The term "derivatives of proteins" herein includes proteins in which an amino group at an amino terminal (N-terminal) or all or a part of amino groups of side chains of amino acids, and/or a carboxyl group at a carboxyl terminal (C-terminal) or all or a part of carboxyl groups of side chains of amino acids, and/or functional groups other than the amino groups and carboxyl groups of the side chains of the amino acids such as hydrogen, a thiol group or an amido group have been modified by appropriate other substituents. The modification by the appropriate other substituents is carried out in order to, for example, protect functional groups in the protein, improve safety and tissue-translocation of the protein or enhance the protein activity.

The derivatives of the proteins include:

(1) proteins in which one or more hydrogen atoms of the amino group at the amino terminal (N-terminal) or a part or all of the amino groups of the side chains of the amino acids are replaced by substituted or unsubstituted alkyl groups (which may be straight chain or branched chain or cyclic chain) such as a methyl group, an ethyl group, a propyl group, an isopropyl group, an isobutyl group, a butyl group, a t-butyl group, a cyclopropyl group, a cyclohexyl group or a benzyl group, substituted or unsubstituted acyl groups such as a formyl group, an acetyl group, a caproyl group, a cyclohexylcarbonyl group, a benzoyl group, a phthaloyl group, a tosyl group, a nicotinoyl group or a piperidincarbonyl group, urethane-type protective groups such as a p-nitrobenzyloxycarbonyl group, a p-methoxybenzyloxycarbonyl group, a p-biphenylisopropyl-oxycarbonyl group or a t-butoxycarbonyl group, or urea-type substituents such as a methylaminocarbonyl group, a phenylcarbonyl group or a cyclohexylaminocarbonyl group; (2) proteins in which the carboxyl groups at the carboxyl terminal (C-terminal) or a part or all of the side chains of the amino acids are esterified (for example, the hydrogen atom(s) are replaced by methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, cyclohexyl, phenyl, benzyl, t-butyl or 4-picolyl), or amidated (for example, unsubstituted amides or C1-C6 alkylamide such as an methylamide, an ethylamide or an isopropylamide are formed; or (3) proteins in which a part or all of the functional groups other than the amino groups and the carboxyl groups of the side chains of the amino acids such as hydrogen, a thiol group or an amino group are replaced by the substituents described in (1) or a trityl group.

Examples of the protein according to the present invention include protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 and derivatives thereof. The "bovine Rho-kinase" includes this protein. Examples of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No.1 can be obtained, for example, from the cDNA sequence derived from a bovine brain cDNA library using the oligonucleotide corresponding to the peptide indicated by double underlines in FIG. 9 as a probe (see example 3).

Examples of the protein according to the present invention also include the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 and derivatives thereof. The "human Rho-kinase" includes this protein.

Other examples of the protein according to the present invention include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 and having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to those that do not damage the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity of the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 except the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) and amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain); more specifically, deletions of the amino acid sequences 1-89, 360-942 and/or 1069-1388, or a part thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein having the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) and amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain) in SEQ ID NO.1.

Other examples of the protein according to the present invention include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 and having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to the same meanings as above.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 except the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) and the amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain); more specifically, deletions of the amino acid sequences 1-89, 360-942 and/or 1069-1388, or a part thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein having the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) and amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain) in SEQ ID NO.4.

Rho-kinase is expressed primarily in cerebrum and cerebellum (see example 3 (4)). Rho-kinase crossreacts with the antibody described after (see example 3 (4) and example 10).

The term "expressed primarily in cerebrum and cerebellum" refer to the meaning that expression in cerebrum and cerebellum is evaluated by one skilled in the art to be more prominent than in other organs, for example, that expression in cerebrum and cerebellum is evaluated to be more prominent than in other organs when examined under the same condition as in example 3 (4).

The present invention provides a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof.

Examples of such proteins include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 and having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 1 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to those that do not damage the activated Rho protein binding activity and damage the protein kinase activity of the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) in SEQ ID NO.1 or a region containing a part thereof having protein kinase activity.

Also, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 (containing an addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion) having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof may contain, in addition to the above addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion, other additions, insertions, substitutions and/or deletions that do not damage the Rho protein binding activity thereof.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 except the amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain) (see example 11); more specifically, deletions of the amino acid sequence 1-89 or a part thereof, the amino acid sequence 360-942 or a part thereof, or the amino acid sequence 1069-1388 or a part thereof.

Examples of the aforementioned proteins include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 and having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to those that do not damage the activated Rho protein binding activity and damage the protein kinase activity of the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain) of SEQ ID NO.4 or a region containing a part thereof having protein kinase activity.

Also, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 (containing an addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion) having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof may contain, in addition to the above addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion, other additions, insertions, substitutions and/or deletions that do not damage the Rho protein binding activity thereof.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 except the amino acid sequence 943-1068 (Rho protein binding domain) (see example 11); more specifically, deletions of the amino acid sequence 1-89 or a part thereof, the amino acid sequence 360-942 or a part thereof, or the amino acid sequence 1069-1388 or a part thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein comprising the amino acid sequence 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO.4 or derivatives thereof. This protein has the activated Rho protein binding activity and does not have the protein kinase activity.

According to the present invention, we also provide a protein having the protein kinase activity and not having the activated Rho protein binding activity or derivatives thereof. The term "protein kinase activity" refer to the meaning including serine/threonine kinase activity.

Examples of such proteins include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 having the protein kinase activity and not having the activated Rho protein binding activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to those that do not damage the protein kinase activity and damage the activated Rho protein binding activity of the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of the amino acid sequence 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO.1 or a region containing a part thereof having the activated Rho protein binding activity.

Also, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence in SEQ ID NO.1 (containing an addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion) having protein kinase activity and not having activated Rho protein binding activity or derivatives thereof may contain, in addition to the above addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion, other additions, insertions, substitutions and/or deletions that do not damage the protein kinase activity thereof.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.1 except the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain); more specifically, the deletion of the amino acid sequence 1-89 or a part thereof, or the amino acid sequence 360-1388 or a part thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein comprising the amino acid sequence 90-359 of SEQ ID NO.1 or derivatives thereof. Examples of such derivatives include a protein comprising the amino acid sequence 6-553 in SEQ ID NO.1 (see example 7). This protein has the protein kinase activity and does not have the activated Rho protein binding activity.

Examples of the aforementioned proteins include proteins consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 having the protein kinase activity and not having the activated Rho protein binding activity, wherein one or more amino acid sequences are added and/or inserted in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 are substituted and/or deleted. The terms "addition", "insertion", "substitution" and "deletion" refer to those that do not damage the protein kinase activity and damage the activated Rho protein binding activity of the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of the amino acid sequence 943-1068 of SEQ ID NO.4 or a region containing any part thereof having the activated Rho protein binding activity.

Also, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 (containing an addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion) having protein kinase activity and not having activated Rho protein binding activity or derivatives thereof may contain, in addition to the above addition, insertion, substitution and/or deletion, other additions, insertions, substitutions and/or deletions that do not damage the protein kinase activity thereof.

Examples of such deletions include deletions of all or part of the regions of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.4 except the amino acid sequence 90-359 (protein kinase domain); more specifically, deletions of the amino acid sequence 1-89 or a part thereof, or the amino acid sequence 360-1388 or a part thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein comprising the amino acid sequence 90-359 or amino acid sequence 6-553 (corresponding to the amino acid sequence 6-553 in SEQ ID NO.1 ) in SEQ ID NO.4 or derivatives thereof. This protein has the protein kinase activity and does not have the activated Rho protein binding activity.

The protein according to the present invention is a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity, or a protein modified to damage either of these functions. The Rho protein is closely involved in cellular functions such as cell morphological change, cell motility, cell adhesion and cytokinesis as well as tumorigenesis and metastasis (see Takai, Y. et al.; G. C. Prendergast et al.; Khosravi-Far, R. et al.; R. Qiu et al.; Lebowitz, P. et al.; Yoshioka, K. et al. ibid.). Therefore, the protein according to the present invention is useful in investigating mechanisms of tumorigenesis and metastasis.

Also, the Rho protein is known to be involved in smooth muscle contraction (see K. Hirata et al.; M. Noda et al. ibid.). Therefore, the protein according to the present invention is useful in investigating mechanisms of various circular system diseases such as hypertension, vasospasm (cardiovascular vasospsm and cerebrovascular vasospsm), cardiac angina, myocardial infarction, and arteriosclerosis obliterans.

Base Sequence

The present invention provides a base sequence encoding the protein according to the present invention. Typical examples of such base sequences include base sequences comprising all or part of the DNA sequence of SEQ ID NO.2. Other typical examples of such base sequences include base sequences comprising all or part of the DNA sequence of SEQ ID NO.5.

As mentioned above, the DNA sequence in SEQ ID NO.2 was obtained from a cDNA library derived from bovine brain. This DNA sequence contains the open reading frame of bovine Rho-kinase, which starts at ATG (1-3) and ends at TAA (4165-4167).

The DNA sequence in SEQ ID NO.5 was obtained from a cDNA library derived from human brain. This DNA sequence contains the open reading frame of human Rho-kinase, which starts at ATG (1-3) and ends at TAA (4165-4167).

When the amino acid sequence is given, the base sequence encoding the amino acid sequence is easily determined, and a variety of base sequences encoding the amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1 can be selected. The base sequence encoding the protein according to the present invention thus means, in addition to a part or all of the DNA sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 2, another sequence encoding the same amino acid sequence and containing a DNA sequence of a degenerate codon(s), and also includes RNA sequences corresponding to the DNA sequences.

The base sequence according to the present invention may be naturally occurred or obtained by synthesis. It may also be synthesized with a part of a sequence derived from the naturally occurring one. DNAs may typically be obtained by screening a chromosome library or a cDNA library in accordance with a conventional manner in the field of genetic engineering, for example, by screening a chromosome library or a cDNA library with an appropriate DNA probe obtained based on information of the partial amino acid sequence. The base sequence according to the present invention can be prepared, for example, from a bovine brain cDNA library by using the oligonucleotide corresponding to the peptide indicated by double underlines in FIG. 9 as a screening probe (see example 3).

The base sequences from nature are not specifically restricted to any sources; but may be derived from mammals, including human, or other sources.

Examples of base sequences encoding the protein according to the present invention include the DNA sequence 1-4167 of SEQ ID NO.2 (corresponding to the open reading frame), the DNA sequence 1261-3411, 2395-3411 or 2827-3204 of SEQ ID NO.2 (corresponding to the activated Rho protein binding domain), the DNA sequence 1312-3372 of SEQ ID NO.2 (corresponding to the coiled-coil domain), the DNA sequence 268-1077 or 16-1659 of SEQ ID NO.2 (corresponding to the kinase catalytic domain), the DNA sequence 2827-3204 of SEQ ID NO.5 (corresponding to the activated Rho protein binding domain), and the DNA sequence 268-1077 of SEQ ID NO.5 (corresponding to the kinase domain).

Vector and Transformed Host Cell

According to the present invention, we provide a vector comprising the aforementioned base sequence in such a manner that the vector can be replicable and express the protein encoded by the base sequence in a host cell. In addition, according to the present invention, we provide a host cell transformed by the vector. There is no other restriction to the host-vector system. It may express proteins fused with other proteins. Examples of the fusion protein expression system include those expressing MBP (maltose binding protein), GST (glutathione-S-transferase), HA (hemagglutinin), polyhistidine, myc, Fas and the like.

Examples of the vector include plasmid vectors such as expression vectors for prokaryotic cells, yeast, insect cells or animal cells, virus vectors such as retrovirus vectors, adenovirus vectors, adeno-associated virus vectors, herpesvirus vectors, Sendai virus vectors or HIV vectors, and liposome vectors such as cationic liposome vectors.

The vector according to the present invention may contain, in addition to the base sequence according to the present invention, other sequences for controlling the expression and a gene marker for selecting host cells. In addition, the vector may contain the base sequence according to the present invention in a repeated form (e.g. in tandem). The base sequences may also be introduced in a vector according to the conventional manner, and host cells may be transformed by the vector based on the method conventionally used in the field.

The vector according to the present invention may be constructed based on the procedure and manner which have been conventionally used in the field of genetic engineering.

Furthermore, examples of the host cell include Escherichia coli, yeast, insect cells, animal cells such as COS cells, lymphocytes, fibroblasts, CHO cells, blood cells, tumor cells, and the like.

The transformed host cell is cultured in an appropriate medium, and the protein according to the present invention can be obtained from the cultured product. Thus, according to another embodiment of the present invention, we provide a process for preparing the protein according to the present invention. The culture of the transformed host cell and culture condition may be essentially the same as those for the cell to be used. In addition, the protein according to the present invention may be recovered from the culture medium and purified according to the conventional manner.

The present invention can be applied to the gene therapy of malignant tumors by introducing a vector having the base sequence according to the present invention into cancer cells of an organism including human (e.g., leukemia cells, carcinoma cells in digestive tract, lung carcinoma cells, pancreas carcinoma cells, ovary carcinoma cells, uterus carcinoma cells, melanoma cells,. brain tumor cells, etc.) with an appropriate method and expressing the protein according to the present invention, i.e., by transforming the cancer cells of cancer patients.

When the protein according to the present invention (having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity) is expressed in an organism including human, the activated Rho protein binds to the protein and, then, it intercepts the signal transduction from the activated Rho protein to Rho-kinase, thereby suppressing tumorigenesis or metastasis in which the Rho protein is involved.

As for vectors for gene therapy, see Fumimaro Takaku, Experimental Medicine (extra edition), Vol. 12, No. 15 "Forefront of Gene therapy" (1994).

Use/Pharmaceutical Compositions

As mentioned above, a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity is considered to interrupt signal transduction pathway from the activated Rho protein to Rho-kinase, by binding to the activated Rho protein (by inhibiting the binding between Rho-kinase and the activated Rho protein). In the meantime, as mentioned above, the Rho protein is known to be closely involved in tumorigenesis or metastasis. According to the present invention, Rho-kinase receives signals from the Rho protein. Therefore, Rho-kinase is also considered to be closely involved in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Thus, a protein having the activated Rho-binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity should be useful in suppressing tumorigenesis or metastasis.

Therefore, a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity can be used as a agent suppressing tumorigenesis or metastasis in which the Rho protein in involved (i.e., which depends on signal transduction via the Rho protein (hereinafter referred to as a "tumorigenesis/metastasis suppressing agent").

Examples of such tumorigenesis and metastasis include tumorigenesis in which the Rho protein, other small G-proteins (e.g., Ras, Rac, Cdc42, Ral, etc.), small G-protein GDP.cndot.GTP-exchange proteins (e.g., Dbl, Ost, etc.), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), receptor-type tyrosine kinase (e.g., PDGF receptor, EGF receptor, etc.), transcription regulating proteins (myc, p53, etc.), or various human tumor viruses are involved.

The inventors also found that myosin light chain phosphatase existing in smooth muscles and one of the subunits thereof, myosin-binding subunit (Y. H. Chen et al., FEBS Lett., 356, 51-55 (1994)), were the most suitable physiological substrates for Rho-kinase (see example 2 (3) and examples 5 and 6); that the phosphorylation of myosin light chain phosphatase (including myosin-binding subunit) inhibited the phosphatase activity thereof (see examples 5 and 6); and that the expression of the Rho protein resulted in the phosphorylation of myosin-binding subunit and myosin light chain in cells that are believed to endogenously express Rho-kinase (see example 6).

Furthermore, the inventors found that Rho-kinase phosphorylated both isolated myosin light chain and the myosin light chain of intact myosin in a GTP-Rho-dependent manner (see example 7); that the primary site of phosphorylation by Rho-kinase on myosin light chain was Ser-19, which was the site phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase (see example 8); that the phosphorylation of the myosin light chain of intact myosin enhanced the MgATPase activity of the myosin light chain (see example 9); and that Rho-kinase derivative of which protein kinase activity had been constitutively activated enhanced smooth muscle contraction (see example 12).

Hence, the mechanism of the enhancement of smooth muscle contraction by the Rho protein is considered to be, but not restricted to, the following:

(1) The binding of the activated Rho protein to Rho-kinase enhances the kinase activity of the Rho-kinase. (2) The Rho-kinase then phosphorylates the myosin-binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase. (3) The phosphorylation suppresses the phosphatase activity of the myosin light chain phosphatase, and then the dephosphorylation of the myosin light chain is inhibited. (4) As a result of the inhibition of dephosphorylation, the myosin remains phosphorylated. (5) Also, the Rho-kinase in (1) phosphorylates myosin light chain. (6) As a result of (4) and (5), association of myosin and actin is enhanced while their dissociation is suppressed. (7) As a consequence, smooth muscle contraction is enhanced and maintained.

The model is shown in FIG. 22.

Therefore, a protein having the activated Rho-binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity can be used as a smooth muscle contraction suppressing agent or a agent for treatment of various circulatory system diseases such as hypertension, vasospasm (cardiovascular vasospasm and cerebrovascular vasospasm), cardiac angina, myocardial infarction, and arteriosclerosis obliterans.

The tumorigenesis/metastasis suppressing agent and the agent for treatment of cardiovascular disease according to the present invention may preferably be administered to humans and other animals perorally, but also parenterally (e.g., intramuscularly, intravenously, subcutaneously, intrarectally, percutaneously or pernasally), in any appropriate form designed for peroral or parenteral administration.

The agents for suppressing the tumorigenesis/metastasis and the agents for treatment of circular system desease may be prepared in either of preparation forms including oral agents such as tablets, capsules, granules, powders, pills, grains, and troches, injections such as an intravenous injection and an intramuscular injection, rectal agents, fatty suppositories, and water-soluble suppositories depending on their intended uses. These preparations may be prepared according to methods well known in the art with conventional excipients, fillers, binding agents, wetting agents, disintegrants, surfacactants, lubricants, dispersants, buffering agents, preservatives, dissolution aids, antiseptics, flavors, analgesic agents and stabilizing agents. Examples of the non-toxic additives which can be used include lactose, fructose, glucose, starch, gelatin, magnesium carbonate, synthetic magnesium silicate, talc, magnesium stearate, methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose or a salt thereof, acacia, polyethylene glycol, syrup, vaseline, glycerine, ethanol, propylene glycol, citric acid, sodium chloride, sodium sulfite, sodium phosphate, and the like.

The content of the protein according to the present invention in a pharmaceutical agent varies depending on its dosage forms. The pharmaceutical generally contains about 0.1--about 50% by weight, preferably about 1--about 20% by weight, of the protein.

The dose of the protein for the treatment of the tumorigenesis and metastasis and circular system desease may appropriately be determined in consideration of its uses and the age, sex and condition of a patient, and is desirably in the range of about 0.1--about 500 mg, preferably about 0.5--about 50 mg, per day for an adult, which may be administered once or divided into several portions a day.

The present invention provides a method for suppressing tumorigenesis or metastasis and a method for suppressing the enhancement of smooth muscle contraction, comprising introducing a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity into cells which tumor is formed in or may transfer to or into cells where smooth muscle contraction is enhanced. The effective dosage, the method and form of administration, etc., may be selected as described for the tumorigenesis/metastasis suppressing agent.

A base sequence encoding a protein having the activated Rho protein binding activity and not having the protein kinase activity may be used to suppress tumorigenesis, metastasis or the enhancement of smooth muscle contraction, by transforming the target cells using the vector having this base sequence. In other words, the base sequence can be used as a agent for gene therapy to suppress tumorigenesis or metastasis or a agent for gene therapy of cardiovascular diseases.

Screening Method

The present invention provides a method for screening a material inhibiting the binding between the activated Rho protein and the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho protein binding activity, comprising:

(1) placing the material to be screened in a screening system containing the activated Rho protein and the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho protein binding activity, and (2) measuring degree of the inhibition of the binding between the activated Rho protein and the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho protein binding activity.

Examples of methods for "measuring degree of inhibition of binding" include a method to measure the binding between the protein according to the present invention and recombinant GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA in an cell-free system using glutathione Sepharose beads, a method to measure the binding between the protein according to the present invention and the Rho protein in a cell system (animal cells) by using immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting and by a two hybrid system (M. Kawabata, Experimental Medicine (in Japanese), 13, 2111-2120 (1995); A. B. Vojetk et al., Cell, 74, 205-214 (1993)). For example, the degree of inhibition of binding can be measured as described in example 1 or 4. In this specification, the term "measuring degree of inhibition of binding" refer to the meaning including measuring the presence or absence of the binding.

A system for screening may be either a cell or a cell-free system. Examples of cell systems include yeast cells, COS cells, E. coli, insect cells, nematode cells, lymphocytes, fibroblasts (3Y1 cells, NIH/3T3 cells, Rat1 cells, Balb/3T3 cells, etc.), CHO cells, blood cells, tumor cells, smooth muscle cells, cardiac muscle cells, nerve cells, myelocytes, gliacytes and astrocytes.

The material to be screened includes, but is not restricted to, for example, peptides, analogues of peptides, microorganism culture, organic compounds, etc.

The present invention also provides a method for screening a material inhibiting the protein kinase activity of the protein according to the present invention having the protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof, comprising:

(1) placing the material to be screened in a screening system containing the protein according to the present invention having the protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof, and (2) measuring degree of the inhibition of the protein kinase activity of the protein according to the present invention having the protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof.

The present invention also provides a method for screening a material inhibiting the protein kinase activity of the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof or the enhancement of the activity, comprising:

(1) placing the material to be screened in a screening system containing the activated Rho protein and the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof, and (2) measuring the degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity of the protein according to the present invention having the activated Rho-binding activity and protein kinase activity or derivatives thereof or the degree of inhibition of the enhancement of the activity.

Examples of methods for measuring "degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity" or "degree of inhibition of the enhancement of the protein kinase activity" include methods to measure the autophosphorylation activity or activity to phosphorylate any other substrate, or the degree of the enhancement of the activities in the presence of the activated Rho protein. For example, the degree of inhibition of the enhancement of the protein kinase activity can be measured as described in examples 2, 5 and 6 through 9. In this specification, measuring "degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity" or "degree of inhibition of the enhancement of the protein kinase activity" refers to the meaning including measurements the presence or absence of the inhibition of the protein kinase activity or the presence or absence of the inhibition of the enhancement of the protein kinase activity.

As described in the examples, "degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity" can be measured by using Rho-kinase derivative having the protein kinase activity and not having the Rho-binding activity (see examples 7 and 12). Such Rho-kinase derivative is a derivative of which the protein kinase activity has been constitutively activated.

As described in the examples, the activated Rho protein posttranslationally processed enhances the protein kinase activity of Rho-kinase more effectively than unprocessed one (see example 2 (4)). Therefore, the screening according to the present invention can be achieved more accurately by using the activated Rho protein posttranslationally processed.

Examples of substrates include non-physiological substrates, such as myelin basic protein, S6 peptide, .alpha.p KC, histone, vinculin, talin, metavinculin, caldesmon, filamin, .alpha.-actinin and MAP-4, and physiological substrates, such as myosin, myosin light chain, and myosin light chain phosphatase and one of the subunits thereof (myosin-binding subunit (MBS)).

As described in examples 2 and 5, phosphorylation is enhanced 5- to 15-fold when myosin-binding subunit is used as a substrate in the presence of the activated Rho protein, as compared to the absence thereof. Therefore, the screening according to the present invention can be achieved more accurately by using myosin-binding subunit as a substrate in the presence of the activated Rho protein.

Also, as described in example 7, the K.sub.m value of Rho-kinase drops to about 1/5 when myosin light chain is used as a substrate in the presence of the activated Rho protein, as compared to the absence thereof. Therefore, the screening according to the present invention can be achieved more accurately by using myosin or myosin light chain as a substrate in the presence of the activated Rho protein.

The screening system and the material to be screened may be determined as in the aforementioned screening method.

As mentioned above, the activated Rho protein is known to be closely involved in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and smooth muscle contraction. Therefore, the above two screening methods can also be used as a method for screening tumorigenesis/metastasis suppressor or smooth muscle contraction suppressor.

Peptides and Antibodies

The present invention provides a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.3 and a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.3. Such peptide contains a partial amino acid sequence of bovine or human Rho-kinase; more specifically, such peptide is a peptide consisting of 14 amino acid residues, wherein a cystein (Cys) is added to the N-terminal of the amino acid sequence 669-681 of SEQ ID NO.1 or NO.4 (13 amino acid residues). The amino acid sequence 669-681 of SEQ ID NO.1 or NO.4 exists in the coiled-coil domain of Rho-kinase.

The peptide can be used as an antigen for obtaining an antibody to the protein according to the present invention. Also, as mentioned above, the protein according to the present invention (especially, Rho-kinase) is closely involved in tumorigenesis, metastasis, and smooth muscle contraction. Therefore, the peptide according to the present invention should be useful in investigating their mechanisms.

The present invention provides an antibody to a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3 or a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3. In the present invention, antibodies include polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies.

Examples of peptides comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.3 include peptides wherein any amino acid sequence is added to the N-terminal and/or C-terminal of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO.3, including the protein according to the present invention.

The antibody according to the present invention can be prepared using conventional methods in the art; for example, by injecting the peptide of SEQ ID NO.3 into an animal (e.g., rabbit, goat, rat, mouse or sheep) with any carrier (e.g., bovine serum albumin) and, after a given period, purifying the serum of the animal.

The peptide of SEQ ID NO.3 contains a partial amino acid sequence of Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 669-681 of SEQ ID NO.1 or NO.4). Therefore, the specific reaction (i.e., immune reaction) of said polyclonal antibody may indicate the existence of Rho-kinase or a modified protein thereof.

Therefore, according to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a protein recognized by the antibody, and the protein according to the present invention recognized by the antibody.

Also, according to another aspect of the present invention, we provide a method for detecting a material recognized by the antibody according to the present invention, comprising:

(1) placing the material to be detected in a detection system containing the antibody according to the present invention, and (2) measuring the degree of reaction between the material to be detected and the antibody according to the present invention.

Examples of methods for measuring the degree of reaction with the antibody according to the present invention include ELISA method, radioimmunoassay, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence (see, for example, Monoclonal Antibody Experiment Manual, Kodansha (1987)). For example, the degree of reaction can be measured as described in example 3 (4). In this specification, the term "measuring degree of reaction" refer to the meaning including measurements the presence or absence of any reaction.

The detection system for the detection method according to the present invention may contain latex particles, for example, in addition to the polyclonal antibody according to the present invention.

The present invention also provides a detection kit comprising the antibody according to the present invention for materials specifically reacting with the antibody. The term "detection kit" refer to the meaning including detection reagents, diagnostic reagents, and diagnostic kit for diseases in which the protein according to the present invention is involved.

Examples of the detection method according to the present invention include a detection method for materials specifically reacting with said antibody, comprising:

(1) placing the material to be detected in a detection system containing latex particles bearing the antibody according to the present invention, and (2) measuring the degree of aggregation of the latex particles.

The degree of aggregation of latex particles can be measured by a photometric technique, such as turbidimetry, nephelometry.

The detection kit according to the present invention may contain latex particles, as in the detection system. Such latex particles may bear antibody on the surface thereof. Also, the detection kit according to the present invention comprising latex particles may be used as described in the above example of the detection method.

Examples of materials to be detected include body fluid from animals including humans (e.g., serum, blood, etc.), urine, feces, tissue specimens, cells (e.g., tumor cells, etc.).

Examples of materials reacting specifically with the polyclonal antibody according to the present invention include bovine or human Rho-kinase and derivatives thereof (containing the amino acid sequence 669-681 of SEQ ID NO.1 or NO.4), and proteins containing the peptide of SEQ ID NO.3.

The protein kinase activity of materials reacting specifically with the polyclonal antibody according to the present invention (e.g., bovine or human Rho-kinase) is stimulated in the presence of the activated Rho protein. Also, physiological substrates for the protein kinase of Rho-kinase are, as described in the examples, the myosin-binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase and intact myosin. Furthermore, myosin light chain phosphatase comprising myosin-binding subunit has been proved to be involved in various circular system diseases attributed to smooth muscle contraction, such as hypertension, vasospasm (cardiovascular vasospasm and cerebrovascular vasospasm), cardiac angina, myocardial infarction, and arteriosclerosis obliterans, as mentioned above.

Therefore, the above detection method and detection kit may be used as a detection method and detection kit (including detection reagents, diagnostic reagents, and diagnostic kit) for diseases involving the protein according to the present invention or diseases involving the Rho protein, myosin light chain phosphatase, myosin-binding subunit, myosin, or myosin light chain, such as cardiovascular diseases.

EXAMPLES

The present invention is illustrated in more details in, but not restricted to, the following examples:

Example 1 Identification and Purification of Activated Rho-Binding Protein

(1) Preparation of brain membrane extract

A crude membrane fraction was prepared from 200 g of scissored bovine brain gray matter specimens, by suspending them in 300 ml homogenizing buffer (25 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 5 mM EGTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), 10 mM MgCl.sub.2, 10 .mu.M (p-amidinophenyl)-methanesulfonyl fluoride, 1 mg/l leupeptin, and 10% sucrose). The protein in the crude membrane fraction was extracted by the addition of homogenizing buffer containing 4 M NaCl. After shaking for 1 hour at 4.degree. C., the membrane fraction was centrifuged at 20,000.times.g for 1 hour at 4.degree. C. The supernatant was dialyzed three times, using Buffer A (20 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, and 5 mM MgCl.sub.2). Then, solid ammonium sulfate was added to a saturated concentration of 40%. The precipitate at 0-40% ammonium sulfate concentration was resolved in 16 ml Buffer A and dialyzed three times by Buffer A to obtain the bovine brain membrane extract.

(2) Preparation of small G-protein affinity column

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST hereafter)-RhoA, GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37, GST-Rac1 and GST-H-Ras were purified according to the method described in H. Shimizu et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269, 30407-30411 (1994); H. Shimizu et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269, 22917-22920 (1994), and loaded with guanine nucleotides. The GST-small G-proteins (24 nmol each) were immobilized on 1 ml glutathione-Sepharose column 4B and loaded on the column.

(3) GST-small G-protein affinity column chromatography

The proteins of the bovine brain membrane extract were eluted through a 1 ml glutathione-Sepharose column. The pass-through fraction was loaded onto a glutathione-Sepharose column containing 24 nmol of GST, GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. GTP.gamma.S is a nonhydrolyzable analog of GTP. The proteins bound to the glutathione-Sepharose column were eluted by addition of 10 ml Buffer A containing glutathione or 1% 3-�(3-cholamidopropyl) dimethylammonio! propanesulfonic acid (CHAPS), and fractions of 1 ml each were collected. Aliquots of the eluates were subjected to SDS-PAGE followed by silver staining, according to the method described in U. K. Laemmli, Nature, 227, 680-685 (1970).

The result is shown in FIG. 1. A protein with a molecular weight of about 164 kDa (bovine Rho-kinase) appeared in fractions 2-10. Bovine Rho-kinase appeared in the eluate from the GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA affinity column but not from the GST or GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA affinity column. The protein was scarcely retained on the GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 (a mutant RhoA protein containing an amino acid substitution in the effector domain) affinity column. The bovine Rho-kinase was not eluted from the GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-H-Ras affinity column either. Thus, it was proved that bovine Rho-kinase interacts specifically with activated RhoA via the effector domain.

(4) Purification of bovine Rho-kinase

In order to purify bovine Rho-kinase, the eluates from the glutathione-Sepharose affinity column containing GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (fractions 3-10) were diluted with an equal volume of Buffer A and subjected to a Mono Q 5/5 column equilibrated with Buffer A. After washing the column with 10 ml of Buffer A, proteins were eluted with a linear gradient of NaCl (0-0.5 M) in Buffer A, and fractions of 0.5 ml each were collected.

The result is shown in FIG. 2. Bovine Rho-kinase appeared as a single peak in fractions 10-12 (upper panel of FIG. 2). Aliquots of the eluates (fractions 8-14) subjected to SDS-PAGE followed by silver staining presented a purity of about 95% (lower panel of FIG. 2).

(5) Identification of Rho-binding protein by overlay assay

Overlay assay was carried out according a modified form of the method described previously (E. Manser et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 16025-16028 (1992)). The sample was applied to 6% SDS-PAGE and blotted to a nitrocellulose membrane. The membrane was incubated at 4.degree. C. for 5 min with Buffer B (25 mM Hepes/NaOH at pH 7.0, 0.5 mM MgCl.sub.2, and 0.05% Triton X-100) containing 6 M guanidium chloride and for 3 min with Buffer B. This was repeated four times and then an equal volume of Buffer B containing 6 M guanidium chloride was added. The membrane was agitated for 10 min and an equal volume of Buffer B was added 5 times sequentially at 10 min intervals. The membrane was soaked with Buffer B and transferred into phosphate buffer saline (PBS) containing 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA), 0.1% Triton X-100, 0.5 M MgCl.sub.2, and 5 mM DTT. The membrane was soaked for 10 min with 0.5 ml of GAP buffer (25 mM Hepes/NaOH at pH 7.0, 2.5 mM DTT, 5 mM MgCl.sub.2, 0.05% Triton X-100, and 100 mM GTP) containing �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA or �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37. The membrane was washed three times with PBS containing 25 mM Hepes/NaOH at pH 7.0, 5 mM MgCl.sub.2, and 0.05% Triton X-100, dried and exposed to an X-ray film for autoradiography. �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S was purchased from DuPont New England Nuclear.

The result is shown in FIG. 3. �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA bound to bovine Rho-kinase in the membrane extract and purified preparation, but �.sup.35 S!GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 did not bind to it, indicating that the activated RhoA protein directly binds to bovine Rho-kinase via the effector domain. GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 did not bind to bovine Rho-kinase.

Example 2 Analysis of Bovine Rho-Kinase Activity

In order to examine whether bovine Rho-kinase has kinase activity, the following experiment was carried out: Kinase reaction was carried out in 50 .mu.l of kinase buffer (50 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA, 5 mM MgCl.sub.2, and 0.06% CHAPS) containing 2 .mu.M �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP (600-800 MBq/mmol) and purified bovine Rho-kinase (10 ng of protein) with or without substrates (myelin basic protein, S6 peptide or serine-containing synthetic peptides based on the protein kinase C pseudosubstrate (.alpha.PKC), 40 .mu.M each). After incubation for 10 min at 30.degree. C., the reaction mixtures were boiled in SDS-sample buffer and subjected to SDS-PAGE for autophosphorylation assay. The radiolabeled bands were visualized by autoradiography. The reaction mixtures were spotted onto a Whatman p81 paper for kinase assay. Incorporation of .sup.32 P into the substrate was assessed by scintillation counting. The result is shown below. �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP was purchased from Amersham Corp.

(1) The enhancement of the autophosphorylation activity of bovine Rho-kinase by the activated RhoA protein is shown in FIG. 4.

Purified bovine Rho-kinase exhibited autophosphorylation in vitro in the presence of �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP. The autophosphorylation was stimulated by GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA by about two times (lane 3). GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 (lane 4) and GDP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 2) were less effective. The concentration of GST-RhoA used was 1 .mu.M each.

(2) The enhancement of bovine Rho-kinase activity by the activated RhoA protein in the presence of non-physiological substrates is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Bovine Rho-kinase exhibited kinase activity in the absence of GST-Rho when myelin basic protein, S6 peptide, and .alpha.PKC were used as substrates (FIGS. 5 and 6). The phosphorylation of myelin basic protein, S6 peptide and .alpha.PKC by bovine Rho-kinase was stimulated by GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, whereas GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA had a much weaker effect (FIG. 5). The phosphorylation of S6 peptide was stimulated by GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, while GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-H-Ras and GDP.cndot.GST-H-Ras had no effect and GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37, GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 and GDP.cndot.GST-Rac1 showed only marginal effects (FIG. 6). Among the three substrates, S6 peptide was the most preferable substrate for bovine Rho-kinase. The concentration of GST-small G-protein used was 1 .mu.M each.

(3) The enhancement of bovine Rho-kinase activity by the activated RhoA protein in the presence of proteins as physiological substrates is shown in FIG. 7.

Since the Rho protein is implicated in cytoskeletal rearrangements, we searched for substrates for bovine Rho-kinase according to the above conditions among cytoskeletal regulatory proteins including vinculin, talin, metavinculin, caldesmon, filamin, vimentin, .alpha.-actinin (E. A. Clark & J. S. Brugge, Science, 268, 233-239, (1995)), MAP-4 (H. Aizawa et al., J. Biol. Chem., 265, 13849-13855 (1990)), and the myosin-binding subunit of myosin phosphatase (Y. H. Chen et al., FEBS Lett., 356, 51-55 (1994)). The myosin-binding subunit used was the C-terminus of rat myosin-binding subunit (the amino acid sequence 699-976) fused with maltose-binding protein. This fusion protein was expressed in E. coli and purified according to the standard procedure.

Bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylated the above substrates in the presence and absence of GST-RhoA. The enhancement of the phosphorylation level in the presence of GTP.gamma.S-RhoA was minor when the substrate was vinculin, talin, metavinculin, caldesmon, filamin, vimentin, .alpha.-actinin or MAP-4 (not shown). However, when the substrate was myosin-binding subunit (50 nM), the phosphorylation level was substantially enhanced in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (FIG. 7). GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA enhanced the phosphorylation of the myosin-binding subunit by about 15 times (FIG. 7). The concentration of GST-RhoA used was 1 .mu.M each.

(4) Effect of posttranslational processing of RhoA

It has been known that posttranslational processing of the Ras protein is important for the activation of yeast adenylate cyclase (H. Horiuchi et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 12, 4515-4520 (1992)) and Ras-dependent MAP kinase kinase kinase (B-Raf) (T. Itoh et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268, 3025-3028 (1993)). Also, posttranslational processing of the Rac protein is important for the activation of NADPH oxidase (S. Ando et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 25709-25713 (1992)). These observations prompted us to examine whether posttranslational processing of the RhoA protein affects for the activation of bovine Rho-kinase. The RhoA protein was posttranslationally processed according to the procedure described in H. Horiuchi et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 12, 4515-4520 (1992) and T. Itoh et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268, 3025-3028 (1993), and used to examine the effect of processing on the kinase activity of bovine Rho-kinase according to the aforementioned procedure.

The result is shown in FIG. 8. Posttranslationally processed RhoA protein in the GTP.gamma.S-bound form stimulated the kinase activity of S6 peptide more effectively than posttranslationally unprocessed RhoA.

Example 3 Amino Acid Sequence of Bovine Rho-Kinase and DNA Sequence encoding amino acid sequence

(1) Peptide sequencing

Purified bovine Rho-kinase was subjected to SDS-PAGE and transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane. The band corresponding to bovine Rho-kinase was digested with lysyl-endopeptidase, Achromobacter protease I, or endoproteinase Asp-N (A. Iwamatsu, Electrophoresis, 13, 142-147 (1992)), and the peptides released were fractionated by C18 column chromatography and sequenced. A total of 37 internal sequences were obtained from the peptides. (2) cDNA cloning.

To obtain cDNA clones encoding bovine Rho-kinase, a bovine brain cDNA library (1.2.times.106 independent plaques in total) (CLONTECH) was screened with degenerate oligonucleotide probes corresponding to the partial amino acid sequence determined from the purified bovine Rho-kinase (indicated by double underlines in FIG. 9). Hybridization for screening of the library was done as described previously (J. Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual: Cold Spring Habor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989)). The cDNA inserted into isolated positive clone of .lambda.gt10 phage was cloned into pBluescript II SK(-) (M. A. Alting-Mees & J. M. Short, Nucleic Acids Res., 17, 9494 (1989)) for nucleotide sequencing with ABI DNA sequencer 373S.

(3) Sequencing

The cDNA base sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of bovine Rho-kinase are shown in SEQ ID NO.2 and NO.1, respectively. The protein predicted from the cDNA sequence contains 1388 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 160,797 Da, which is close to the apparent molecular mass, about 164 kDa, estimated by SDS-PAGE. All thirty-seven peptide sequences obtained were found within the amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA sequence, as indicated by single underlines in FIG. 9.

Bovine Rho-kinase had a 260 amino acid sequence on the N-terminal (corresponding to the amino acid sequence 90-359 in SEQ ID NO.1), which shared 72% sequence identity with the kinase domain of myotonic dystrophy kinase (J. D. Brook et al., Cell, 68, 799-808 (1992); Y. H. Fu et al., Science, 255, 1256-1258 (1992); M. Mahadevan et al., Science, 255, 1253-1255 (1992)), a type of serine/threonine kinase. Bovine Rho-kinase had a putative coiled-coil structure in the middle (the amino acid sequence 438-1124 in SEQ ID NO.1), which showed a similarity to myosin rod, and a zinc finger-like motif on the C-terminal (the amino acid sequence 1261-1315 in SEQ ID NO.1).

Comparison of the kinase domain, coiled-coil domain, and zinc finger motif between bovine Rho-kinase and myotonic dystrophy kinase is shown in FIG. 10. The BLAST program was used for protein homology search (S. F. Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol., 215, 403-410 (1990)).

(4) Analysis of tissue-specific expression using antibody production and immunoblotting

Rabbit polyclonal antibodies against the partial amino acid sequence 669-681 of bovine Rho-kinase (KRQLQERFTDLEK) was prepared according to standard techniques, by immunizing a rabbit using a synthetic peptide (CKRQLQERFTDLEK, corresponding to the amino acid sequence in SEQ ID NO.3) as an antigen and bovine serum albumin as a carrier, and purifying the obtained serum.

Immunoblot analysis of bovine Rho-kinase was carried out as described (E. Harlow & D. Lame, Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1988)). Protein concentrations were determined with bovine serum albumin as a reference protein as described (M. Bradford, Anal. Biochem., 72, 248-254 (1976)). The anti-bovine Rho-kinase antibodies from rabbit crossreacted with rat Rho-kinase.

The result is shown in FIG. 11. The tissue specificity of bovine Rho-kinase expression was analyzed in various rat tissues. Rho-kinase was expressed highly in cerebrum and cerebellum, weakly in heart, spleen, thymus, lung and kidney, and hardly in skeletal muscles, liver and pancreas.

Example 4 Binding between Activated RhoA Protein and Recombinant Bovine Rho-Kinase

(1) Plasmid construction

To obtain the in vitro-translated coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase, pGEM-HA-Rho-kinase was constructed as follows: The 2.2 kbp cDNA fragment of bovine Rho-kinase encoding the amino acid sequence 421-1137 in SEQ ID NO.1 was amplified from the bovine Rho-kinase cDNA clone (example 3 (2)) by PCR using the primers (SEQ ID NOS. 7 & 8 Respectively) 5'-ATAAGGATCCCTACTAAGTGACTCTCCATCTTG-3' and 5'-TATAGGATCCTTAACTGCCTATACTGGAACTATCC-3'. The amplified cDNA fragment was cloned into the BamHI site of pGEM-HA.

(2) In vitro translation

In vitro translation of pGEM-HA-Rho-kinase was performed using the TNT T7-coupled reticulocyte lysate system (Promega) under the conditions described in the instruction manual, to obtain a protein corresponding to the coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase. GST-small G-proteins loaded with guanine nucleotides (0.75 nmol each) were immobilized onto 31 .mu.l of glutathione-Sepharose 4B beads and washed with 310 .mu.l (10 volumes) of Buffer A. The immobilized beads were added to 30 .mu.l of in vitro-translated mixture and incubated for 1 h at 4.degree. C. with gentle mixing in the presence of 1 mg/ml bovine serum albumin. The beads were washed six times with 102 .mu.l (3.3 volumes) of Buffer A, and the bound proteins were eluted with GST-small G-proteins by addition of 102 .mu.l (3.3 volumes) of Buffer A containing 10 mM glutathione three times. The first eluates were subjected to SDS-PAGE and vacuum-dried followed by autoradiography. The result is shown in FIG. 12.

The in vitro-translated coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase was retained on the GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA affinity beads and could be coeluted with GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA by addition of glutathione (lane 3), whereas it was not retained on the GST (lane 1), GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 2), GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 (lane 4), GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 (lane 6) and GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-H-Ras (lane 8) affinity beads. Also, essentially the same binding patterns were obtained when a protein corresponding to a sequence overlapping the coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 799-1137 in SEQ ID NO.1) was used (not shown). These results confirm that GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA directly interacts with the coiled-coil domain of bovine Rho-kinase.

Also, the Rho-binding domain of human Rho-kinase was determined by two hybrid system, as described later (example 11). The results suggested that the Rho-binding domain of bovine Rho-kinase was the amino acid sequence 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO.1 (FIG. 10).

Example 5 Phosphorylation of Chicken Myosin-Binding Subunit and Inhibition of Myosin Light Chain Phosphatase Activity by Bovine Rho-Kinase

(1) Phosphorylation of chicken myosin-binding subunit by bovine Rho-kinase

Bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylated chicken myosin-binding subunit. The C-terminal domain (the amino acids 753-1004) of chicken myosin-binding subunit (Shimizu, H. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269, 30407-30411 (1994)) was fused with maltose-binding protein (MBS-C) according to the method described in example 2 (3) and used as a substrate for the measurement of phosphorylation by bovine Rho-kinase according to example 2 (3) (FIG. 13). Phosphorylation of MBS-C by bovine Rho-kinase was at least five times as high in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 3) as in the presence of GST (control, lane 1). On the contrary, GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA (lane 2), GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 (lane 4), GDP.cndot.GST-Rac1 (lane 5) and GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 (lane 6) did not enhance the phosphorylation.

Bovine Rho-kinase did not phosphorylate the N-terminal domain (the amino acids 1-721) of chicken myosin-binding subunit (Shimizu, H. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269, 30407-30411 (1994)), unlike MBS-C (not shown).

(2) Inhibition of chicken myosin light chain phosphatase activity by bovine Rho-kinase

Natural myosin light chain phosphatase was purified from chicken gizzard according to the method described in Shimizu, H. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 269, 30407-30411 (1994). Phosphorylation of the myosin light chain phosphatase was measured in the presence of various concentrations of natural Rho-kinase from bovine brain (experiment 1). Also, the enzymatic activity of myosin light chain phosphatase that was phosphorylated at various bovine Rho-kinase concentrations was measured (experiment 2).

It was elucidated that the myosin-binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase was phosphorylated by bovine Rho-kinase in a dose-dependent manner, and that the enzymatic activity of myosin light chain phosphatase was inhibited by the phosphorylation by bovine Rho-kinase. FIG. 14 shows the results of the above two independent experiments (experiments 1 and 2), with the concentration of bovine Rho-kinase taken on the horizontal axis. The procedures for experiments 1 and 2 are as follows:

The phosphorylation of natural myosin light chain phosphatase by bovine Rho-kinase (experiment 1) was measured in 40 .mu.l of reaction mixture (34 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 34 mM KCl, 4 mM MgCl.sub.2, 1.625 mM EDTA, 1.2 mM DTT, 1.3% sucrose, 0.38% CHAPS, and 10 .mu.M �.sup.35 S!ATP.gamma.S) containing purified myosin light chain phosphatase (1.0 .mu.g of protein) and various amounts of bovine Rho-kinase, with or without 1 .mu.M GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. After incubation for 3 min, the reaction mixtures were subjected to SDS-PAGE. The phosphorylation of myosin-binding subunit was measured by autoradiography (Fuji BAS-2000).

In order to examine the effect of phosphorylation of myosin light chain phosphatase on its activity (experiment 2), myosin light chain phosphatase (1.0 .mu.g of protein) purified in the same manner as above was phosphorylated by various concentrations of bovine Rho-kinase, in the presence or absence of non-radiolabeled 10 .mu.M ATP.gamma.S and in the presence or absence of 1 .mu.M GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. The reaction was terminated by the addition of 5 .mu.l of 46 mM EDTA. Then, reaction was started by adding 5 .mu.l of 30 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 30 mM KCl, 0.5 mM DTT containing radiolabeled myosin light chain, to make 50 .mu.l of reaction mixture (containing 5 .mu.M .sup.32 P-myosin light chain), and continued for 6 min at 30.degree. C. After terminating the reaction, the amount of .sup.32 P binding to myosin light chain was measured as described in Ishihara, H. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 159, 871-877 (1989).

Myosin-binding subunit was .sup.35 S-thiophosphorylated by bovine Rho-kinase in a dose-dependent manner, as shown in FIG. 14.

Also, bovine Rho-kinase inhibited myosin light chain phosphatase activity in a dose-dependent manner in the presence of ATP.gamma.S, but did not in its absence. These results show that the enzymatic activity of myosin light chain phosphatase is inhibited as it is phosphorylated by bovine Rho-kinase.

Example 6 Measurement of Enhancement of Phosphorylation of Myosin-Binding Subunit and Myosin Light Chain by Rho Protein in NIH/3T3 Cells

We examined whether the phosphorylation of myosin-binding subunit is enhanced by Rho protein in NIH/3T3 cells as follows: NIH/3T3 cells were stably transfected with p3'SS and pOPRSVI-HA-RhoA or pOPRSVI-HA-RhoA.sup.Val14 according to the manufacturer's (Stratagene) instructions, to establish NIH/3T3 cell lines expressing hemagglutinin (HA)-RhoA or HA-RhoA.sup.Val14 under the control of IPTG. Confluent NIH/3T3 cell lines (the parent cells, NIH/3T3 RhoA-5, NIH/3T3 RhoA-24, NIH/3T3 RhOA.sup.Val14 -7 and NIH/3T3 RhoA.sup.Val14 -25) cultured in 35 mm dish were treated with 5 mM IPTG for 24 hours. During the last 12 hours, the cells were deprived of serum, and then labeled with 9.25 MBq of �.sup.32 P!-ortho-phosphate for 2 hours. The .sup.32 P-labeled cells were lysed, and myosin-binding subunit was immunoprecipitated. The washed immunoprecipitates were subjected to SDS-PAGE and autoradiography.

In the NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14, large amounts of stress fibers and focal adhesions were observed as reported in A. J. Ridley & A. Hall, Cell, 70, 389-399 (1992) and A. J. Ridley & A. Hall, EMBO J., 13, 2600-2610 (1994). Although the amount of myosin-binding subunit was similar between the NIH/3T3 cell lines including the parent cells (not shown), the amounts of phosphorylation of myosin-binding subunit in the NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14 were remarkably greater than that in the parental NIH/3T3 cells (FIG. 15).

Next, phosphorylation of myosin light chain in the NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14 and the parent cells was measured as follows: IPTG-treated and serum-deprived NIH/3T3 cell lines (100 mm dish) were treated with 10% TCA. To determine the extent of myosin light chain phosphorylation, the trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-precipitable material was subjected to glycerol-urea gel electrophoresis followed by quantitation of the relative amounts of non-phosphorylated and phosphorylated (monophosphorylated (MLCP) and diphosphorylated (MLCP.sub.2)) forms of myosin light chain by an immunoblot technique (D. A. Taylor & J. T. Stull, J. Biol. Chem., 263, 14456 (1988)). When the NIH/3T3 cells were treated with 0.1 .mu.M phosphatase inhibitor (calyculin-A (CLA)) for 10 min, phosphorylation of myosin light chain was enhanced (FIG. 16). Phosphorylation of myosin light chain in the NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14 was clearly higher than in the parent cells (FIG. 16). The result was consistent between three independent NIH/3T3 cell lines overexpressing RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14.

The mechanism underlying the above results is considered to be, but not restricted to, that the induced expression of RhoA or RhoA.sup.Val14 in the NIH/3T3 cells stimulated their endogenous Rho-kinase, which then enhanced the phosphorylation of myosin-binding subunit, inhibiting myosin light chain phosphatase activity and, thus, inhibiting the dephosphorylation of myosin light chain.

Example 7 Phosphorylation of Myosin Light Chain by Bovine Rho-Kinase

We examined whether bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylates isolated myosin light chain in a cell-free system as follows:

Myosin light chain (Hathaway, D. R. & Haeberle, J. R. Anal. Biochem., 135, 37-43 (1983)), myosin and myosin light chain kinase (Ikebe, M. & Hartshorne, D. J., J. Biol. Chem., 260, 10027-10031 (1985)) were purified from frozen chicken gizzard. Bovine Rho-kinase was purified from bovine brain (example 1).

Protein fragment corresponding to the catalytic domain of bovine Rho-kinase were fused with GST to make a recombinant protein (GST-Rho-kinase) as follows. The cDNA fragment encoding the catalytic domain of bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 6-553 in SEQ ID NO.1) was inserted into the BamH1 site of plasmid pAcYM1-GST (Matsuura, Y. et al., J. Gen. Virol., 68, 1233-1250 (1987)). GST-Rho-kinase was expressed in Sf9 cells (ATCC CRL 1711) and purified using this recombinant plasmid and a Baculovirus system as described in Matsuura, Y. et al., J. Gen. Virol., 68, 1233-1250 (1987).

The kinase reaction for bovine Rho-kinase was carried out in 50 .mu.l of reaction mixture (50 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 2 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, 7 mM MgCl.sub.2, 0.15% CHAPS, 250 .mu.M �.gamma..sup.32 P!ATP �1-20 GBq/mmol!, purified bovine Rho-kinase �20 ng of protein! or GST-bovine Rho-kinase, and indicated amounts of myosin light chain or myosin) with or without 1 .mu.M GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA. The kinase reaction for myosin light chain kinase was carried out in 50 .mu.l of reaction mixture (50 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 1 mM MgCl.sub.2, 85 mM KCl, 500 .mu.M �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP �0.5-5 GBq/mmol!, purified myosin light chain kinase �50 ng of protein!, and indicated amounts of myosin light chain or myosin) with or without 0.1 mM CaCl.sub.2 and 10 .mu.g/ml calmodulin. After incubation for 10 min at 30.degree. C., the reaction mixtures were boiled in SDS-sample buffer and subjected to SDS-PAGE as described previously (Laemmli, U. K., Nature, 227, 680-685 (1970)). The radiolabeled bands were visualized by an image analyzer (Fuji).

We found that bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylated myosin light chain (FIG. 17). GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA enhanced the phosphorylation of myosin light chain by purified bovine Rho-kinase, but GDP.cndot.GST-RhoA or GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA.sup.Ala37 did not (FIG. 17). RhoA.sup.Ala37 is structurally equivalent to Ras.sup.Ala35, which contains an amino acid substitution in the effector domain and, therefore, fails to interact with its target (Satoh, T. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 267, 24149-24152 (1992); McCormick, F., Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev., 4, 71-76 (1994)). GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-Rac1 had no effect either. Structurally activated recombinant bovine Rho-kinase (GST-bovine Rho-kinase) phosphorylated myosin light chain. Under similar conditions, myosin light chain kinase phosphorylated myosin light chain in a Ca.sup.2+ -calmodulin-dependent manner (FIG. 17). We also found that bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylated the myosin light chain of intact myosin in a GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA-dependent manner (FIG. 17).

A maximum of about 1 mol of phosphate was incorporated into 1 mol of isolated myosin light chain or myosin light chain of intact myosin by purified bovine Rho-kinase or GST-bovine Rho-kinase in the presence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA (data not shown). It is noted that a limited number of kinases such as myosin light chain kinase and protein kinase C are known to phosphorylate intact myosin stoichiometrically (Tan, J. L. et al., Annu. Rev. Biochem., 61, 721-759 (1992)).

The apparent affinity of isolated myosin light chain for purified bovine Rho-kinase was estimated by measuring the phosphorylation of various concentrations of myosin light chain (FIG. 18). The apparent Kmvalues for myosin light chain in the presence and absence of GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA were 2.6+0.4 and 12.6+1.6 .mu.M, and the molecular activities were 0.26.+-.0.03 and 0.15.+-.0.02 sec.sup.-1, respectively. Thus, it is likely that GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA enhances (increases) the affinity of bovine Rho-kinase for myosin light chain and produces the maximum rate of phosphorylation reaction. The apparent Km value and molecular activity of GST-bovine Rho-kinase were 0.91.+-.0.07 .mu.M and 0.67.+-.0.09 sec.sup.-1, respectively. The apparent Km value and molecular activity of myosin light chain kinase for myosin light chain were 52.1.+-.7.1 .mu.M and 2.0+0.36 sec.sup.-1, respectively, under the experimental conditions. The Km value of bovine Rho-kinase for myosin light chain was lower than that of myosin light chain kinase, indicating that bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylates myosin at lower concentrations but has a lower molecular activity than myosin light chain kinase. The lower molecular activity of purified bovine Rho-kinase than that of GST-bovine Rho-kinase is attributed to the fact that the purified bovine Rho-kinase was inactivated during its purification (not shown).

Example 8 Determination of Site of Phosphorylation by Bovine Rho-Kinase on Myosin Light Chain

Myosin light chain is phosphorylated primarily at Ser-19 and secondarily at Thr-18 by myosin light chain kinase (Ikebe, M. & Hartshorne, D. J., J. Biol. Chem., 260, 10027-10031 (1985)). The phosphorylation of Ser-19 is essential for the activation of myosin ATPase by actin (Kamisoyama, H. et al., Biochemistry, 33, 840-847 (1994); Bresnick, A. R. et al., Biochemistry, 34, 12576-12583 (1995)). Myosin light chain is phosphorylated at Ser-1, Ser-2 and Thr-9 by protein kinase C, and this phosphorylation by protein kinase C inhibits actin activation by myosin ATPase (Nishikawa, M. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 259, 8808-8814 (1984); Bengur, A. R. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 262, 7613-7617 (1987); Ikebe, M. & Reardon, S., Biochemistry, 29, 2713-2720 (1990)).

To determine the primary site of phosphorylation by bovine Rho-kinase on myosin light chain, we performed peptide mapping of myosin light chain phosphorylated in vitro by either bovine Rho-kinase, myosin light chain kinase, or protein kinase C according to a previously described method (Naka, M. et al., Nature, 306, 490-492 (1983)). The pattern of two-dimensional peptide mapping of myosin light chain that was phosphorylated by bovine Rho-kinase was identical to that produced by myosin light chain kinase, and different from that produced by protein kinase C (FIG. 19).

A phosphoamino acid analysis according to a previously described method (Hunter, T. & Sefton, B. M., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 77, 1311-1315 (1980)) revealed that phosphorylation by bovine Rho-kinase occurred mainly on the serine residue and partially on the threonine residue of myosin light chain and that phosphorylation by myosin light chain kinase occurred only on the serine residue (Ser-19) of myosin light chain (data not shown). It may be noted that myosin light chain kinase preferentially phosphorylates myosin light chain at Ser-19 under the experimental conditions. The result was consistent when GST-bovine Rho-kinase was used instead of purified bovine Rho-kinase.

GST proteins were fused with wild type myosin light chain and with myosin light chain in which Thr-18 and Ser-19 were substituted by alanine residues to examine if bovine Rho-kinase and myosin light chain kinase could phosphorylate these recombinant proteins. Vectors for expressing these recombinant proteins (pGEX-myosin light chain and pGEX-myosin light chain.sup.Ala18,Ala19) in E. coli were constructed as follows. The 0.55-kbp cDNA fragment encoding myosin light chain from rat brain Quick clone cDNA (Clontech) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using the primers SEQ ID NOS: 9 and 10 Respectively 5'-AATAGGATCCGATTTAACCGCCACCATGTCG-3' and 5'-ATAAGGATCCTCAGTCATCTTTGTCTTTCGCTC-3'. Substitution of alanine (Ala) residues for threonine-18 and serine-19 was performed by polymerase chain reaction (Higuchi, R., in PCR Technology (Erlich, H. A. ed) pp. 61-70, Stockton Press, New York (1989)). The cDNA fragments were cloned into the BamHI site of pGEX-2T.

Both bovine Rho-kinase and myosin light chain kinase phosphorylated GST-myosin light chain but did not phosphorylate GST or GST-myosin light chain.sup.Ala18Ala19 (FIG. 20). Protein kinase C phosphorylated both GST-myosin light chain and GST-myosin light chain.sup.Ala18,Ala19 (data not shown). These results indicate that bovine Rho-kinase phosphorylates myosin light chain mainly at Ser-19, which is the same site phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase.

Example 9 Actin-Activated MgATPase Assay

To examine whether bovine Rho-kinase functions equivalently to myosin light chain kinase in a cell-free system, we performed an actin-activated MgATPase assay. Purified intact myosin was phosphorylated by GST-bovine Rho-kinase (1 mol phosphorylation per 1 mol myosin), then the activity of actin-activated MgATPase was measured.

Myosin ATPase assay was carried out as described (Ikebe, M. et al., Biochemistry, 23, 5062-5068 (1984)) with minor modifications. Briefly, 0.1 mg/ml myosin was phosphorylated by GST-bovine Rho-kinase (450 ng of protein) in 0.45 ml of reaction mixture (50 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 2.2 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, 6 mM MgCl.sub.2, 1 mM EGTA, 85 mM KCl, 1 .mu.M GTP.gamma.S.cndot.GST-RhoA, and 500 .mu.M ATP �80-200 MBq/mmol!) for 20 min at 30.degree. C. Also, 0.1 mg/ml myosin was phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase (450 ng of protein) under the same conditions except that 0.1 mM CaCl.sub.2 and 10 .mu.g/ml calmodulin were added. The myosin ATPase reaction was carried out in 0.45 ml of ATPase buffer (0.05mg/ml phosphorylated myosin, 50 mM Tris/HCl at pH 7.5, 0.5 mM DTT, 10 mM MgCl.sub.2, 0.5 mM EGTA, 85 mM KCl, and 1 mM ATP �80-200 MBq/mmol!) with or without 1 mg/ml F-actin for 30 min at 30.degree. C. An aliquot (80 .mu.l) of the reaction mixture was transferred into the stop solution (1.3% charcoal, 0.12 M NaH.sub.2 PO.sub.4 and 0.33 M perchloric acid) at the indicated time and filtrated. Inorganic phosphate that was liberated from �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP was assessed by a scintillation counter. F-actin was purified from the rabbit skeletal muscle (Spudich, J. A. & Watt, S., J. Biol. Chem., 246, 4866-4871 (1971)). �.gamma.-.sup.32 P!ATP was purchased from Amersham Corp.

The MgATPase activity of myosin increased as it was phosphorylated by GST-Rho-kinase in an F-actin-dependent manner to the extent similar to that increased by myosin light chain kinase (FIG. 21). The apparent K.sub.a value for actin and the molecular activity of phosphorylated myosin were 0.56.+-.0.05 .mu.M and 0.18.+-.0.02 sec.sup.-1, respectively. These values were similar to those of myosin phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase. In the experiment, GST-Rho-kinase was used instead of purified natural Rho-kinase because purified natural Rho-kinase does not stoichiometrically phosphorylate myosin under the experimental condition, where high myosin concentration was necessary for the measurement of myosin ATPase activity.

Example 10 Human Rho-Kinase cDNA Cloning

With 0.5 .mu.g of human brain mRNA (CLONTECH) as a template, 1st strand DNA was prepared using SuperScript.TM. Preamplification System (BRL). With 1/20 volume of this reaction mixture as a template for PCR, cDNA fragment encoding human Rho-kinase (the base sequence 1151-2476 in SEQ ID NO.4) was obtained by PCR, using TAKARA LA PCR kit and the primers SEQ ID NOS 11 & 12 Respectively (5'-CAT TTT CAT TTC TAG GAG ATG ATT ATT CTC TTG CTT TAA C-3', 5'-AAA AAG CAC TTC TTC AGC ACA AAA ATG CAG AAT ATC AGC G-3') produced from the base sequence of bovine Rho-kinase cDNA. A human brain .lambda.gt10 cDNA library (1.0.times.106 plaques) was screened with the prepared cDNA fragment used as a probe, according to J. Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual: Cold Spring Habor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989). Comparison with the base sequence of bovine Rho-kinase gene revealed that the two obtained clones, p164-20 (the base sequence 938-3710 of SEQ ID NO. 5) and C-9 (the base sequence 2898-4365 of SEQ ID NO. 5), covered the about 2 kbp translated region on the C-terminal. In order to clone the remaining about 1 kbp region on the N-terminal, the human brain .lambda.gt10 cDNA library (1.0.times.106) was screened with the p164-20 clone used as a probe. The result showed that one clone, N6, covered the 1 kbp (approx.) region on the N-terminal (the base sequence 1-929 in SEQ ID NO. 5), including an initiation codon. In order to obtain cDNA fragment that covers the region between p164-20 and N6, the cDNA fragment corresponding to the base sequence 734-1145 was amplified by PCR with Human Brain QUICK-Clone.TM. cDNA (CLONTECH) as a template, using TAKARA LA PCR kit (Takara Shuzo) and the primers SEQ ID NOS 13 & 14 Respectively 5'-CCT TTG TCA TCT TCA ATG TCA TCG AAA TTG-3' and 5'-CGT GTA TGA AGA TGG ATG AAA CAG GCA TGG-3'. These four clones, covering the translated region of human Rho-kinase gene, were subcloned into Stratagene pBluescriptII SK(-) (M. A. Alting-Mees and J. M. Short, Nucleic Acids Res., 17, 9494 (1989)). Deletion mutants were prepared by using double-stranded Nested Deletion Kit (Pharmacia), and sequenced by using 377 DNA sequencer (ABI). The human brain .lambda.gt10 cDNA library was purchased from CLONTECH.

The base sequence of human Rho-kinase cDNA and its deduced amino acid sequence are shown in SEQ ID NO.5 and NO.4, respectively. The predicted protein of human Rho-kinase contains 1388 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of about 161 kDa. The amino acid sequence of human Rho-kinase (SEQ ID NO.4) was highly homologous to those of bovine Rho-kinase (SEQ ID NO.1) and rat ROK.alpha.. (Although the amino acid sequence of rat ROK.alpha. reported in Leung, T. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 270, 29051-29054 (1995)* lacked the 84 amino acids on the N-terminal, the entire amino acid sequence was later recorded in the database (EMBL Data Bank accession number U38481). The amino acid residue numbers on rat ROK.alpha. hereafter indicate the number according to the sequence recorded in the database.) The amino acids contained in the entire human Rho-kinase were homologous to bovine Rho-kinase and rat ROK.alpha. by 97% and 95%, respectively. The human Rho-kinase had a kinase domain on the N-terminal, a coiled-coil domain containing an Rho-binding domain (example 11) in the middle, and a zinc finger-like motif on the C-terminal. The amino acid sequence in the kinase domain of human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 90-359 of SEQ ID NO.4) had 98% similarity and 97% similarity with those in the corresponding domains of bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 90-359 of SEQ ID NO.1) and rat ROK.alpha. (the amino acid sequence 88-357), respectively. The amino acid sequence in the coiled-coil domain of human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 438-1124 of SEQ ID NO.4) had 97% similarity and 95% similarity with the corresponding domains of bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 438-1124 of SEQ ID NO.1) and rat ROK.alpha. (the amino acid sequence 436-1122), respectively. The amino acid sequence in the zinc fingerlike motif of human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 1261-1315 in SEQ ID NO.4) had 100% similarity and 98% similarity with the corresponding domains of bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 1261-1315 of SEQ ID NO.1) and rat ROK.alpha. (the amino acid sequence 1259-1313), respectively.

Also, the amino acid sequence 669-681 of human Rho-kinase (SEQ ID NO.4) contained an amino acid sequence (KRQLQERFTDLEK) recognized by the anti-Rho-kinase antibody described in example 3 (4), which was identical to the amino acid sequence 669-681 of bovine Rho-kinase (SEQ ID NO.1). This fact implies that human Rho-kinase is recognized by the anti-Rho-kinase antibody (example 3 (4)), which is prepared with the synthetic peptide SEQ ID NO: 3 CKRQLQERFTDLEK used as an antigen. Therefore, we concluded that human Rho-kinase is a human counterpart of bovine Rho-kinase.

The entire amino acid sequence of human Rho-kinase (SEQ ID NO.4) had 67% similarity with that of human p160.sup.ROCK (Ishizaki, T. et al., EMBO J., 15, 1885-1893 (1996)*). The kinase domain of human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 90-359 in SEQ ID NO.4) was highly homologous to the kinase domain of human p160.sup.ROCK (the amino acid sequence 74-343 in Ishizaki, T. et al., EMBO J., 15, 1885-1893 (1996)*) with 92% similarity. Therefore, we concluded that human Rho-kinase is an isozyme of human p160.sup.ROCK.

Example 11 Detection of Binding between Human Rho-Kinase and Activated Rho Protein by Two Hybrid System

The Rho-binding domain of human Rho-kinase was determined using yeast two hybrid system as follows. The base sequence encoding the amino acid sequence 943-1068 of human Rho-kinase was amplified by PCR using primers SEQ ID NOS 15 & 16 Respectively (5'-TTG CGG CCG CTA AAG ATC ATG AAA GAG CTG GAG ATC-3', 5'-TAG CGG CCG CAA CAT ATG TAG CTT TCT ATT CTC-3'), and inserted in the NotI site of pVP16, to prepare a vector expressing Rho-kinase-VP16-fusion protein (Vojtek, A. B. et al., Cell, 74, 205-214 (1993)). Then, yeast (S. cerevisiae) L40 strains (Mat a trp1 leu2 his3 ade2 LYS2::(LexAop)4-HIS3 URA3:: (LexAop)8-LacZ) expressing fusion proteins (LexA-wild H-Ras, LexA-wild Rho, LexA-activated Rho, and LexA-wild H-Ras v.s. Rho-kinase-VP16; LexA-wild Rho v.s. Rho-kinase-VP16; and LexA-activated Rho v.s. Rho-kinase-VP16) were produced by LiCl method (Ito, H. et al., J. Bacteriol., 153, 163-168 (1983)), and cultured in a selective medium (Leu-, Trp-, His-, 200 mM 3AT) to examine their histidine auxotrophy. Only one strain, expressing the LexA-activated Rho fusion protein and the Rho-kinase-VP16 fusion protein, survived in the selective medium (FIG. 23). This result shows that the amino acid sequence 943-1068 of human Rho-kinase or a partial sequence thereof was the Rho-binding domain.

Comparison of the amino acid sequence in the Rho-binding domain of human Rho-kinase with those in the corresponding domains of rat Rho-kinase and Bovine Rho-kinase revealed that human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 943-1068) had 98% similarity with rat ROK.alpha. (the amino acid sequence 941-1066) and 98% similarity with bovine Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 943-1068). Also, the Rho-binding domain of human Rho-kinase (the amino acid sequence 943-1068) had 53% similarity with the corresponding domain of human p160.sup.ROCK (the amino acid sequence 910-1039).

Example 12 Induction of Permeabilized Smooth Muscle Contraction by GST-Rho-Kinase

Induction of permeabilized smooth muscle contraction was examined, by using constitutively activated bovine Rho-kinase (recombinant GST-Rho-kinase, example 7) and a smooth muscle whose cell membrane's permeability to protein was increased by surfactant, according to a previously described method (Kobayashi, S. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 264, 17997-18004 (1989); Gong, M. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93, 1340-1345 (1996)*). The procedure was as follows:

The portal vein was extracted from a rabbit (Japanese white rabbit, male, 2.5-3.0 kg weight). A smooth muscle specimen 1-2 mm in length and 100-200 .mu.m in width was prepared from the portal vein medium. The specimen was placed in plate wells filled with a solution (123 mM NaCl, 4.7 mM KCl, 15.5 mM NaHCO.sub.3, 41.2 mM KH.sub.2 PO.sub.4, 1.2 mM MgCl.sub.2, 1.25 mM CaCl.sub.2, and 11.5 mM D-glucose), and stretched to 1.2 times its original length. Isometric tension was measured by using a transducer (NEC Sanei 6M82). Solutions were changed by transferring the specimen to an adjacent well. The specimen was first incubated in a relaxing solution (74.1 mM potassium methanesulfonate, 2 mM magnesium methanesulfonate, 4.5 mM MgATP, 10 mM creatine phosphate, and 30 mM PIPES) containing 1 mM EGTA. In order to introduce GST-Rho-kinase into the cells and control the intracellular Ca concentration, the specimen was permeabilized (i.e., cell membranes were made porous) by incubating in Triton X-100 solution (relaxing solution containing 10 mM EGTA mixed with 0.3 .mu.M calmodulin, 1 .mu.M leupeptin, and 1 .mu.M FCCP; pCa 6.5) containing 0.5% Triton X-100 at 25.degree. C. for 20 min. The Ca.sup.2+ concentration in the relaxing solution containing 10 mM EGTA was controlled by varying the Ca salt and EGTA concentrations in the solution.

In order to eliminate any bias, the experiment was performed in blind test. The preparation of sample solutions and contraction measurement were as follows. Sample solution 1 (50 mM Tris-HCl at pH 7.5, 2 mM EGTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), and 10 mM glutathione) not containing GST-Rho-kinase, and sample solution 2 (220 .mu.g/ml GST-Rho-kinase, 50 mM Tris-HCl at pH 7.5, 2 mM EGTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), and 10 mM glutathione) containing GST-Rho-kinase were prepared. Contraction measurement was performed by a experimenter different from those who prepared the solution to assure that the experimenter did not know which sample solution contained GST-Rho-kinase. The specific activity of GST-Rho-kinase was 41 mol per minute per 1 mol GST-Rho-kinase using S6 peptide (example 2) as a substrate.

Contraction was measured in Triton X-100 solution containing various amounts of sample solution 1 or 2, or phosphatase inhibitor microcystin-LR (MC-LR) (Wakosha) at a concentration of 10 .mu.M. The permeabilized smooth muscle exhibited maximum contraction when exposed to a solution of pCa 4.5 (Ca.sup.2+ concentration of 10.sup.-4.5 M). FIGS. 24 and 25 indicate the amounts of sample solutions 1 and 2 as their volumetric percentages of Triton X-100 solution.

The results are shown in FIGS. 24 and 25. The permeabilized specimen was completely relaxed in a Ca.sup.2+ -free 10 mM EGTA relaxing solution of pCa 8 or above (10 mM EGTA relaxing solution with Ca.sup.2+, concentration of 10.sup.-8 M or less), and contracted slightly and slowly in a solution of pCa 6.5 (Ca.sup.2+ concentration of 10.sup.-6.5 M). The specimen did not show any change by the addition of sample solution 1 (final concentration: 1%) to this mixture, but further contracted (to about 50% of maximum contraction) by the addition of sample solution 2 (final concentration: 1%). A following addition of microcystin-LR (10 .mu.M) caused near-maximum contraction (FIG. 24). Then, the effect of sample solution 2 was examined in a Ca.sup.2+ -free 10 nm EGTA relaxing solution, i.e., a solution of pCa 8 or above (10 mM EGTA relaxing solution with Ca.sup.2+ concentration of 10.sup.-8 M or less). The result showed contraction changed with the concentration of sample solution 2 and about 70% of maximum contraction when the concentration of sample solution 2 was 6% (FIG. 25). The contraction induced by solution 2 was reversible; i.e., when the specimen was treated (washed) in Triton X-100 solution not containing sample solution 2, it relaxed (data not shown). These results indicated that activated Rho-kinase in smooth muscle cells induces its contraction and that the muscle contracts with essentially no Ca.sup.2+

__________________________________________________________________________# SEQUENCE LISTING- (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:- (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 16- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#acids (A) LENGTH: 1388 amino (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:- Met Ser Arg Pro Pro Pro Thr Gly Lys Met Pr - #o Gly Ala Pro Glu Ala# 15- Val Ser Gly Asp Gly Ala Gly Ala Ser Arg Gl - #n Arg Lys Leu Glu Ala# 30- Leu Ile Arg Asp Pro Arg Ser Pro Ile Asn Va - #l Glu Ser Leu Leu Asp# 45- Gly Leu Asn Pro Leu Val Leu Asp Leu Asp Ph - #e Pro Ala Leu Arg Lys# 60- Asn Lys Asn Ile Asp Asn Phe Leu Asn Arg Ty - #r Glu Lys Ile Val Lys# 80- Lys Ile Arg Gly Leu Gln Met Lys Ala Glu As - #p Tyr Asp Val Val Lys# 95- Val Ile Gly Arg Gly Ala Phe Gly Glu Val Gl - #n Leu Val Arg His Lys# 110- Ala Ser Gln Lys Val Tyr Ala Met Lys Leu Le - #u Ser Lys Phe Glu Met# 125- Ile Lys Arg Ser Asp Ser Ala Phe Phe Trp Gl - #u Glu Arg Asp Ile Met# 140- Ala Phe Ala Asn Ser Pro Trp Val Val Gln Le - #u Phe Cys Ala Phe Gln145 1 - #50 1 - #55 1 -#60- Asp Asp Lys Tyr Leu Tyr Met Val Met Glu Ty - #r Met Pro Gly Gly Asp# 175- Leu Val Asn Leu Met Ser Asn Tyr Asp Val Pr - #o Glu Lys Trp Ala Lys# 190- Phe Tyr Thr Ala Glu Val Val Leu Ala Leu As - #p Ala Ile His Ser Met# 205- Gly Leu Ile His Arg Asp Val Lys Pro Asp As - #n Met Leu Leu Asp Lys# 220- His Gly His Leu Lys Leu Ala Asp Phe Gly Th - #r Cys Met Lys Met Asp225 2 - #30 2 - #35 2 -#40- Glu Thr Gly Met Val His Cys Asp Thr Ala Va - #l Gly Thr Pro Asp Tyr# 255- Ile Ser Pro Glu Val Leu Lys Ser Gln Gly Gl - #y Asp Gly Tyr Tyr Gly# 270- Arg Glu Cys Asp Trp Trp Ser Val Gly Val Ph - #e Leu Phe Glu Met Leu# 285- Val Gly Asp Thr Pro Phe Tyr Ala Asp Ser Le - #u Val Gly Thr Tyr Ser# 300- Lys Ile Met Asp His Lys Asn Ser Leu Cys Ph - #e Pro Glu Asp Ala Glu305 3 - #10 3 - #15 3 -#20- Ile Ser Lys His Ala Lys Asn Leu Ile Cys Al - #a Phe Leu Thr Asp Arg# 335- Glu Val Arg Leu Gly Arg Asn Gly Val Glu Gl - #u Ile Lys Gln His Pro# 350- Phe Phe Lys Asn Asp Gln Trp Asn Trp Asp As - #n Ile Arg Glu Thr Ala# 365- Ala Pro Val Val Pro Glu Leu Ser Ser Asp Il - #e Asp Ser Ser Asn Phe# 380- Asp Asp Ile Glu Asp Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Gl - #u Thr Phe Pro Ile Pro385 3 - #90 3 - #95 4 -#00- Lys Ala Phe Val Gly Asn Gln Leu Pro Phe Il - #e Gly Phe Thr Tyr Tyr# 415- Arg Glu Asn Leu Leu Leu Ser Asp Ser Pro Se - #r Cys Lys Glu Asn Asp# 430- Ser Ile Gln Ser Arg Lys Asn Glu Glu Ser Gl - #n Glu Ile Gln Lys Lys# 445- Leu Tyr Thr Leu Glu Glu His Leu Ser Thr Gl - #u Ile Gln Ala Lys Glu# 460- Glu Leu Glu Gln Lys Cys Lys Ser Val Asn Th - #r Arg Leu Glu Lys Val465 4 - #70 4 - #75 4 -#80- Ala Lys Glu Leu Glu Glu Glu Ile Thr Leu Ar - #g Lys Asn Val Glu Ser# 495- Thr Leu Arg Gln Leu Glu Arg Glu Lys Ala Le - #u Leu Gln His Lys Asn# 510- Ala Glu Tyr Gln Arg Lys Ala Asp His Glu Al - #a Asp Lys Lys Arg Asn# 525- Leu Glu Asn Asp Val Asn Ser Leu Lys Asp Gl - #n Leu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 540- Lys Arg Asn Gln Asn Ser Gln Ile Ser Thr Gl - #u Lys Val Asn Gln Leu545 5 - #50 5 - #55 5 -#60- Gln Arg Gln Leu Asp Glu Thr Asn Ala Leu Le - #u Arg Thr Glu Ser Asp# 575- Thr Ala Ala Arg Leu Arg Lys Thr Gln Ala Gl - #u Ser Ser Lys Gln Ile# 590- Gln Gln Leu Glu Ser Asn Asn Arg Asp Leu Gl - #n Asp Lys Asn Cys Leu# 605- Leu Glu Thr Ala Lys Leu Lys Leu Glu Lys Gl - #u Phe Ile Asn Leu Gln# 620- Ser Val Leu Glu Ser Glu Arg Arg Asp Arg Th - #r His Gly Ser Glu Ile625 6 - #30 6 - #35 6 -#40- Ile Asn Asp Leu Gln Gly Arg Ile Ser Gly Le - #u Glu Glu Asp Val Lys# 655- Asn Gly Lys Ile Leu Leu Ala Lys Val Glu Le - #u Glu Lys Arg Gln Leu# 670- Gln Glu Arg Phe Thr Asp Leu Glu Lys Glu Ly - #s Asn Asn Met Glu Ile# 685- Asp Met Thr Tyr Gln Leu Lys Val Ile Gln Gl - #n Ser Leu Glu Gln Glu# 700- Glu Thr Glu His Lys Ala Thr Lys Ala Arg Le - #u Ala Asp Lys Asn Lys705 7 - #10 7 - #15 7 -#20- Ile Tyr Glu Ser Ile Glu Glu Ala Lys Ser Gl - #u Ala Met Lys Glu Met# 735- Glu Lys Lys Leu Ser Glu Glu Arg Thr Leu Ly - #s Gln Lys Val Glu Asn# 750- Leu Leu Leu Glu Ala Glu Lys Arg Cys Ser Il - #e Leu Asp Cys Asp Leu# 765- Lys Gln Ser Gln Gln Lys Ile Asn Glu Leu Le - #u Lys Gln Lys Asp Val# 780- Leu Asn Glu Asp Val Arg Asn Leu Thr Leu Ly - #s Ile Glu Gln Glu Thr785 7 - #90 7 - #95 8 -#00- Gln Lys Arg Cys Leu Thr Gln Asn Asp Leu Ly - #s Met Gln Thr Gln Gln# 815- Val Asn Thr Leu Lys Met Ser Glu Lys Gln Le - #u Lys Gln Glu Asn Asn# 830- His Leu Leu Glu Met Lys Met Ser Leu Glu Ly - #s Gln Asn Ala Glu Leu# 845- Arg Lys Glu Arg Gln Asp Ala Asp Gly Gln Me - #t Lys Glu Leu Gln Asp# 860- Gln Leu Glu Ala Glu Gln Tyr Phe Ser Thr Le - #u Tyr Lys Thr Gln Val865 8 - #70 8 - #75 8 -#80- Arg Glu Leu Lys Glu Glu Cys Glu Glu Lys Th - #r Lys Leu Cys Lys Glu# 895- Leu Gln Gln Lys Lys Gln Glu Leu Gln Asp Gl - #u Arg Asp Ser Leu Ala# 910- Ala Gln Leu Glu Ile Thr Leu Thr Lys Ala As - #p Ser Glu Gln Leu Ala# 925- Arg Ser Ile Ala Glu Glu Gln Tyr Ser Asp Le - #u Glu Lys Glu Lys Ile# 940- Met Lys Glu Leu Glu Ile Lys Glu Met Met Al - #a Arg His Lys Gln Glu945 9 - #50 9 - #55 9 -#60- Leu Thr Glu Lys Asp Ala Thr Ile Ala Ser Le - #u Glu Glu Thr Asn Arg# 975- Thr Leu Thr Ser Asp Val Ala Asn Leu Ala As - #n Glu Lys Glu Glu Leu# 990- Asn Asn Lys Leu Lys Glu Ala Gln Glu Gln Le - #u Ser Arg Leu Lys Asp# 10050- Glu Glu Ile Ser Ala Ala Ala Ile Lys Ala Gl - #n Phe Glu Lys Gln Leu# 10205- Leu Thr Glu Arg Thr Leu Lys Thr Gln Ala Va - #l Asn Lys Leu Ala Glu# 10401030 - # 1035- Ile Met Asn Arg Lys Glu Pro Val Lys Arg Gl - #y Asn Asp Thr Asp Val# 10550- Arg Arg Lys Glu Lys Glu Asn Arg Lys Leu Hi - #s Met Glu Leu Lys Ser# 10705- Glu Arg Glu Lys Leu Thr Gln Gln Met Ile Ly - #s Tyr Gln Lys Glu Leu# 10850- Asn Glu Met Gln Ala Gln Ile Ala Glu Glu Se - #r Gln Ile Arg Ile Glu# 11005- Leu Gln Met Thr Leu Asp Ser Lys Asp Ser As - #p Ile Glu Gln Leu Arg# 11201110 - # 1115- Ser Gln Leu Gln Ala Leu His Ile Gly Leu As - #p Ser Ser Ser Ile Gly# 11350- Ser Gly Pro Gly Asp Thr Glu Ala Asp Asp Gl - #y Phe Pro Glu Ser Arg# 11505- Leu Glu Gly Trp Leu Ser Leu Pro Val Arg As - #n Asn Thr Lys Lys Phe# 11650- Gly Trp Val Lys Lys Tyr Val Ile Val Ser Se - #r Lys Lys Ile Leu Phe# 11805- Tyr Asp Ser Glu Gln Asp Lys Glu Gln Ser As - #n Pro Tyr Met Val Leu# 12001190 - # 1195- Asp Ile Asp Lys Leu Phe His Val Arg Pro Va - #l Thr Gln Thr Asp Val# 12150- Tyr Arg Ala Asp Ala Lys Glu Ile Pro Arg Il - #e Phe Gln Ile Leu Tyr# 12305- Ala Asn Glu Gly Glu Ser Lys Lys Glu Gln Gl - #u Phe Pro Val Glu Pro# 12450- Val Gly Glu Lys Ser Asn Tyr Ile Cys His Ly - #s Gly His Glu Phe Ile# 12605- Pro Thr Leu Tyr His Phe Pro Thr Asn Cys Gl - #u Ala Cys Met Lys Pro# 12801270 - # 1275- Leu Trp His Met Phe Lys Pro Pro Pro Ala Le - #u Glu Cys Arg Arg Cys# 12950- His Ile Lys Cys His Lys Asp His Met Asp Ly - #s Lys Glu Glu Ile Ile# 13105- Ala Pro Cys Lys Val Tyr Tyr Asp Ile Ser Se - #r Ala Lys Asn Leu Leu# 13250- Leu Leu Ala Asn Ser Thr Glu Glu Gln Gln Ly - #s Trp Val Ser Arg Leu# 13405- Val Lys Lys Ile Pro Lys Lys Pro Pro Ala Pr - #o Asp Pro Phe Ala Arg# 13601350 - # 1355- Ser Ser Pro Arg Thr Ser Met Lys Ile Gln Gl - #n Asn Gln Ser Ile Arg# 13750- Arg Pro Ser Arg Gln Leu Ala Pro Asn Lys Pr - #o Ser# 1385- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 5053 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA- (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (A) ORGANISM: Bovine- (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 1..4164- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:- ATG AGC CGG CCC CCG CCG ACG GGG AAG ATG CC - #C GGC GCC CCC GAG GCC 48Met Ser Arg Pro Pro Pro Thr Gly Lys Met Pr - #o Gly Ala Pro Glu Ala# 15- GTG TCG GGG GAC GGC GCG GGC GCG AGC CGC CA - #G AGG AAG CTG GAA GCG 96Val Ser Gly Asp Gly Ala Gly Ala Ser Arg Gl - #n Arg Lys Leu Glu Ala# 30- CTG ATC CGA GAC CCT CGT TCG CCC ATC AAC GT - #G GAG AGC TTG CTG GAT 144Leu Ile Arg Asp Pro Arg Ser Pro Ile Asn Va - #l Glu Ser Leu Leu Asp# 45- GGC TTA AAT CCT TTG GTC CTT GAT TTG GAT TT - #T CCT GCT TTG AGG AAA 192Gly Leu Asn Pro Leu Val Leu Asp Leu Asp Ph - #e Pro Ala Leu Arg Lys# 60- AAC AAA AAT ATA GAT AAT TTC TTA AAT AGA TA - #T GAG AAA ATT GTG AAA 240Asn Lys Asn Ile Asp Asn Phe Leu Asn Arg Ty - #r Glu Lys Ile Val Lys# 80- AAA ATT AGA GGT TTA CAG ATG AAG GCA GAA GA - #C TAC GAT GTT GTA AAA 288Lys Ile Arg Gly Leu Gln Met Lys Ala Glu As - #p Tyr Asp Val Val Lys# 95- GTT ATC GGA AGA GGT GCT TTT GGT GAA GTC CA - #G TTG GTT CGT CAT AAG 336Val Ile Gly Arg Gly Ala Phe Gly Glu Val Gl - #n Leu Val Arg His Lys# 110- GCA TCA CAG AAA GTT TAT GCT ATG AAG CTT CT - #T AGT AAG TTT GAA ATG 384Ala Ser Gln Lys Val Tyr Ala Met Lys Leu Le - #u Ser Lys Phe Glu Met# 125- ATA AAA AGA TCA GAT TCT GCT TTT TTC TGG GA - #G GAA AGA GAT ATT ATG 432Ile Lys Arg Ser Asp Ser Ala Phe Phe Trp Gl - #u Glu Arg Asp Ile Met# 140- GCC TTT GCC AAC AGT CCC TGG GTG GTT CAG CT - #C TTT TGT GCC TTT CAA 480Ala Phe Ala Asn Ser Pro Trp Val Val Gln Le - #u Phe Cys Ala Phe Gln145 1 - #50 1 - #55 1 -#60- GAT GAT AAG TAT CTG TAC ATG GTA ATG GAG TA - #C ATG CCT GGT GGA GAC 528Asp Asp Lys Tyr Leu Tyr Met Val Met Glu Ty - #r Met Pro Gly Gly Asp# 175- CTT GTA AAC CTT ATG AGT AAC TAT GAT GTA CC - #T GAA AAA TGG GCC AAA 576Leu Val Asn Leu Met Ser Asn Tyr Asp Val Pr - #o Glu Lys Trp Ala Lys# 190- TTT TAT ACT GCT GAA GTT GTT CTT GCT TTG GA - #T GCC ATA CAC TCC ATG 624Phe Tyr Thr Ala Glu Val Val Leu Ala Leu As - #p Ala Ile His Ser Met# 205- GGT TTA ATT CAC AGA GAT GTG AAG CCT GAC AA - #C ATG CTC TTG GAT AAA 672Gly Leu Ile His Arg Asp Val Lys Pro Asp As - #n Met Leu Leu Asp Lys# 220- CAT GGG CAT CTA AAA TTA GCA GAT TTT GGC AC - #A TGT ATG AAG ATG GAT 720His Gly His Leu Lys Leu Ala Asp Phe Gly Th - #r Cys Met Lys Met Asp225 2 - #30 2 - #35 2 -#40- GAA ACA GGC ATG GTG CAT TGT GAT ACA GCA GT - #T GGA ACA CCC GAT TAT 768Glu Thr Gly Met Val His Cys Asp Thr Ala Va - #l Gly Thr Pro Asp Tyr# 255- ATA TCA CCC GAG GTC CTG AAA TCA CAA GGG GG - #T GAT GGT TAC TAT GGG 816Ile Ser Pro Glu Val Leu Lys Ser Gln Gly Gl - #y Asp Gly Tyr Tyr Gly# 270- CGA GAA TGT GAT TGG TGG TCC GTG GGT GTT TT - #C CTT TTT GAA ATG CTG 864Arg Glu Cys Asp Trp Trp Ser Val Gly Val Ph - #e Leu Phe Glu Met Leu# 285- GTG GGG GAT ACT CCA TTT TAT GCA GAT TCA CT - #T GTA GGA ACA TAT AGC 912Val Gly Asp Thr Pro Phe Tyr Ala Asp Ser Le - #u Val Gly Thr Tyr Ser# 300- AAA ATT ATG GAT CAT AAA AAC TCA CTA TGT TT - #C CCT GAA GAT GCA GAA 960Lys Ile Met Asp His Lys Asn Ser Leu Cys Ph - #e Pro Glu Asp Ala Glu305 3 - #10 3 - #15 3 -#20- ATT TCT AAA CAT GCG AAG AAT CTC ATC TGT GC - #C TTC TTA ACA GAT AGG1008Ile Ser Lys His Ala Lys Asn Leu Ile Cys Al - #a Phe Leu Thr Asp Arg# 335- GAG GTA CGC CTT GGA AGA AAC GGG GTA GAA GA - #A ATC AAA CAA CAT CCT1056Glu Val Arg Leu Gly Arg Asn Gly Val Glu Gl - #u Ile Lys Gln His Pro# 350- TTC TTT AAG AAT GAT CAG TGG AAT TGG GAT AA - #C ATA AGA GAG ACT GCA1104Phe Phe Lys Asn Asp Gln Trp Asn Trp Asp As - #n Ile Arg Glu Thr Ala# 365- GCT CCT GTG GTA CCT GAA CTC AGC AGT GAC AT - #A GAC AGC AGC AAT TTT1152Ala Pro Val Val Pro Glu Leu Ser Ser Asp Il - #e Asp Ser Ser Asn Phe# 380- GAT GAC ATT GAA GAT GAT AAA GGA GAT GTA GA - #A ACC TTC CCA ATT CCC1200Asp Asp Ile Glu Asp Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Gl - #u Thr Phe Pro Ile Pro385 3 - #90 3 - #95 4 -#00- AAG GCT TTT GTG GGA AAT CAG CTA CCT TTT AT - #A GGA TTT ACC TAC TAC1248Lys Ala Phe Val Gly Asn Gln Leu Pro Phe Il - #e Gly Phe Thr Tyr Tyr# 415- AGA GAA AAT TTG CTA CTA AGT GAC TCT CCA TC - #T TGT AAA GAA AAT GAC1296Arg Glu Asn Leu Leu Leu Ser Asp Ser Pro Se - #r Cys Lys Glu Asn Asp# 430- TCA ATT CAA TCA AGG AAG AAT GAA GAG AGT CA - #A GAG ATT CAG AAA AAA1344Ser Ile Gln Ser Arg Lys Asn Glu Glu Ser Gl - #n Glu Ile Gln Lys Lys# 445- CTG TAC ACA TTA GAA GAA CAC CTT AGC ACT GA - #G ATT CAG GCC AAA GAG1392Leu Tyr Thr Leu Glu Glu His Leu Ser Thr Gl - #u Ile Gln Ala Lys Glu# 460- GAA CTA GAA CAG AAG TGC AAG TCT GTT AAT AC - #T CGC TTA GAG AAA GTG1440Glu Leu Glu Gln Lys Cys Lys Ser Val Asn Th - #r Arg Leu Glu Lys Val465 4 - #70 4 - #75 4 -#80- GCA AAG GAG TTA GAA GAA GAG ATT ACC TTA AG - #G AAA AAT GTG GAA TCA1488Ala Lys Glu Leu Glu Glu Glu Ile Thr Leu Ar - #g Lys Asn Val Glu Ser# 495- ACA TTA AGA CAA TTA GAA AGA GAA AAA GCA CT - #T CTT CAG CAC AAA AAT1536Thr Leu Arg Gln Leu Glu Arg Glu Lys Ala Le - #u Leu Gln His Lys Asn# 510- GCA GAA TAT CAG CGG AAA GCT GAT CAT GAA GC - #A GAC AAG AAG CGA AAT1584Ala Glu Tyr Gln Arg Lys Ala Asp His Glu Al - #a Asp Lys Lys Arg Asn# 525- TTG GAG AAT GAT GTT AAC AGT TTA AAA GAT CA - #G CTT GAA GAT TTG AAA1632Leu Glu Asn Asp Val Asn Ser Leu Lys Asp Gl - #n Leu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 540- AAA AGA AAT CAG AAC TCT CAG ATA TCC ACT GA - #G AAA GTG AAT CAA CTC1680Lys Arg Asn Gln Asn Ser Gln Ile Ser Thr Gl - #u Lys Val Asn Gln Leu545 5 - #50 5 - #55 5 -#60- CAG AGA CAA CTG GAT GAA ACC AAT GCT TTG CT - #G CGA ACA GAA TCT GAT1728Gln Arg Gln Leu Asp Glu Thr Asn Ala Leu Le - #u Arg Thr Glu Ser Asp# 575- ACT GCA GCC CGG TTA AGG AAA ACA CAG GCA GA - #A AGT TCA AAA CAG ATT1776Thr Ala Ala Arg Leu Arg Lys Thr Gln Ala Gl - #u Ser Ser Lys Gln Ile# 590- CAG CAG CTG GAA TCT AAC AAT AGA GAT CTA CA - #A GAC AAA AAT TGC CTG1824Gln Gln Leu Glu Ser Asn Asn Arg Asp Leu Gl - #n Asp Lys Asn Cys Leu# 605- CTG GAG ACT GCC AAG TTA AAA CTT GAA AAG GA - #A TTT ATC AAT CTT CAG1872Leu Glu Thr Ala Lys Leu Lys Leu Glu Lys Gl - #u Phe Ile Asn Leu Gln# 620- TCA GTT CTA GAA TCT GAA AGG AGG GAC CGA AC - #C CAT GGA TCA GAG ATT1920Ser Val Leu Glu Ser Glu Arg Arg Asp Arg Th - #r His Gly Ser Glu Ile625 6 - #30 6 - #35 6 -#40- ATT AAT GAT TTA CAA GGT AGA ATA TCT GGC CT - #A GAA GAA GAT GTA AAG1968Ile Asn Asp Leu Gln Gly Arg Ile Ser Gly Le - #u Glu Glu Asp Val Lys# 655- AAT GGT AAA ATC TTA TTA GCA AAA GTA GAG CT - #G GAG AAG AGA CAA CTA2016Asn Gly Lys Ile Leu Leu Ala Lys Val Glu Le - #u Glu Lys Arg Gln Leu# 670- CAG GAG AGA TTT ACT GAT TTG GAA AAG GAA AA - #G AAC AAC ATG GAA ATA2064Gln Glu Arg Phe Thr Asp Leu Glu Lys Glu Ly - #s Asn Asn Met Glu Ile# 685- GAT ATG ACA TAC CAA CTA AAA GTC ATA CAG CA - #A AGT TTA GAA CAA GAA2112Asp Met Thr Tyr Gln Leu Lys Val Ile Gln Gl - #n Ser Leu Glu Gln Glu# 700- GAA ACT GAA CAT AAG GCT ACA AAA GCA CGG CT - #T GCA GAT AAA AAC AAG2160Glu Thr Glu His Lys Ala Thr Lys Ala Arg Le - #u Ala Asp Lys Asn Lys705 7 - #10 7 - #15 7 -#20- ATT TAT GAA TCC ATT GAA GAA GCT AAA TCA GA - #A GCC ATG AAA GAA ATG2208Ile Tyr Glu Ser Ile Glu Glu Ala Lys Ser Gl - #u Ala Met Lys Glu Met# 735- GAG AAA AAG CTC TCG GAG GAA AGA ACT TTA AA - #A CAG AAA GTA GAG AAC2256Glu Lys Lys Leu Ser Glu Glu Arg Thr Leu Ly - #s Gln Lys Val Glu Asn# 750- TTG TTG CTG GAG GCT GAG AAA AGA TGC TCT AT - #A TTA GAC TGT GAC CTC2304Leu Leu Leu Glu Ala Glu Lys Arg Cys Ser Il - #e Leu Asp Cys Asp Leu# 765- AAA CAG TCA CAG CAG AAA ATA AAT GAA CTC CT - #C AAA CAG AAA GAT GTG2352Lys Gln Ser Gln Gln Lys Ile Asn Glu Leu Le - #u Lys Gln Lys Asp Val# 780- CTA AAT GAG GAT GTT AGA AAC TTG ACA TTA AA - #A ATA GAA CAG GAA ACT2400Leu Asn Glu Asp Val Arg Asn Leu Thr Leu Ly - #s Ile Glu Gln Glu Thr785 7 - #90 7 - #95 8 -#00- CAG AAG CGC TGC CTT ACA CAA AAT GAC TTG AA - #G ATG CAA ACA CAG CAA2448Gln Lys Arg Cys Leu Thr Gln Asn Asp Leu Ly - #s Met Gln Thr Gln Gln# 815- GTT AAC ACA CTA AAA ATG TCA GAA AAG CAG TT - #A AAG CAA GAG AAT AAT2496Val Asn Thr Leu Lys Met Ser Glu Lys Gln Le - #u Lys Gln Glu Asn Asn# 830- CAT CTC CTA GAA ATG AAA ATG AGC TTG GAA AA - #A CAG AAT GCT GAA CTT2544His Leu Leu Glu Met Lys Met Ser Leu Glu Ly - #s Gln Asn Ala Glu Leu# 845- CGA AAA GAA CGT CAA GAT GCA GAT GGA CAG AT - #G AAA GAG CTC CAG GAT2592Arg Lys Glu Arg Gln Asp Ala Asp Gly Gln Me - #t Lys Glu Leu Gln Asp# 860- CAG CTT GAA GCA GAG CAG TAT TTC TCA ACC CT - #C TAT AAA ACA CAG GTT2640Gln Leu Glu Ala Glu Gln Tyr Phe Ser Thr Le - #u Tyr Lys Thr Gln Val865 8 - #70 8 - #75 8 -#80- AGG GAA CTT AAG GAA GAA TGT GAA GAA AAG AC - #C AAA CTT TGT AAA GAA2688Arg Glu Leu Lys Glu Glu Cys Glu Glu Lys Th - #r Lys Leu Cys Lys Glu# 895- TTA CAG CAG AAG AAG CAG GAA TTA CAG GAT GA - #A AGG GAC TCC TTG GCT2736Leu Gln Gln Lys Lys Gln Glu Leu Gln Asp Gl - #u Arg Asp Ser Leu Ala# 910- GCT CAA CTG GAG ATT ACC TTA ACC AAA GCA GA - #T TCT GAG CAA CTG GCT2784Ala Gln Leu Glu Ile Thr Leu Thr Lys Ala As - #p Ser Glu Gln Leu Ala# 925- CGT TCA ATT GCT GAG GAA CAG TAT TCT GAT TT - #G GAA AAA GAG AAG ATC2832Arg Ser Ile Ala Glu Glu Gln Tyr Ser Asp Le - #u Glu Lys Glu Lys Ile# 940- ATG AAA GAG CTG GAG ATC AAA GAG ATG ATG GC - #T CGA CAC AAA CAG GAA2880Met Lys Glu Leu Glu Ile Lys Glu Met Met Al - #a Arg His Lys Gln Glu945 9 - #50 9 - #55 9 -#60- CTC ACC GAA AAA GAT GCT ACT ATT GCG TCT CT - #T GAA GAA ACT AAT AGG2928Leu Thr Glu Lys Asp Ala Thr Ile Ala Ser Le - #u Glu Glu Thr Asn Arg# 975- ACA CTA ACT AGT GAT GTT GCC AAT CTT GCA AA - #T GAG AAA GAA GAA TTA2976Thr Leu Thr Ser Asp Val Ala Asn Leu Ala As - #n Glu Lys Glu Glu Leu# 990- AAT AAC AAA CTG AAG GAA GCC CAA GAG CAA CT - #A TCA AGG TTG AAA GAT3024Asn Asn Lys Leu Lys Glu Ala Gln Glu Gln Le - #u Ser Arg Leu Lys Asp# 10050- GAA GAA ATA AGT GCA GCA GCT ATT AAA GCA CA - #A TTT GAG AAG CAG CTG3072Glu Glu Ile Ser Ala Ala Ala Ile Lys Ala Gl - #n Phe Glu Lys Gln Leu# 10205- TTA ACA GAG AGG ACA CTC AAA ACT CAA GCT GT - #G AAT AAG TTG GCT GAG3120Leu Thr Glu Arg Thr Leu Lys Thr Gln Ala Va - #l Asn Lys Leu Ala Glu# 10401030 - # 1035- ATC ATG AAT CGA AAG GAA CCT GTT AAG CGT GG - #T AAT GAC ACA GAT GTG3168Ile Met Asn Arg Lys Glu Pro Val Lys Arg Gl - #y Asn Asp Thr Asp Val# 10550- CGG AGA AAA GAA AAG GAG AAT AGA AAG CTA CA - #T ATG GAA CTT AAA TCT3216Arg Arg Lys Glu Lys Glu Asn Arg Lys Leu Hi - #s Met Glu Leu Lys Ser# 10705- GAA CGC GAA AAA CTG ACC CAG CAG ATG ATC AA - #G TAT CAG AAA GAA CTG3264Glu Arg Glu Lys Leu Thr Gln Gln Met Ile Ly - #s Tyr Gln Lys Glu Leu# 10850- AAT GAA ATG CAG GCT CAA ATA GCT GAA GAG AG - #T CAG ATT CGA ATT GAA3312Asn Glu Met Gln Ala Gln Ile Ala Glu Glu Se - #r Gln Ile Arg Ile Glu# 11005- CTA CAG ATG ACA CTG GAC AGT AAG GAC AGT GA - #C ATT GAG CAG CTG CGC3360Leu Gln Met Thr Leu Asp Ser Lys Asp Ser As - #p Ile Glu Gln Leu Arg# 11201110 - # 1115- TCC CAG CTC CAG GCC TTG CAC ATT GGT TTG GA - #T AGT TCC AGT ATA GGC3408Ser Gln Leu Gln Ala Leu His Ile Gly Leu As - #p Ser Ser Ser Ile Gly# 11350- AGT GGA CCA GGG GAT ACT GAA GCT GAT GAC GG - #T TTT CCA GAA TCA AGA3456Ser Gly Pro Gly Asp Thr Glu Ala Asp Asp Gl - #y Phe Pro Glu Ser Arg# 11505- CTA GAA GGA TGG CTT TCA TTG CCT GTG CGA AA - #C AAC ACT AAG AAA TTT3504Leu Glu Gly Trp Leu Ser Leu Pro Val Arg As - #n Asn Thr Lys Lys Phe# 11650- GGA TGG GTT AAA AAG TAT GTG ATT GTA AGC AG - #T AAG AAG ATC CTT TTC3552Gly Trp Val Lys Lys Tyr Val Ile Val Ser Se - #r Lys Lys Ile Leu Phe# 11805- TAT GAC AGT GAG CAA GAT AAA GAA CAA TCT AA - #T CCT TAC ATG GTT TTA3600Tyr Asp Ser Glu Gln Asp Lys Glu Gln Ser As - #n Pro Tyr Met Val Leu# 12001190 - # 1195- GAT ATA GAC AAG TTA TTT CAT GTC CGA CCA GT - #T ACA CAG ACA GAT GTA3648Asp Ile Asp Lys Leu Phe His Val Arg Pro Va - #l Thr Gln Thr Asp Val# 12150- TAT AGA GCA GAT GCT AAA GAA ATT CCA AGG AT - #A TTC CAG ATT CTG TAT3696Tyr Arg Ala Asp Ala Lys Glu Ile Pro Arg Il - #e Phe Gln Ile Leu Tyr# 12305- GCC AAC GAA GGA GAA AGT AAG AAG GAA CAA GA - #A TTT CCA GTG GAG CCA3744Ala Asn Glu Gly Glu Ser Lys Lys Glu Gln Gl - #u Phe Pro Val Glu Pro# 12450- GTG GGA GAA AAA TCA AAT TAT ATT TGC CAC AA - #G GGA CAT GAA TTT ATT3792Val Gly Glu Lys Ser Asn Tyr Ile Cys His Ly - #s Gly His Glu Phe Ile# 12605- CCT ACT CTG TAT CAT TTC CCA ACC AAC TGT GA - #G GCA TGT ATG AAG CCA3840Pro Thr Leu Tyr His Phe Pro Thr Asn Cys Gl - #u Ala Cys Met Lys Pro# 12801270 - # 1275- TTG TGG CAC ATG TTT AAA CCC CCT CCT GCT TT - #A GAG TGC CGT CGC TGT3888Leu Trp His Met Phe Lys Pro Pro Pro Ala Le - #u Glu Cys Arg Arg Cys# 12950- CAT ATT AAA TGT CAT AAA GAT CAC ATG GAC AA - #A AAG GAG GAA ATT ATA3936His Ile Lys Cys His Lys Asp His Met Asp Ly - #s Lys Glu Glu Ile Ile# 13105- GCG CCT TGC AAA GTG TAT TAT GAT ATT TCA TC - #G GCA AAG AAT CTA TTG3984Ala Pro Cys Lys Val Tyr Tyr Asp Ile Ser Se - #r Ala Lys Asn Leu Leu# 13250- TTA TTG GCA AAT TCT ACA GAA GAG CAG CAA AA - #G TGG GTT AGT CGG TTA4032Leu Leu Ala Asn Ser Thr Glu Glu Gln Gln Ly - #s Trp Val Ser Arg Leu# 13405- GTG AAA AAA ATA CCT AAA AAG CCT CCA GCT CC - #A GAC CCT TTT GCA CGG4080Val Lys Lys Ile Pro Lys Lys Pro Pro Ala Pr - #o Asp Pro Phe Ala Arg# 13601350 - # 1355- TCA TCT CCT AGA ACG TCA ATG AAA ATA CAA CA - #A AAC CAG TCT ATT CGA4128Ser Ser Pro Arg Thr Ser Met Lys Ile Gln Gl - #n Asn Gln Ser Ile Arg# 13750- CGG CCA AGT CGA CAA CTT GCT CCA AAC AAA CC - #A AGC TAACTGCCTT4174Arg Pro Ser Arg Gln Leu Ala Pro Asn Lys Pr - #o Ser# 1385- CTGTGAATGC AGTCATTATT TAAGGTGATC ATATTCTTCT AGTTGAAACA AG - #ACTGAAAT4234- ATGATGGCCC AAAATTTATT AAAAAGTTAT ATTTTCCTGA GAGACTAATA CA - #CATATATA4294- TTCCCTCTAT TCCTGCAATA TAAATTCTAA ATCTTGAATA GGTTTTCTGG GC - #TCCTTTGG4354- AGCAACAAGT TGAACCAACA GTGATTGGTT AATAGAATAA GAATATCATG TG - #CAACTCTT4414- CCAGACTTAT TCCATAAAGC TCTCCTAGCA TCACTCACAC TACATTGCAT AA - #AGGATTTA4474- GAAGAGTTAC AGAAATCATC TTTTCAGCTT CAACAGAGAG ATTTCACCAG CA - #CATTTGCC4534- AGAAGAATCT GGGAATGGAT TCCACTACAG TGATAGAGAC TGCGTCTTTA AG - #AAGTGACC4594- ATTGTAGTGT GTGTGTGAAC ACACACACAC ACATACACAC ACACACACAC AC - #ACACATAG4654- TACTGTAATA CTGCAAGAGG GTTTTTTAAC TTCCCACTTT ATTTTTTTAT AA - #ACATTAAT4714- CAGATATCAT TACTTACTGC AGTTGTAACT ATGCACTTGT ATAAAGCCAT AA - #TGTTGGAG4774- TTTATATCAC TCATTGTGTG TACCTGCTGG AAGCTGCATG TTCATGTTTA AG - #CAGTTATT4834- GTAACAAGAA GTTTGAAGTT AATTATATCA GTTTCTTAAT GCTTTGTAAT AG - #GCAATTTT4894- ACCCATTTTG AATGCCTTAA TTTAATTTTT TTCAAGGTAT CCACCCTTTC CT - #GTATTTAA4954- AACAAAAAAA AAAGTATTTG CCAGCTCTTA GGATGCAAAT TTGCTTTGCA GA - #AGAAAATT5014# 5053 ACAT AGTAGTTATC ATTGTCGGC- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#acids (A) LENGTH: 14 amino (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide- (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (A) ORGANISM: Homo sapi - #ens- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:- Cys Lys Arg Gln Leu Gln Glu Arg Phe Thr As - #p Leu Glu Lys# 10- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#acids (A) LENGTH: 1388 amino (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:- Met Ser Arg Pro Pro Pro Thr Gly Lys Met Pr - #o Gly Ala Pro Glu Thr# 15- Ala Pro Gly Asp Gly Ala Gly Ala Ser Arg Gl - #n Arg Lys Leu Glu Ala# 30- Leu Ile Arg Asp Pro Arg Ser Pro Ile Asn Va - #l Glu Ser Leu Leu Asp# 45- Gly Leu Asn Ser Leu Val Leu Asp Leu Asp Ph - #e Pro Ala Leu Arg Lys# 60- Asn Lys Asn Ile Asp Asn Phe Leu Asn Arg Ty - #r Glu Lys Ile Val Lys# 80- Lys Ile Lys Gly Leu Gln Met Lys Ala Glu As - #p Tyr Asp Val Val Lys# 95- Val Ile Gly Arg Gly Ala Phe Gly Glu Val Gl - #n Leu Val Arg His Lys# 110- Ala Ser Gln Lys Val Tyr Ala Met Lys Leu Le - #u Ser Lys Phe Glu Met# 125- Ile Lys Arg Ser Asp Ser Ala Phe Phe Trp Gl - #u Glu Arg Asp Ile Met# 140- Ala Phe Ala Asn Ser Pro Trp Val Val Gln Le - #u Phe Tyr Ala Phe Gln145 1 - #50 1 - #55 1 -#60- Asp Asp Arg Tyr Leu Tyr Met Val Met Glu Ty - #r Met Pro Gly Gly Asp# 175- Leu Val Asn Leu Met Ser Asn Tyr Asp Val Pr - #o Glu Lys Trp Ala Lys# 190- Phe Tyr Thr Ala Glu Val Val Leu Ala Leu As - #p Ala Ile His Ser Met# 205- Gly Leu Ile His Arg Asp Val Lys Pro Asp As - #n Met Leu Leu Asp Lys# 220- His Gly His Leu Lys Leu Ala Asp Phe Gly Th - #r Cys Met Lys Met Asp225 2 - #30 2 - #35 2 -#40- Glu Thr Gly Met Val His Cys Asp Thr Ala Va - #l Gly Thr Pro Asp Tyr# 255- Ile Ser Pro Glu Val Leu Lys Ser Gln Gly Gl - #y Asp Gly Phe Tyr Gly# 270- Arg Glu Cys Asp Trp Trp Ser Val Gly Val Ph - #e Leu Tyr Glu Met Leu# 285- Val Gly Asp Thr Pro Phe Tyr Ala Asp Ser Le - #u Val Gly Thr Tyr Ser# 300- Lys Ile Met Asp His Lys Asn Ser Leu Cys Ph - #e Pro Glu Asp Ala Glu305 3 - #10 3 - #15 3 -#20- Ile Ser Lys His Ala Lys Asn Leu Ile Cys Al - #a Phe Leu Thr Asp Arg# 335- Glu Val Arg Leu Gly Arg Asn Gly Val Glu Gl - #u Ile Arg Gln His Pro# 350- Phe Phe Lys Asn Asp Gln Trp His Trp Asp As - #n Ile Arg Glu Thr Ala# 365- Ala Pro Val Val Pro Glu Leu Ser Ser Asp Il - #e Asp Ser Ser Asn Phe# 380- Asp Asp Ile Glu Asp Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Gl - #u Thr Phe Pro Ile Pro385 3 - #90 3 - #95 4 -#00- Lys Ala Phe Val Gly Asn Gln Leu Pro Phe Il - #e Gly Phe Thr Tyr Tyr# 415- Arg Glu Asn Leu Leu Leu Ser Asp Ser Pro Se - #r Cys Arg Glu Asn Asp# 430- Ser Ile Gln Ser Arg Lys Asn Glu Glu Ser Gl - #n Glu Ile Gln Lys Lys# 445- Leu Tyr Thr Leu Glu Glu His Leu Ser Asn Gl - #u Met Gln Ala Lys Glu# 460- Glu Leu Glu Gln Lys Cys Lys Ser Val Asn Th - #r Arg Leu Glu Lys Thr465 4 - #70 4 - #75 4 -#80- Ala Lys Glu Leu Glu Glu Glu Ile Thr Leu Ar - #g Lys Ser Val Glu Ser# 495- Ala Leu Arg Gln Leu Glu Arg Glu Lys Ala Le - #u Leu Gln His Lys Asn# 510- Ala Glu Tyr Gln Arg Lys Ala Asp His Glu Al - #a Asp Lys Lys Arg Asn# 525- Leu Glu Asn Asp Val Asn Ser Leu Lys Asp Gl - #n Leu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 540- Lys Arg Asn Gln Asn Ser Gln Ile Ser Thr Gl - #u Lys Val Asn Gln Leu545 5 - #50 5 - #55 5 -#60- Gln Arg Gln Leu Asp Glu Thr Asn Ala Leu Le - #u Arg Thr Glu Ser Asp# 575- Thr Ala Ala Arg Leu Arg Lys Thr Gln Ala Gl - #u Ser Ser Lys Gln Ile# 590- Gln Gln Leu Glu Ser Asn Asn Arg Asp Leu Gl - #n Asp Lys Asn Cys Leu# 605- Leu Glu Thr Ala Lys Leu Lys Leu Glu Lys Gl - #u Phe Ile Asn Leu Gln# 620- Ser Ala Leu Glu Ser Glu Arg Arg Asp Arg Th - #r His Gly Ser Glu Ile625 6 - #30 6 - #35 6 -#40- Ile Asn Asp Leu Gln Gly Arg Ile Cys Gly Le - #u Glu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 655- Asn Gly Lys Ile Leu Leu Ala Lys Val Glu Le - #u Glu Lys Arg Gln Leu# 670- Gln Glu Arg Phe Thr Asp Leu Glu Lys Glu Ly - #s Ser Asn Met Glu Ile# 685- Asp Met Thr Tyr Gln Leu Lys Val Ile Gln Gl - #n Ser Leu Glu Gln Glu# 700- Glu Ala Glu His Lys Ala Thr Lys Ala Arg Le - #u Ala Asp Lys Asn Lys705 7 - #10 7 - #15 7 -#20- Ile Tyr Glu Ser Ile Glu Glu Ala Lys Ser Gl - #u Ala Met Lys Glu Met# 735- Glu Lys Lys Leu Leu Glu Glu Arg Thr Leu Ly - #s Gln Lys Val Glu Asn# 750- Leu Leu Leu Glu Ala Glu Lys Arg Cys Ser Le - #u Leu Asp Cys Asp Leu# 765- Lys Gln Ser Gln Gln Lys Ile Asn Glu Leu Le - #u Lys Gln Lys Asp Val# 780- Leu Asn Glu Asp Val Arg Asn Leu Thr Leu Ly - #s Ile Glu Gln Glu Thr785 7 - #90 7 - #95 8 -#00- Gln Lys Arg Cys Leu Thr Gln Asn Asp Leu Ly - #s Met Gln Thr Gln Gln# 815- Val Asn Thr Leu Lys Met Ser Glu Lys Gln Le - #u Lys Gln Glu Asn Asn# 830- His Leu Met Glu Met Lys Met Asn Leu Glu Ly - #s Gln Asn Ala Glu Leu# 845- Arg Lys Glu Arg Gln Asp Ala Asp Gly Gln Me - #t Lys Glu Leu Gln Asp# 860- Gln Leu Glu Ala Glu Gln Tyr Phe Ser Thr Le - #u Tyr Lys Thr Gln Val865 8 - #70 8 - #75 8 -#80- Arg Glu Leu Lys Glu Glu Cys Glu Glu Lys Th - #r Lys Leu Gly Lys Glu# 895- Leu Gln Gln Lys Lys Gln Glu Leu Gln Asp Gl - #u Arg Asp Ser Leu Ala# 910- Ala Gln Leu Glu Ile Thr Leu Thr Lys Ala As - #p Ser Glu Gln Leu Ala# 925- Arg Ser Ile Ala Glu Glu Gln Tyr Ser Asp Le - #u Glu Lys Glu Lys Ile# 940- Met Lys Glu Leu Glu Ile Lys Glu Met Met Al - #a Arg His Lys Gln Glu945 9 - #50 9 - #55 9 -#60- Leu Thr Glu Lys Asp Ala Thr Ile Ala Ser Le - #u Glu Glu Thr Asn Arg# 975- Thr Leu Thr Ser Asp Val Ala Asn Leu Ala As - #n Glu Lys Glu Glu Leu# 990- Asn Asn Lys Leu Lys Asp Val Gln Glu Gln Le - #u Ser Arg Leu Lys Asp# 10050- Glu Glu Ile Ser Ala Ala Ala Ile Lys Ala Gl - #n Phe Glu Lys Gln Leu# 10205- Leu Thr Glu Arg Thr Leu Lys Thr Gln Ala Va - #l Asn Lys Leu Ala Glu# 10401030 - # 1035- Ile Met Asn Arg Lys Glu Pro Val Lys Arg Gl - #y Asn Asp Thr Asp Val# 10550- Arg Arg Lys Glu Lys Glu Asn Arg Lys Leu Hi - #s Met Glu Leu Lys Ser# 10705- Glu Arg Glu Lys Leu Thr Gln Gln Met Ile Ly - #s Tyr Gln Lys Glu Leu# 10850- Asn Glu Met Gln Ala Gln Ile Ala Glu Glu Se - #r Gln Ile Arg Ile Glu# 11005- Leu Gln Met Thr Leu Asp Ser Lys Asp Ser As - #p Ile Glu Gln Leu Arg# 11201110 - # 1115- Ser Gln Leu Gln Ala Leu His Ile Gly Leu As - #p Ser Ser Ser Ile Gly# 11350- Ser Gly Pro Gly Asp Ala Glu Ala Asp Asp Gl - #y Phe Pro Glu Ser Arg# 11505- Leu Glu Gly Trp Leu Ser Leu Pro Val Arg As - #n Asn Thr Lys Lys Phe# 11650- Gly Trp Val Lys Lys Tyr Val Ile Val Ser Se - #r Lys Lys Ile Leu Phe# 11805- Tyr Asp Ser Glu Gln Asp Lys Glu Gln Ser As - #n Pro Tyr Met Val Leu# 12001190 - # 1195- Asp Ile Asp Lys Leu Phe His Val Arg Pro Va - #l Thr Gln Thr Asp Val# 12150- Tyr Arg Ala Asp Ala Lys Glu Ile Pro Arg Il - #e Phe Gln Ile Leu Tyr# 12305- Ala Asn Glu Gly Glu Ser Lys Lys Glu Gln Gl - #u Phe Pro Val Glu Pro# 12450- Val Gly Glu Lys Ser Asn Tyr Ile Cys His Ly - #s Gly His Glu Phe Ile# 12605- Pro Thr Leu Tyr His Phe Pro Thr Asn Cys Gl - #u Ala Cys Met Lys Pro# 12801270 - # 1275- Leu Trp His Met Phe Lys Pro Pro Pro Ala Le - #u Glu Cys Arg Arg Cys# 12950- His Ile Lys Cys His Lys Asp His Met Asp Ly - #s Lys Glu Glu Ile Ile# 13105- Ala Pro Cys Lys Val Tyr Tyr Asp Ile Ser Th - #r Ala Lys Asn Leu Leu# 13250- Leu Leu Ala Asn Ser Thr Glu Glu Gln Gln Ly - #s Trp Val Ser Arg Leu# 13405- Val Lys Lys Ile Pro Lys Lys Pro Pro Ala Pr - #o Asp Pro Phe Ala Arg# 13601350 - # 1355- Ser Ser Pro Arg Thr Ser Met Lys Ile Gln Gl - #n Asn Gln Ser Ile Arg# 13750- Arg Pro Ser Arg Gln Leu Ala Pro Asn Lys Pr - #o Ser# 1385- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 4363 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: cDNA- (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE: (A) ORGANISM: Homo sapi - #ens- (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 1..4164- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:- ATG AGC CGG CCC CCG CCG ACG GGG AAA ATG CC - #C GGC GCC CCC GAG ACC 48Met Ser Arg Pro Pro Pro Thr Gly Lys Met Pr - #o Gly Ala Pro Glu Thr# 15- GCG CCG GGG GAC GGG GCA GGC GCG AGC CGC CA - #G AGG AAG CTG GAG GCG 96Ala Pro Gly Asp Gly Ala Gly Ala Ser Arg Gl - #n Arg Lys Leu Glu Ala# 30- CTG ATC CGA GAC CCT CGC TCC CCC ATC AAC GT - #G GAG AGC TTG CTG GAT 144Leu Ile Arg Asp Pro Arg Ser Pro Ile Asn Va - #l Glu Ser Leu Leu Asp# 45- GGC TTA AAT TCC TTG GTC CTT GAT TTA GAT TT - #T CCT GCT TTG AGG AAA 192Gly Leu Asn Ser Leu Val Leu Asp Leu Asp Ph - #e Pro Ala Leu Arg Lys# 60- AAC AAG AAC ATA GAT AAT TTC TTA AAT AGA TA - #T GAG AAA ATT GTG AAA 240Asn Lys Asn Ile Asp Asn Phe Leu Asn Arg Ty - #r Glu Lys Ile Val Lys# 80- AAA ATC AAA GGT CTA CAG ATG AAG GCA GAA GA - #C TAT GAT GTT GTA AAA 288Lys Ile Lys Gly Leu Gln Met Lys Ala Glu As - #p Tyr Asp Val Val Lys# 95- GTT ATT GGA AGA GGT GCT TTT GGT GAA GTG CA - #G TTG GTT CGT CAC AAG 336Val Ile Gly Arg Gly Ala Phe Gly Glu Val Gl - #n Leu Val Arg His Lys# 110- GCA TCG CAG AAG GTT TAT GCT ATG AAG CTT CT - #T AGT AAG TTT GAA ATG 384Ala Ser Gln Lys Val Tyr Ala Met Lys Leu Le - #u Ser Lys Phe Glu Met# 125- ATA AAA AGA TCA GAT TCT GCC TTT TTT TGG GA - #A GAA AGA GAT ATT ATG 432Ile Lys Arg Ser Asp Ser Ala Phe Phe Trp Gl - #u Glu Arg Asp Ile Met# 140- GCC TTT GCC AAT AGC CCC TGG GTG GTT CAG CT - #T TTT TAT GCC TTT CAA 480Ala Phe Ala Asn Ser Pro Trp Val Val Gln Le - #u Phe Tyr Ala Phe Gln145 1 - #50 1 - #55 1 -#60- GAT GAT AGG TAT CTG TAC ATG GTA ATG GAG TA - #C ATG CCT GGT GGA GAC 528Asp Asp Arg Tyr Leu Tyr Met Val Met Glu Ty - #r Met Pro Gly Gly Asp# 175- CTT GTA AAC CTT ATG AGT AAT TAT GAT GTG CC - #T GAA AAA TGG GCC AAA 576Leu Val Asn Leu Met Ser Asn Tyr Asp Val Pr - #o Glu Lys Trp Ala Lys# 190- TTT TAC ACT GCT GAA GTT GTT CTT GCT CTG GA - #T GCA ATA CAC TCC ATG 624Phe Tyr Thr Ala Glu Val Val Leu Ala Leu As - #p Ala Ile His Ser Met# 205- GGT TTA ATA CAC AGA GAT GTG AAG CCT GAC AA - #C ATG CTC TTG GAT AAA 672Gly Leu Ile His Arg Asp Val Lys Pro Asp As - #n Met Leu Leu Asp Lys# 220- CAT GGA CAT CTA AAA TTA GCA GAT TTT GGC AC - #G TGT ATG AAG ATG GAT 720His Gly His Leu Lys Leu Ala Asp Phe Gly Th - #r Cys Met Lys Met Asp225 2 - #30 2 - #35 2 -#40- GAA ACA GGC ATG GTA CAT TGT GAT ACA GCA GT - #T GGA ACA CCG GAT TAT 768Glu Thr Gly Met Val His Cys Asp Thr Ala Va - #l Gly Thr Pro Asp Tyr# 255- ATA TCA CCT GAG GTT CTG AAA TCA CAA GGG GG - #T GAT GGT TTC TAT GGG 816Ile Ser Pro Glu Val Leu Lys Ser Gln Gly Gl - #y Asp Gly Phe Tyr Gly# 270- CGA GAA TGT GAT TGG TGG TCT GTA GGT GTT TT - #C CTT TAT GAG ATG CTA 864Arg Glu Cys Asp Trp Trp Ser Val Gly Val Ph - #e Leu Tyr Glu Met Leu# 285- GTG GGG GAT ACT CCA TTT TAT GCG GAT TCA CT - #T GTA GGA ACA TAT AGC 912Val Gly Asp Thr Pro Phe Tyr Ala Asp Ser Le - #u Val Gly Thr Tyr Ser# 300- AAA ATT ATG GAT CAT AAG AAT TCA CTG TGT TT - #C CCT GAA GAT GCA GAA 960Lys Ile Met Asp His Lys Asn Ser Leu Cys Ph - #e Pro Glu Asp Ala Glu305 3 - #10 3 - #15 3 -#20- ATT TCC AAA CAT GCA AAG AAT CTC ATC TGT GC - #T TTC TTA ACA GAT AGG1008Ile Ser Lys His Ala Lys Asn Leu Ile Cys Al - #a Phe Leu Thr Asp Arg# 335- GAG GTA CGA CTT GGG AGA AAT GGG GTG GAA GA - #A ATC AGA CAG CAT CCT1056Glu Val Arg Leu Gly Arg Asn Gly Val Glu Gl - #u Ile Arg Gln His Pro# 350- TTC TTT AAG AAT GAT CAG TGG CAT TGG GAT AA - #C ATA AGA GAA ACG GCA1104Phe Phe Lys Asn Asp Gln Trp His Trp Asp As - #n Ile Arg Glu Thr Ala# 365- GCT CCT GTA GTA CCT GAA CTC AGC AGT GAC AT - #A GAC AGC AGC AAT TTC1152Ala Pro Val Val Pro Glu Leu Ser Ser Asp Il - #e Asp Ser Ser Asn Phe# 380- GAT GAC ATT GAA GAT GAC AAA GGA GAT GTA GA - #A ACC TTC CCA ATT CCT1200Asp Asp Ile Glu Asp Asp Lys Gly Asp Val Gl - #u Thr Phe Pro Ile Pro385 3 - #90 3 - #95 4 -#00- AAA GCT TTT GTT GGA AAT CAG CTG CCT TTC AT - #C GGA TTT ACC TAC TAT1248Lys Ala Phe Val Gly Asn Gln Leu Pro Phe Il - #e Gly Phe Thr Tyr Tyr# 415- AGA GAA AAT TTA TTA TTA AGT GAC TCT CCA TC - #T TGT AGA GAA AAT GAT1296Arg Glu Asn Leu Leu Leu Ser Asp Ser Pro Se - #r Cys Arg Glu Asn Asp# 430- TCC ATA CAA TCA AGG AAA AAT GAA GAA AGT CA - #A GAG ATT CAG AAA AAA1344Ser Ile Gln Ser Arg Lys Asn Glu Glu Ser Gl - #n Glu Ile Gln Lys Lys# 445- CTG TAT ACA TTA GAA GAA CAT CTT AGC AAT GA - #G ATG CAA GCC AAA GAG1392Leu Tyr Thr Leu Glu Glu His Leu Ser Asn Gl - #u Met Gln Ala Lys Glu# 460- GAA CTG GAA CAG AAG TGC AAA TCT GTT AAT AC - #T CGC CTA GAA AAA ACA1440Glu Leu Glu Gln Lys Cys Lys Ser Val Asn Th - #r Arg Leu Glu Lys Thr465 4 - #70 4 - #75 4 -#80- GCA AAG GAG CTA GAA GAG GAG ATT ACC TTA CG - #G AAA AGT GTG GAA TCA1488Ala Lys Glu Leu Glu Glu Glu Ile Thr Leu Ar - #g Lys Ser Val Glu Ser# 495- GCA TTA AGA CAG TTA GAA AGA GAA AAG GCG CT - #T CTT CAG CAC AAA AAT1536Ala Leu Arg Gln Leu Glu Arg Glu Lys Ala Le - #u Leu Gln His Lys Asn# 510- GCA GAA TAT CAG AGG AAA GCT GAT CAT GAA GC - #A GAC AAA AAA CGA AAT1584Ala Glu Tyr Gln Arg Lys Ala Asp His Glu Al - #a Asp Lys Lys Arg Asn# 525- TTG GAA AAT GAT GTT AAC AGC TTA AAA GAT CA - #A CTT GAA GAT TTG AAA1632Leu Glu Asn Asp Val Asn Ser Leu Lys Asp Gl - #n Leu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 540- AAA AGA AAT CAA AAC TCT CAA ATA TCC ACT GA - #G AAA GTG AAT CAA CTC1680Lys Arg Asn Gln Asn Ser Gln Ile Ser Thr Gl - #u Lys Val Asn Gln Leu545 5 - #50 5 - #55 5 -#60- CAG AGA CAA CTG GAT GAA ACC AAT GCT TTA CT - #G CGA ACA GAG TCT GAT1728Gln Arg Gln Leu Asp Glu Thr Asn Ala Leu Le - #u Arg Thr Glu Ser Asp# 575- ACT GCA GCC CGG TTA AGG AAA ACC CAG GCA GA - #A AGT TCA AAA CAG ATT1776Thr Ala Ala Arg Leu Arg Lys Thr Gln Ala Gl - #u Ser Ser Lys Gln Ile# 590- CAG CAG CTG GAA TCT AAC AAT AGA GAT CTA CA - #A GAT AAA AAC TGC CTG1824Gln Gln Leu Glu Ser Asn Asn Arg Asp Leu Gl - #n Asp Lys Asn Cys Leu# 605- CTG GAG ACT GCC AAG TTA AAA CTT GAA AAG GA - #A TTT ATC AAT CTT CAG1872Leu Glu Thr Ala Lys Leu Lys Leu Glu Lys Gl - #u Phe Ile Asn Leu Gln# 620- TCA GCT CTA GAA TCT GAA AGG AGG GAT CGA AC - #C CAT GGA TCA GAG ATA1920Ser Ala Leu Glu Ser Glu Arg Arg Asp Arg Th - #r His Gly Ser Glu Ile625 6 - #30 6 - #35 6 -#40- ATT AAT GAT TTA CAA GGT AGA ATA TGT GGC CT - #A GAA GAA GAT TTA AAG1968Ile Asn Asp Leu Gln Gly Arg Ile Cys Gly Le - #u Glu Glu Asp Leu Lys# 655- AAC GGC AAA ATC TTA CTA GCG AAA GTA GAA CT - #G GAG AAG AGA CAA CTT2016Asn Gly Lys Ile Leu Leu Ala Lys Val Glu Le - #u Glu Lys Arg Gln Leu# 670- CAG GAG AGA TTT ACT GAT TTG GAA AAG GAA AA - #A AGC AAC ATG GAA ATA2064Gln Glu Arg Phe Thr Asp Leu Glu Lys Glu Ly - #s Ser Asn Met Glu Ile# 685- GAT ATG ACA TAC CAA CTA AAA GTT ATA CAG CA - #G AGC CTA GAA CAA GAA2112Asp Met Thr Tyr Gln Leu Lys Val Ile Gln Gl - #n Ser Leu Glu Gln Glu# 700- GAA GCT GAA CAT AAG GCC ACA AAG GCA CGA CT - #A GCA GAT AAA AAT AAG2160Glu Ala Glu His Lys Ala Thr Lys Ala Arg Le - #u Ala Asp Lys Asn Lys705 7 - #10 7 - #15 7 -#20- ATC TAT GAG TCC ATC GAA GAA GCC AAA TCA GA - #A GCC ATG AAA GAA ATG2208Ile Tyr Glu Ser Ile Glu Glu Ala Lys Ser Gl - #u Ala Met Lys Glu Met# 735- GAG AAG AAG CTC TTG GAG GAA AGA ACT TTA AA - #A CAG AAA GTG GAG AAC2256Glu Lys Lys Leu Leu Glu Glu Arg Thr Leu Ly - #s Gln Lys Val Glu Asn# 750- CTA TTG CTA GAA GCT GAG AAA AGA TGT TCT CT - #A TTA GAC TGT GAC CTC2304Leu Leu Leu Glu Ala Glu Lys Arg Cys Ser Le - #u Leu Asp Cys Asp Leu# 765- AAA CAG TCA CAG CAG AAA ATA AAT GAG CTC CT - #T AAA CAG AAA GAT GTG2352Lys Gln Ser Gln Gln Lys Ile Asn Glu Leu Le - #u Lys Gln Lys Asp Val# 780- CTA AAT GAG GAT GTT AGA AAC CTG ACA TTA AA - #A ATA GAG CAA GAA ACT2400Leu Asn Glu Asp Val Arg Asn Leu Thr Leu Ly - #s Ile Glu Gln Glu Thr785 7 - #90 7 - #95 8 -#00- CAG AAG CGC TGC CTT ACA CAA AAT GAC CTG AA - #G ATG CAA ACA CAA CAG2448Gln Lys Arg Cys Leu Thr Gln Asn Asp Leu Ly - #s Met Gln Thr Gln Gln# 815- GTT AAC ACA CTA AAA ATG TCA GAA AAG CAG TT - #A AAG CAA GAA AAT AAC2496Val Asn Thr Leu Lys Met Ser Glu Lys Gln Le - #u Lys Gln Glu Asn Asn# 830- CAT CTC ATG GAA ATG AAA ATG AAC TTG GAA AA - #A CAA AAT GCT GAA CTT2544His Leu Met Glu Met Lys Met Asn Leu Glu Ly - #s Gln Asn Ala Glu Leu# 845- CGA AAA GAA CGT CAG GAT GCA GAT GGG CAA AT - #G AAA GAG CTC CAG GAT2592Arg Lys Glu Arg Gln Asp Ala Asp Gly Gln Me - #t Lys Glu Leu Gln Asp# 860- CAG CTC GAA GCA GAA CAG TAT TTC TCA ACC CT - #T TAT AAA ACA CAA GTT2640Gln Leu Glu Ala Glu Gln Tyr Phe Ser Thr Le - #u Tyr Lys Thr Gln Val865 8 - #70 8 - #75 8 -#80- AGG GAG CTT AAA GAA GAA TGT GAA GAA AAG AC - #C AAA CTT GGT AAA GAA2688Arg Glu Leu Lys Glu Glu Cys Glu Glu Lys Th - #r Lys Leu Gly Lys Glu# 895- TTG CAG CAG AAG AAA CAG GAA TTA CAG GAT GA - #A CGG GAC TCT TTG GCT2736Leu Gln Gln Lys Lys Gln Glu Leu Gln Asp Gl - #u Arg Asp Ser Leu Ala# 910- GCC CAA CTG GAG ATC ACC TTG ACC AAA GCA GA - #T TCT GAG CAA CTG GCT2784Ala Gln Leu Glu Ile Thr Leu Thr Lys Ala As - #p Ser Glu Gln Leu Ala# 925- CGT TCA ATT GCT GAA GAA CAA TAT TCT GAT TT - #G GAA AAA GAG AAG ATC2832Arg Ser Ile Ala Glu Glu Gln Tyr Ser Asp Le - #u Glu Lys Glu Lys Ile# 940- ATG AAA GAG CTG GAG ATC AAA GAG ATG ATG GC - #T AGA CAC AAA CAG GAA2880Met Lys Glu Leu Glu Ile Lys Glu Met Met Al - #a Arg His Lys Gln Glu945 9 - #50 9 - #55 9 -#60- CTT ACG GAA AAA GAT GCT ACA ATT GCT TCT CT - #T GAG GAA ACT AAT AGG2928Leu Thr Glu Lys Asp Ala Thr Ile Ala Ser Le - #u Glu Glu Thr Asn Arg# 975- ACA CTA ACT AGT GAT GTT GCC AAT CTT GCA AA - #T GAG AAA GAA GAA TTA2976Thr Leu Thr Ser Asp Val Ala Asn Leu Ala As - #n Glu Lys Glu Glu Leu# 990- AAT AAC AAA TTG AAA GAT GTT CAA GAG CAA CT - #G TCA AGA TTG AAA GAT3024Asn Asn Lys Leu Lys Asp Val Gln Glu Gln Le - #u Ser Arg Leu Lys Asp# 10050- GAA GAA ATA AGC GCA GCA GCT ATT AAA GCA CA - #G TTT GAG AAG CAG CTA3072Glu Glu Ile Ser Ala Ala Ala Ile Lys Ala Gl - #n Phe Glu Lys Gln Leu# 10205- TTA ACA GAA AGA ACA CTC AAA ACT CAA GCT GT - #G AAT AAG TTG GCT GAG3120Leu Thr Glu Arg Thr Leu Lys Thr Gln Ala Va - #l Asn Lys Leu Ala Glu# 10401030 - # 1035- ATC ATG AAT CGA AAA GAA CCT GTC AAG CGT GG - #T AAT GAC ACA GAT GTG3168Ile Met Asn Arg Lys Glu Pro Val Lys Arg Gl - #y Asn Asp Thr Asp Val# 10550- CGG AGA AAA GAG AAG GAG AAT AGA AAG CTA CA - #T ATG GAG CTT AAA TCT3216Arg Arg Lys Glu Lys Glu Asn Arg Lys Leu Hi - #s Met Glu Leu Lys Ser# 10705- GAA CGT GAG AAA TTG ACC CAG CAG ATG ATC AA - #G TAT CAG AAA GAA CTG3264Glu Arg Glu Lys Leu Thr Gln Gln Met Ile Ly - #s Tyr Gln Lys Glu Leu# 10850- AAT GAA ATG CAG GCA CAA ATA GCT GAA GAG AG - #C CAG ATT CGA ATT GAA3312Asn Glu Met Gln Ala Gln Ile Ala Glu Glu Se - #r Gln Ile Arg Ile Glu# 11005- CTG CAG ATG ACA TTG GAC AGT AAA GAC AGT GA - #C ATT GAG CAG CTG CGG3360Leu Gln Met Thr Leu Asp Ser Lys Asp Ser As - #p Ile Glu Gln Leu Arg# 11201110 - # 1115- TCA CAA CTC CAA GCC TTG CAT ATT GGT CTG GA - #T AGT TCC AGT ATA GGC3408Ser Gln Leu Gln Ala Leu His Ile Gly Leu As - #p Ser Ser Ser Ile Gly# 11350- AGT GGA CCA GGG GAT GCT GAG GCA GAT GAT GG - #G TTT CCA GAA TCA AGA3456Ser Gly Pro Gly Asp Ala Glu Ala Asp Asp Gl - #y Phe Pro Glu Ser Arg# 11505- TTA GAA GGA TGG CTT TCA TTG CCT GTA CGA AA - #C AAC ACT AAG AAA TTT3504Leu Glu Gly Trp Leu Ser Leu Pro Val Arg As - #n Asn Thr Lys Lys Phe# 11650- GGA TGG GTT AAA AAG TAT GTG ATT GTA AGC AG - #T AAG AAG ATT CTT TTC3552Gly Trp Val Lys Lys Tyr Val Ile Val Ser Se - #r Lys Lys Ile Leu Phe# 11805- TAT GAC AGT GAA CAA GAT AAA GAA CAA TCC AA - #T CCT TAC ATG GTT TTA3600Tyr Asp Ser Glu Gln Asp Lys Glu Gln Ser As - #n Pro Tyr Met Val Leu# 12001190 - # 1195- GAT ATA GAC AAG TTA TTT CAT GTC CGA CCA GT - #T ACA CAG ACA GAT GTG3648Asp Ile Asp Lys Leu Phe His Val Arg Pro Va - #l Thr Gln Thr Asp Val# 12150- TAT AGA GCA GAT GCT AAA GAA ATT CCA AGG AT - #A TTC CAG ATT CTG TAT3696Tyr Arg Ala Asp Ala Lys Glu Ile Pro Arg Il - #e Phe Gln Ile Leu Tyr# 12305- GCC AAT GAA GGA GAA AGT AAG AAG GAA CAA GA - #A TTT CCA GTG GAG CCA3744Ala Asn Glu Gly Glu Ser Lys Lys Glu Gln Gl - #u Phe Pro Val Glu Pro# 12450- GTT GGA GAA AAA TCT AAT TAT ATT TGC CAC AA - #G GGA CAT GAG TTT ATT3792Val Gly Glu Lys Ser Asn Tyr Ile Cys His Ly - #s Gly His Glu Phe Ile# 12605- CCT ACT CTT TAT CAT TTC CCA ACC AAC TGT GA - #G GCT TGT ATG AAG CCC3840Pro Thr Leu Tyr His Phe Pro Thr Asn Cys Gl - #u Ala Cys Met Lys Pro# 12801270 - # 1275- CTG TGG CAC ATG TTT AAG CCT CCT CCT GCT TT - #G GAG TGC CGC CGT TGC3888Leu Trp His Met Phe Lys Pro Pro Pro Ala Le - #u Glu Cys Arg Arg Cys# 12950- CAT ATT AAG TGT CAT AAA GAT CAT ATG GAC AA - #A AAG GAG GAG ATT ATA3936His Ile Lys Cys His Lys Asp His Met Asp Ly - #s Lys Glu Glu Ile Ile# 13105- GCA CCT TGC AAA GTA TAT TAT GAT ATT TCA AC - #G GCA AAG AAT CTG TTA3984Ala Pro Cys Lys Val Tyr Tyr Asp Ile Ser Th - #r Ala Lys Asn Leu Leu# 13250- TTA CTA GCA AAT TCT ACA GAA GAG CAG CAG AA - #G TGG GTT AGT CGG TTG4032Leu Leu Ala Asn Ser Thr Glu Glu Gln Gln Ly - #s Trp Val Ser Arg Leu# 13405- GTG AAA AAG ATA CCT AAA AAG CCC CCA GCT CC - #A GAC CCT TTT GCC CGA4080Val Lys Lys Ile Pro Lys Lys Pro Pro Ala Pr - #o Asp Pro Phe Ala Arg# 13601350 - # 1355- TCA TCT CCT AGA ACT TCA ATG AAG ATA CAG CA - #A AAC CAG TCT ATT AGA4128Ser Ser Pro Arg Thr Ser Met Lys Ile Gln Gl - #n Asn Gln Ser Ile Arg# 13750- CGG CCA AGT CGA CAG CTT GCC CCA AAC AAA CC - #T AGC TAACTGCCTT4174Arg Pro Ser Arg Gln Leu Ala Pro Asn Lys Pr - #o Ser# 1385- CTATGAAAGC AGTCATTATT CAAGGTGATC GTATTCTTCC AGTGAAAACA AG - #ACTGAAAT4234- ATGATGACCC CATGGTACCC GGATCCTCGA ATCTTTTGCT TTTTACCCTG GA - #AGAAATAC4294- TCATAAGCCA CCTCTGTAAT CGGATCCCCG GGTACCGAAA TACTCATAAG CC - #ACCTCTGT4354# 4363- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#acids (A) LENGTH: 4 amino (B) TYPE: amino acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide- (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: Modified-sit - #e (B) LOCATION: 2..3#/product= "aliphatic amino acids"- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:- Cys Xaa Xaa Leu- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 33 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:# 33 AGTG ACTCTCCATC TTG- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 35 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:# 35 GCCT ATACTGGAAC TATCC- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 31 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:# 31 ACCG CCACCATGTC G- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 33 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:# 33 ATCT TTGTCTTTCG CTC- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 40 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:# 40 AGAT GATTATTCTC TTGCTTTAAC- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 40 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:# 40 GCAC AAAAATGCAG AATATCAGCG- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 30 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:# 30 TGTC ATCGAAATTG- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 30 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:# 30 TGAA ACAGGCATGG- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 36 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:# 36 TCAT GAAAGAGCTG GAGATC- (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16:- (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:#pairs (A) LENGTH: 33 base (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear- (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: other nucleic acid#= "primer"A) DESCRIPTION: /desc- (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16:# 33 TGTA GCTTTCTATT CTC__________________________________________________________________________

Claims

1. An isolated protein having activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity, comprising: (1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or (2) an amino acid sequence modified from SEQ ID NO: 1 by at least addition, substitution or deletion of at least one residue to a sequence chosen from the sequence group consisting of positions 1-89, 360-942, and 1069-1388.

2. An isolated protein according to claim 1, wherein all or part of at least one sequence selected from the sequence group consisting of positions 1-89, 360-942, and 1069-1388 is deleted.

3. A isolated protein according to claim 1, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence from positions 90-359 and 943-1068.

4. An isolated protein having activated Rho protein binding activity and protein kinase activity comprising: (1) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4, or (2) an amino acid sequence modified from SEQ ID NO. 4 by at least addition, substitution or deletion of at least one residue to a sequence chosen from the sequence group consisting of positions 1-89, 360-942, and 1069-1388.

5. A protein according to claim 4, wherein all or part of at least one sequence selected from the sequence group consisting of positions 1-89, 360-942, and 1069-1388 is deleted.

6. A protein according to claim 4, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence of positions 90-359 and 943-1068.

7. An isolated protein of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a modification thereof having activated Rho protein binding activity wherein at least one amino acid has been added to amino acid sequence positions 1-942 or 1069-1388, and at least one amino acid has been substituted or deleted from amino acid sequence positions 1-942 or 1069-1388.

8. A protein according to claim 7, that lacks protein kinase activity, and that has at least one addition, insertion, substitution, or deletion within sequence positions 90-359.

9. A protein according to claim 8 having deleted therein sequence positions 90-359 or a portion of this sequence that has protein kinase activity.

10. A protein according to claim 8, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence positions 421-1137, 438-1124, 799-1137 or 943-106.

11. An isolated protein or derivative thereof comprising a modified amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4 which has activated Rho protein binding activity wherein SEQ ID NO: 4 has been altered by at least one amino acid modification selected from the group consisting of adding an amino acid to the sequence within positions 1-942, adding an amino acid to the sequence within positions 1069-1388, substituting an amino acid within sequence positions 1-942, substituting an amino acid within sequence positions 1069-1388, deleting an amino acid from sequence positions 1-942, and deleting an amino acid from sequence positions 1069-1388.

12. A protein according to claim 11, wherein said modified amino acid sequence does not have protein kinase activity and has at least one of an addition, an insertion, a substitution, or a deletion in the amino acid sequence positions 90-359 in SEQ ID NO: 4.

13. A protein according to claim 12, wherein the amino acid sequence positions 90-359 in SEQ ID NO: 4 or a region containing a part thereof which has protein kinase activity is deleted.

14. A protein according to claim 12, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence positions 421-1137, 438-1124, 799-1137 or 943-1068.

15. A protein comprising a modified amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 which has protein kinase activity wherein SEQ ID NO. 1 has been altered by at least one amino acid modification selected from the group consisting of adding an amino acid to the sequence within positions 1-89, adding an amino acid to the sequence within positions 360-1388, substituting an amino acid within sequence positions 1-89, substituting an amino acid within sequence positions 360-1388, deleting an amino acid from sequence positions 1-89, and deleting an amino acid from sequence positions 360-1388.

16. A protein according to claim 15, wherein said modified amino acid sequence does not have activated Rho binding activity and has an addition, an insertion, a substitution, and/or a deletion in the amino acid sequence positions 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO: 1.

17. A protein according to claim 16, wherein the amino acid sequence positions 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a region containing a part thereof which has protein kinase activity is deleted.

18. A protein according to claim 16, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence positions 90-359 or 6553 in SEQ ID NO: 1.

19. An isolated protein comprising a modified amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4 which has protein kinase activity wherein one or more amino acids are added into the amino acid sequence positions 1-89 and/or 360-1388 in SEQ ID NO: 4, and/or one or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence positions 1-89 and/or 360-1388 in SEQ ID NO: 4 are substituted and/or deleted.

20. A protein according to claim 19, wherein said modified amino acid sequence does not have activated Rho binding activity and has at least one selected from the group consisting of an addition, an insertion, a substitution, and a deletion in the amino acid sequence positions 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO: 4.

21. A protein according to claim 20, wherein the amino acid sequence positions 943-1068 in SEQ ID NO: 4 or a region containing a part thereof which has protein kinase activity is deleted.

22. A protein according to claim 20, wherein said modified amino acid sequence comprises the amino acid sequence positions 90-359 or 6553 in SEQ ID NO: 4.

23. A method for screening a material inhibiting binding between activated Rho protein and a protein according to claim 1, 4, 7, or 11 comprising; (1) placing a material to be screened in a screening system containing said activated Rho protein and said protein, and (2) measuring the degree of inhibition of binding between said activated Rho protein and said protein.

24. A screening method according to claim 23, wherein the screening system is a cell system.

25. A screening method according to claim 23, wherein the screening system is a yeast two hybrid system.

26. A screening method according to claim 23, which is a method for screening tumorigenesis or metastasis suppressors.

27. A screening method according to claim 23, which is a method for screening smooth muscle contraction suppressors.

28. A method for screening a material inhibiting protein kinase activity of a protein according to claim 1, 4, 15 or 19, comprising: (1) placing the material in a screening system containing said protein, and (2) measuring degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity of said protein.

29. A screening method according to claim 28, wherein the screening system is a cell system.

30. A screening method according to claim 28, which is a method for screening tumorigenesis or metastasis suppressors.

31. A screening method according to claim 28, which is a method for screening smooth muscle contraction suppressors.

32. A method for screening a material inhibiting protein kinase activity of a protein according to claim 1, 4, 15 or 19, comprising: (1) placing the material in a screening system containing activated Rho protein and said protein, and (2) measuring the degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity of said protein.

33. A screening method according to claim 32, wherein said activated Rho protein placed in the screening system is a posttranslationally controlled protein.

34. A screening method according to claim 32, wherein the degree of the inhibition of the protein kinase activity is measured by using a substrate selected from the group consisting of myelin basic protein, S6 peptide, .alpha. PKC, vinculin, talin, metavinculin, caldesmon, filamin, vimentin, .alpha.-actinin, MAP-4, myosin light chain, myosin light chain phosphatase, and myosin binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase.

35. A screening method according to claim 32, wherein the screening system is a cell system.

36. A screening method according to claim 32, which is a method for screening tumorigenesis or metastasis suppressors.

37. A screening method according to claim 32, which is a method for screening smooth muscle contraction suppressors.

38. A method for screening a material inhibiting enhancement of protein kinase activity of a protein according to claim 1, 4, 15, or 19, comprising: (1) placing a material to be screened in a screening system containing activated Rho protein and said protein, and (2) measuring the degree of inhibition of the protein kinase activity enhancement of said protein.

39. A screening method according to claim 38, wherein said activated Rho protein placed in the screening system is a posttranslationally controlled protein.

40. A screening method according to claim 38, wherein the degree of the inhibition the enhancement of the protein kinase activity is measured by using a substrate selected from the group consisting of myelin basic protein, S6 peptide, .alpha. PKC, vinculin, talin, metavinculin, caldesmon, filamin, vimentin, .alpha.-actinin, MAP-4, myosin light chain, myosin light chain phosphatase, and myosin binding subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase.

41. A screening method according to claim 38, wherein the screening system is a cell system.

42. A screening method according to claim 38, which is a method for screening tumorigenesis or metastasis suppressors.

43. A screening method according to claim 38, which is a method for screening smooth muscle contraction suppressors.

44. A protein according to claim 1 which is recognized by an antibody against a peptide of SEQ ID NO: 3.

45. A composition for suppressing smooth muscle contraction comprising a protein according to claim 8 or 12.

46. A pharmaceutical composition for treating a circulatory system disease comprising a protein according to claim 8 or 12.

47. A pharmaceutical composition according to claim 46, wherein the circulatory system disease is selected from the group consisting of hypertension, vasospasm (cardiovascular vasospasm and cerebrovascular vasospasm), cardiac angina, myocardial infarction, and arteriosclerosis obliterans.

48. A method for treating a circulatory system disease comprising administrating an effective amount of a protein according to claim 8 or 12.

49. A method according to claim 48, wherein the circulatory system disease is selected from the group consisting of hypertension, vasospasm, cardiac angina, myocardial infarction, and arteriosclerosis obliterans.