Abstract
Protein kinase CK2 is a highly conserved and ubiquitous serine–threonine kinase. It is a tetrameric enzyme that is made up of two regulatory CK2β subunits and two catalytic subunits, either CK2α/CK2α, CK2α/CK2α′, or CK2α′/CK2α′. Although the two catalytic subunits diverge in their C termini, their enzymatic activities are similar. To identify the specific function of the two catalytic subunits in development, we have deleted them individually from the mouse genome by homologous recombination. We have previously reported that CK2α′ is essential for male germ cell development, and we now demonstrate that CK2α has an essential role in embryogenesis, as mice lacking CK2α die in mid-embryogenesis, with cardiac and neural tube defects.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge highly skilled technical assistance in carrying out these studies from Jessica Murray and Julie Cha, Patrick Hogan who maintains the mouse colony, and Greg Martin of the Transgenic Core at Boston University Medical Center. We are grateful to T. Yamaguchi for providing plasmids used for in situ hybridization. This work was supported by N.I.H. R01 CA71796 to David C. Seldin as well as Project 2 of P01 ES011624 (G. Sonenshein, P.I.), a Scientist Development Award from the American Heart Association (0735521T) to Isabel Dominguez, a pre-doctoral fellowship to David Y. Lou through N.I.H. T32 CA064070 (Oncobiology Training Program at Boston University School of Medicine), and a Department of Medicine Pilot Grant to Isabel Dominguez.
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Seldin, D.C., Lou, D.Y., Toselli, P. et al. Gene targeting of CK2 catalytic subunits. Mol Cell Biochem 316, 141–147 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-008-9811-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-008-9811-8