Mouse Anti Chicken Creatine Kinase Hybridoma [DL-3B8]

Transcription and accumulation of brain-type creatine kinase mRNA and its protein was examined during postnatal development of rat brain cerebellum, the brain region containing highest CKB mRNA in the adult. CKB protein was extremely low at day 1, increased about 10-fold until week 4 and remained constant until week 10. This time course was paralleled by cerebellar CKB mRNA, which was also extremely low at day 1 and increased 5-fold during the first 3 weeks and then remained constant. High levels of CKB protein were also detected in cultured primary cerebellar granular neurons. Nuclear run-on assays directly showed that CKB mRNA accumulation during postnatal cerebellar development was due to increased transcription. When compared with cerebrum and whole brain, cerebellar CKB mRNA accumulation during postnatal development was temporally delayed. Analysis of myocyte enhancer factor (MEF)-2 and Sp1, factors known to initiate or sustain CKB transcription in tissues other than brain, revealed that MEF-2 in cerebellum was low at week 1 but increased 3.5-fold by week 7, while Sp1 remained unchanged. The increase in CKB protein during cerebellar postnatal development was coincident with that of the ubiquitous mitochondrial CK protein and mRNA, indicating that a functional phosphocreatine energy shuttle probably exists for efficient ATP regeneration in the cerebellum. This should be beneficial for the many energy-demanding requirements during cerebellar development, as indicated by the observed temporal co-expression of CKB with myelin basic protein, which is involved in axon myelination by oligodendrocytes.

The regulatory subunit of S. cerevisiae casein kinase II (CKII) is encoded of two genes, CKB1 and CKB1. Strains harboring deletions of either or both genes exhibit specific sensitivity to high concentrations of Na+ or Li+. Na+ tolerance in S. cerevisiae is mediated primarily by transcriptional induction of ENA1, which encodes the plasma membrane sodium pump, and by conversion of the potassium uptake system to a higher affinity form that discriminates more efficiently against Na+. To determine whether reduced ENA I expression plays a role in the salt sensitivity of ckb mutants, we integrated an ENAI-lacZ reporter gene into isogenic wild-type, ckb1, cBb2, and ckb1 ckb2 strains and monitored beta-galactosidase activity at different salt concentrations. In all three mutants transcription from the ENA I promoter remained salt-inducible, but both basal and salt-induced expression was depressed approximately 3- to 4-fold. The degree of reduction in ENA1 expression was comparable to that observed in an isogenic strain carrying a null mutation in protein phosphatase 2B (calcineurin), which is also required for salt tolerance. These results suggest that reduced expression of ENA I contributes to the salt sensitivity of ckb strains. Consistent with this conclusion, overexpression of ENA1 from a heterologous promoter (GAL1) completely suppressed the salt sensitivity of ckb mutants. Induction of ENA I expression by alkaline pH is also depressed in dib mutants, but unlike calcineurin mutants, ckb strains are not growth inhibited by alkaline pH.