A serine kinase (hsRec2) and its involvement with cyclin E and p53 in the cell cycle

摘要

A method of phosphorylating a serine containing substrate is described. The method comprises incubating the substrate with ATP and an enzyme that is either hsRec2, muRec2 or a derivative thereof. The natural substrates of the kinase activity of Rec2 are the cell cycle control proteins such as p53 and cyclin E. The over expression of Rec2 is known to cause cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. It appears these effects are kinase mediated. Accordingly, a method of assessing antagonists and agonists of Rec2, where the antagonists and agonists have pharmacological activity is described. Specific binding between hsRec2 and at least three cell cycle control proteins: p53, PCNA and cdc2 are also disclosed.