Isolation and Characterization of A Cdc2-Related Protein Kinase 3 (CRK3) from a Sudanese Strain of Leishmania Donovani

Cyclin-dependent kinases; (cdc2( are key regulators of the eukaryotic cell cycle. A number of cdc2-related kinase (CRK) genes have been isolated from trypanosomatids. The present study was designed to identify and analyze (CRK3) from a Sudanese strain of Leishmaniadonovani, the causative agent for Kala-azar. CRK3. Sequence analysis showed that L. donovani CRK3 encodes a protein of 311 amino acids with 99.7%; 99.4% and 49.4% identity with L. mexicana CRK3; L. major CRK3 and human HsCDC2, respectively. Genetic analysis by southern blot hybridisation of the genomic DNA has demonstrated that LdCRK3 gene is not tandemly repeated and is present as a single copy in the L. donovani genome. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all of the three leishmanial CRK3s proteins exist with the trypanosome CRK3s in the same clade. CRK3 has potential as drug target, so the scientific data presented in this paper could be useful to explore the possibility of designing a drug that can be used in a low-cost manner to treat all forms of leishmaniasis based on the fact that CRK3 is highly conserved in Leishmania spp.