Cloning and Characterization of Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase γ cDNA from Flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) plays a central role in cell signaling and leads to cell proliferation, survival, motility, exocytosis, and cytoskeletal rearrangements, as well as specialized cell responses, superoxide production, and cardiac myocyte growth. PI3K is divided into three classes; type I PI3K is preferentially expressed in leukocytes and activated by βγ subunits of heterotrimeric G-proteins. In this study, the cDNAs encoding the PI3Kγ gene were isolated from a brain cDNA library constructed using the flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). The sequence of the isolated PI3Kγ was 1341 bp, encoding 447 amino acids. The nucleotide sequence of the PI3Kγ gene was analyzed with that of other species, including Oreochromis niloticus and Danio rerio, and it turned out to be well conserved during evolution. The PI3Kγ gene was subcloned into the expression vector pET-44a(+), and expressed in the E. coli BL21 (DE3) codon plus cell. The resulting protein was expressed as a fusion protein of approximately 49 kDa containing a C-terminal six-histidine extension that was derived from the expression vector. The expressed protein was purified to homogeneity by His-tag affinity chromatography and showed enzymatic activity corresponding to PI3Kγ. The binding of wortmannin to PI3Kγ, as detected by anti-wortmannin antisera, closely followed the inhibition of the kinase activities. The results obtained from this study will provide a wider base of knowledge on the primary structure and characterization of the PI3Kγ at the molecular level.