FREQUENT IN-FRAME LENGTH VARIATIONS ARE FOUND IN THE DIVERGED SIMPLE REPEAT SEQUENCES OF THE PROTEIN-CODING REGIONS OF 2 PUTATIVE PROTEIN-KINASE GENES OF BRASSICA-NAPUS

Abstract

Two putative protein kinase cDNA clones were isolated from Brassica napus by screening with a putative protein kinase cDNA clone of Arabidopsis thaliana. The deduced amino acid sequences show a distinct modular composition, consisting of a possible protein kinase catalytic region at the amino terminus and a highly acidic region encoded from diverged simple repeat sequences at the carboxy terminus. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences encoding this acidic region revealed a high rate of in-frame length variation, while preserving the acidic characteristics. Similar variation is also found in the noncoding regions of these clones.