Science, Vol.291, No.5506, 1043-1047, 2001
TRP-PLIK, a bifunctional protein with kinase and ion channel activities
We cloned and characterized a protein kinase and ion channel, TRP-PLIK. As part of the Long transient receptor potential channel subfamily implicated in control of cell division, it is a protein that is both an ion channel and a protein kinase. TRP-PLIK phosphorylated itself, displayed a wide tissue distribution, and, when expressed in CHO-K1 cells, constituted a nonselective, calcium-permeant, 105-picosiemen, steeply outwardly rectifying conductance. The zinc finger containing alpha -kinase domain was functional, Inactivation of the kinase activity by site-directed mutagenesis and the channel's dependence on intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) demonstrated that the channel's kinase activity is essential for channel function.