Pleckstrin (PLEK)

In platelets, agonists that stimulate phosphoinositide turnover cause the rapid phosphorylation of a protein of apparent relative molecular mass 40,000-47,000, called P47, by protein kinase C. A 1,050 basepair open reading frame that could encode the protein in question was confirmed by comparison with peptide sequences from platelet P47 and by expression of the putative P47 in E. coli and in vitro. The P47 sequence appeared to have been conserved throughout vertebrate evolution and was not similar to any other known sequence, including lipocortin. Tyers et al. (1988) proposed the name pleckstrin for platelet and leukocyte C kinase substrate and for the KSTR string of amino acids in the sequence KFARKSTRRSIR, the probable phosphorylation site.