Testis Specific Serine Kinase 4 (TSSK4)

TSSK4 belongs to a family of serine/threonine kinases highly expressed in testis (Chen et al., 2005).By searching databases for TSSK-like sequences, followed by PCR of a testis cDNA library, Chen et al. (2005) cloned TSSK4, which they called TSSK5. The deduced 328-amino acid protein is a putative serine/threonine kinase.

Northern blot analysis failed to detect TSSK4 expression, but RT-PCR revealed TSSK4 expression in testis only.By yeast 2-hybrid analysis and in vitro pull-down experiments, Chen et al. (2005) showed the TSSK4 interacted with CREB. TSSK4 phosphorylated CREB at ser133 and activated a CRE/CREB reporter gene in transfected HEK293T cells.TSSK4 gene contains 4 exons.