Cloning and characterization of a wortmannin-sensitive human phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase

Phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) 4-kinases catalyze the synthesis of PtdIns-4-P, the immediate precursor of PtdIns-4,5-P-2. Here we report the cloning of a novel, ubiquitously expressed PtdIns 4-kinase (PI4K beta), The 2.4-kilobase pair cDNA encodes a putative translation product of 801 amino acids which shows greatest homology to the yeast PIK1 gene. The recombinant protein exhibits lipid kinase activity when expressed in Escherichia coli, and specific antibodies recognize a 110-kDa PtdIns 4-kinase in cell lysates, The biochemical properties of PI4K beta are characteristic of a type III enzyme, Interestingly, both recombinant PI4K beta and the endogenous protein are inhibited by 150 nM wortmannin, suggesting that we have cloned the previously described PtdIns 4-kinase that is responsible for regulating the synthesis of agonist-sensitive pools of polyphosphoinositides (Nakanishi, S., Catt, J. K., and Balla, T. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, U. S. A. 92, 5317-5321).