Previously we have reported cloning of the
osm-3 gene, encoding a kinesin like protein (Shakir et al., 1993). OSM-3 shows high homology to the sea urchin spKRP85 and spKRP95 kinesin like proteins (Kinesin II). Wademan et al. (1996) have recently reported a non-motor kinesin associated protein KAP115 from sea urchin which co-purifies with kinesinII holoenzyme. We have isolated a cDNA clone (called CeKAP-1) from a nematode cDNA library, corresponding to the nematode homologue of the spKAP115 protein, that maps on the cosmid F08F8.3 (Wademan et al., 1996). Similar multi-meric complexes have been reported in mouse KIF3A-KIF3B-KAP3 (Hirokawa, 1996), and in Drosophila (KLP64D and KLP68D) (Goldstein, 1993). Gindhart and Goldstein (1997) noted that these KAP proteins harbor several repeats of the Drosophila armadillo motif. Indeed, the nematode CeKAP-1 when analyzed shows twelve contiguous armadillo repeats in the KAP-1 primary sequence, unlike spKAP115 protein that contains a total of 10 armadillo repeats, one repeat is separtaed from the other nine, which are tandem repeats. Since armadillo like repeats have been found in a variety of proteins which mediate intracellular signalling and protein interactions, a role for CeKAP-1 protein in regulating the cargo binding of the OSM-3/KLP-11( Kinesin II ) motor proteins, is worth examining. We are looking for mutants affected in the CeKAP-1 and KLP-11 genes which may show interactions with the
osm-3 mutants.