Purification and characterization of casein kinase I from broccoli

Casein kinase I from broccoli was purified approximately 65,000-fold by chromatography on phosphocellulose, phenyl-Sepharose, CM-Sephacel, and affinity chromatography on N-(2-aminoethyl)-5-chloroisoquinolone-8-sulphonamide (CKI-7)-Sepharose. The catalytic subunit of casein kinase I was identified as a 36-38 kDa polypeptide doublet by using the technique of activity gel assay after SDS/PAGE with casein as a gel-incorporated substrate. A silver-stained polypeptide doublet of the same molecular mass constituted at least 95% of the protein in the final preparation, corresponding to a specific activity of approximately 1800 nmol/min per mg of protein. The enzyme was found to be a monomer by gel filtration and glycerol gradient sedimentation; the native molecular mass was calculated to be 34.2 kDa. These characteristics, as well as other essential features of plant casein kinase I activity, such as substrate specificity and sensitivity to inhibitors, were found to be similar to those established for animal casein kinase I. Broccoli casein kinase I showed weak immunological cross-reactivity with antibodies raised against bovine casein kinase I.