KPL1, which encodes a novel PH domain-containing protein, is induced during ciliated cell differentiation of rat tracheal epithelial cells.

Using differential display, we have identified a novel gene, KPL1, induced in rat tracheal epithelial (RTE) cells grown under conditions which stimulate ciliogenesis. The KPL1 protein is predicted to contain a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, which has been found in numerous signal transduction and cytoskeletal proteins. These domains are thought to function by recruiting proteins to cellular membranes, and they have been shown to bind phosphoinositols and the beta/gamma subunit of G proteins. We have cloned rat and human KPL1; the predicted protein translations are 94% identical. Alternate transcripts exist in rat and human tracheal cells that predict a protein which contains a 35-amino acid insert. KPL1 was upregulated in RTE cultures undergoing mucociliary but not squamous differentiation; and in cultures undergoing mucociliary differentiation, KPL1 expression most closely paralleled that of a marker of ciliated cell differentiation (axonemal dynein heavy chain) and not a marker of mucous cell differentiation (mucin 5AC). As a new member of the family of PH domain-containing proteins, KPL1 may have a unique role in ciliated cell differentiation or function.