Selective expression of a protein-tyrosine kinase, p56lyn, in hematopoietic cells and association with production of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I.

This paper reports the identification of the lyn gene product, a member of the src-related family of protein-tyrosine kinases, and its expression in hematopoietic cells. A lyn-specific sequence (Arg-25 to Ala-119 of the protein) was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with beta-galactosidase. Antiserum raised against the fusion protein immunoprecipitated a 56-kDa protein from human B lymphocytes. Incubation of the immunoprecipitate with [gamma-32P]ATP resulted in the phosphorylation of this protein at tyrosine residues. Immunohistological and immunoblotting analyses showed that the lyn gene product was expressed in lymphatic tissues (spleen and tonsil) and in adult lung, which contains many macrophages. Furthermore, both the transcripts and the protein products of the lyn gene accumulated in macrophages/monocytes, platelets, and B lymphocytes but were not expressed appreciably in granulocytes, erythrocytes, or T lymphocytes, suggesting that lyn gene products function primarily in certain differentiated cells of lymphoid and myeloid lineages.