P150c-abl is detected in mouse male germ cells by an in vitro kinase assay and is associated with stage-specific phosphoproteins in haploid cells.

We have utilized c-abl antibodies and an in vitro kinase assay to identify the protein products of the c-abl gene in mouse testis. Although the testis contains high levels of a unique c-abl mRNA, along with lower amounts of two c-abl mRNAs common to somatic cells, we detected only a single polypeptide of approximately 150 kd, indistinguishable by our methods from P150c-abl observed in murine tissues and cell lines. P150c-abl was also detected in enriched populations of germ cells, including late stage spermatids which contain the highest levels of the novel c-abl transcript. In mature testis, and specifically in late spermatids, P150c-abl co-precipitated with phosphoproteins of approximately 74 kd which were labeled during the in vitro kinase assay. These proteins were phosphorylated predominantly on serine and their phosphopeptide maps differed from that of P150c-abl. The P74 phosphoproteins were not found in association with P150c-abl in germ cells at earlier developmental stages, nor in other tissues or cell lines examined.