Three macronuclear genes encoding putative nuclear protein kinases of the ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus syngen 1 were isolated and sequenced. All three deduced gene products share significant properties with a group of recently identified nuclear serine/threonine protein kinases named Ndr. The three predicted proteins contain the twelve conserved catalytic subdomains of protein kinases and 22 near universally-conserved amino acids residues that are characteristic of serine/threonine protein kinases. In addition, there is an ∼30 amino acid-peptide insertion between subdomains VII and VIII that contains a potential nuclear localization signal. Sequence analysis suggests that expression of the Eondr2 gene requires a 1 programmed translational frameshift for its translation. Comparison of the deduced EoNdr2 with other known Ndr protein kinases implies that a 1 ribosomal frameshift occurs at the motif AAATAA.