Abstract of related literatures |
1. The murine alpha 1-protease inhibitors (alpha 1-PI) are encoded by a small gene family on chromosome 12. Studies of alpha 1-PI and other serine protease inhibitor genes have revealed an unusually high rate of mutation of the reactive centers of the inhibitors. Using a modification of the PCR technique, we have previously identified five distinct alpha 1 PI reactive site sequences present in the genome of C57BL/6 mice. In this report, we use cDNA cloning techniques to demonstrate that all five genes are expressed in the adult mouse liver. DNA sequence analysis shows that three of the five mRNAs expressed have a substitution for methionine-353, which is essential for normal activity of the homologous human protein, alpha 1-antitrypsin (alpha 1-AT). Comparison of the DNA sequences of the five cDNAs indicates a higher degree of polymorphism in the carboxyl-terminal half of the protein and an extraordinarily replacement/silent ratio of nucleotide changes in a narrow region surrounding the reactive site. The clustering of polymorphisms near the reactive site combined with the high replacement/silent ratio suggest an evolutionary mechanism that apparently selects for functional diversity of the alpha 1-PI genes. Finally, modeling of the three-dimensional positions of the alpha 1-PI polymorphic residues into the homologous positions of the crystallographic structure of ovalbumin, a member of the alpha 1-PI supergene family, predicts that many of these amino acids are on the surfaces, which are likely to interact with the protease targets. PMID: [1946354]
2. The National Institutes of Health's Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) project was designed to generate and sequence a publicly accessible cDNA resource containing a complete open reading frame (ORF) for every human and mouse gene. The project initially used a random strategy to select clones from a large number of cDNA libraries from diverse tissues. Candidate clones were chosen based on 5'-EST sequences, and then fully sequenced to high accuracy and analyzed by algorithms developed for this project. Currently, more than 11,000 human and 10,000 mouse genes are represented in MGC by at least one clone with a full ORF. The random selection approach is now reaching a saturation point, and a transition to protocols targeted at the missing transcripts is now required to complete the mouse and human collections. Comparison of the sequence of the MGC clones to reference genome sequences reveals that most cDNA clones are of very high sequence quality, although it is likely that some cDNAs may carry missense variants as a consequence of experimental artifact, such as PCR, cloning, or reverse transcriptase errors. Recently, a rat cDNA component was added to the project, and ongoing frog (Xenopus) and zebrafish (Danio) cDNA projects were expanded to take advantage of the high-throughput MGC pipeline. PMID: [15489334]
3. The plasma protease inhibitors control a wide variety of physiological functions including blood coagulation, complement activation and aspects of the inflammatory response. The inhibitors function by forming a 1:1 complex with a specific protease within the reactive centre region of the inhibitor. Little is known about the evolutionary relationships of these inhibitors. We report here the sequences of cDNAs which represent the C-terminal halves of the two major murine plasma protease inhibitors. One of these, murine alpha 1-antitrypsin, more appropriately called alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor (alpha 1-PI), has diverged from its human counterpart at a vital position in the reactive centre but this has not led to a physiologically significant change in function. Also, we have determined the partial sequence of a recently characterized protein termed contrapsin, which inhibits trypsin-like proteases. We show, surprisingly, that contrapsin is highly homologous to human alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, an inhibitor of chymotrypsin-like proteases. The reactive centre regions of these two inhibitors have diverged considerably, which may account for the differences in specificity. We propose that the genes for contrapsin and human alpha 1-antichymotrypsin are the descendents of a single gene that have evolved since rodent and primate divergence to encode proteins with different functions. PMID: [6547997]
4. The Mus musculus alpha 1-protease inhibitor gene cluster encodes five highly related proteins. The most significant amino acid polymorphisms lie within the reactive-site loop which is important in determining serpin substrate specificity. All five genes are transcribed in M. musculus adult liver and presumably secreted into plasma. In an attempt to characterize their protein products all five cDNAs were expressed in recombinant mammalian cells and the protease inhibition activity of each determined. Only two of the proteins were efficient inhibitors of neutrophil elastase, the major physiological target of the sole human alpha 1-protease inhibitor (antitrypsin). Four of the proteins were active against chymotrypsin, while no substrate could be identified for the fifth. PMID: [8619829]
5. Alpha(1)-proteinase inhibitor (alpha(1)-PI) is a member of the serpin superfamily of serine proteinase inhibitors that are involved in the regulation of a number of proteolytic processes. Alpha(1)-PI, like most serpins, functions by covalent binding to, and inhibition of, target proteinases. The interaction between alpha(1)-PI and its target is directed by the so-called reactive center loop (RCL), an approximately 20 residue domain that extends out from the body of the alpha(1)-PI polypeptide and determines the inhibitor's specificity. Mice express at least seven closely related alpha(1)-PI isoforms, encoded by a family of genes clustered at the Spi1 locus on chromosome 12. The amino acid sequence of the RCL region is hypervariable among alpha(1)-PIs, a phenomenon that has been attributed to high rates of evolution driven by positive Darwinian selection. This suggests that the various isoforms are functionally diverse. To test this notion, we have compared the proteinase specificities of individual alpha(1)-PIs from each of the two mouse species. As predicted from the positive Darwinian selection hypothesis, the various alpha(1)-PIs differ in their ability to form covalent complexes with serine proteinases, such as elastase, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and cathepsin G. In addition, they differ in their binding ability to proteinases in crude snake venoms. Importantly, the RCL region of the alpha(1)-PI polypeptide is the primary determinant of isoform-specific differences in proteinase recognition, indicating that hypervariability within this region drives the functional diversification of alpha(1)-PIs during evolution. The possible physiological benefits of alpha(1)-PI diversity are discussed. PMID: [11961105]
6. The major human plasma protease inhibitors, alpha(1)-antitrypsin and alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin, are each encoded by a single gene, whereas in the mouse they are represented by clusters of 5 and 14 genes, respectively. Although there is a high degree of overall sequence similarity within these groupings, the reactive-center loop (RCL) domain, which determines target protease specificity, is markedly divergent. The literature dealing with members of these mouse serine protease inhibitor (serpin) clusters has been complicated by inconsistent nomenclature. Furthermore, some investigators, unaware of the complexity of the family, have failed to distinguish between closely related genes when measuring expression levels or functional activity. We have reviewed the literature dealing with the mouse equivalents of human alpha(1)-antitrypsin and alpha(1)-antichymotrypsin and made use of the recently completed mouse genome sequence to propose a systematic nomenclature. We have also examined the extended mouse clade "a" serpin cluster at chromosome 12F1 and compared it with the syntenic region at human chromosome 14q32. In summarizing the literature and suggesting a standardized nomenclature, we aim to provide a logical structure on which future research may be based. PMID: [12659817]
7. A procedure to map N-glycosylation sites is presented here. It can be applied to purified proteins as well as to highly complex mixtures. The method exploits deglycosylation by PNGase F in a diagonal, reverse-phase chromatographic setup. When applied to 10 microL of mouse serum, affinity-depleted for its three most abundant components, 117 known or predicted sites were mapped in addition to 10 novel sites. Several sites were detected on soluble membrane or receptor components. Our method furthermore senses the nature of glycan structures and can detect differential glycosylation on a given site. These properties--high sensitivity and dependence on glycan imprinting--can be exploited for glycan-biomarker analysis. PMID: [16944957]
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