A novel gene (retinovin) expressed selectively in the early stage of chick retinal development

To understand molecular mechanisms of retinal development, genes expressed selectively only in the early stage of retinal development were isolated by subtractive hybridization based on suppression polymerase chain reaction. The retina has no layered structure in 7-day chick embryos, in contrast with the fully developed multilayered structure of neurons in 15-day embryos. The subtraction between cDNA derived from retinal tissues at these different stages, followed by repeat rounds of 5'-RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) and 3'-RACE, led to isolation of a novel gene with an open reading frame encoding a putative protein with 753 amino acids. Its specific expression in the 7-day embryonic retina was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. The gene, named "retinovin," would be used as a marker for identifying retinal stem cells present at the early stage of retinal development.     

Full sequence of neurocalcin, a novel calcium-binding protein abundant in central nervous system.

We determined the cDNA sequence for neurocalcin, a novel calcium-binding protein in bovine brain. This clone (pCalN) has 582 nucleotides in the open reading frame including the termination codon TGA, 11 nucleotides of the 5' leader and 1251 nucleotides of the 3' noncoding region. The deduced amino acid sequence revealed that neurocalcin is composed of 193 amino acids, has a molecular mass of 22,284 daltons, and contains three putative calcium-binding sites (EF-hand motifs). By Northern blot analysis, 3.8kbp mRNA was detected in brain. The deduced amino acid sequence had a strong homology to visinin (46.5%) and recoverin (51.6%) in retina, suggesting that neurocalcin may play a visinin- or recoverin-like role in brain.     

Mouse and human GTPBP2, newly identified members of the GP-1 family of GTPase

We earlier identified the GTPBP1 gene which encodes a putative GTPase structurally related to peptidyl elongation factors. This finding was the result of a search for genes, the expression of which is induced by interferon-gamma in a macrophage cell line, THP-1. In the current study, we probed the expressed sequence tag database with the deduced amino acid sequence of GTPBP1 to search for partial cDNA clones homologous to GTPBP1. We used one of the partial cDNA clones to screen a mouse brain cDNA library and identified a novel gene, mouse GTPBP2, encoding a protein consisting of 582 amino acids and carrying GTP-binding motifs. The deduced amino acid sequence of mouse GTPBP2 revealed 44.2% similarity to mouse GTPBP1. We also cloned a human homologue of this gene from a cDNA library of the human T cell line, Jurkat. GTPBP2 protein was found highly conserved between human and mouse (over 99% identical), thereby suggesting a fundamental role of this molecule across species. On Northern blot analysis of various mouse tissues, GTPBP2 mRNA was detected in brain, thymus, kidney and skeletal muscle, but was scarce in liver. Level of expression of GTPBP2 mRNA was enhanced by interferon-gamma in THP-1 cells, HeLa cells, and thioglycollate-elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages. In addition, we determined the chromosomal localization of GTPBP1 and GTPBP2 genes in human and mouse. The GTPBP1 gene was mapped to mouse chromosome 15, region E3, and human chromosome 22q12-13.1, while the GTPBP2 gene is located in mouse chromosome 17, region C-D, and human chromosome 6p21-12.     

The axonally secreted cell adhesion molecule, axonin-1. Primary structure, immunoglobulin-like and fibronectin-type-III-like domains and glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchorage.

Axonin-1 is an axon-associated cell adhesion molecule (AxCAM) of the chicken, which promotes neurite outgrowth by interaction with the AxCAM L1(G4) of the neuritic membrane. Here we report the cloning and sequence determination of a cDNA encoding axonin-1. Peptides generated by enzymatic cleavage showed similarity to the AxCAM F11. Degenerated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were designed and an axonin-1 fragment was amplified from mRNA of embryonic retina. Screening of a cDNA library from embryonic brain resulted in the isolation of a 4.0-kb cDNA insert with an open reading frame of 3108 nucleotides. The deduced polypeptide of 1036 amino acids includes a putative hydrophobic N-terminal signal sequence of 23 or 25 amino acids and a C-terminal hydrophobic sequence of 29 amino acids which is suggestive of sequences serving as signal for the attachment of a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (glycosyl-PtdIns) anchor. The putative mature form of axonin-1 comprises six immunoglobulin-like repeats, followed by four fibronectin-type III repeats. Axonin-1 exhibits 75% amino acid identity with the AxCAM TAG-1 of the rat, suggesting that it is the chicken homologue of TAG-1. Like TAG-1, axonin-1 is glycosyl-PtdIns-anchored to the neuronal membrane; in contrast to TAG-1, it does not exhibit an Arg-Gly-Asp sequence.