Rat Brain Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase Sequence Deduced from a Cloned cDNA

A cDNA clone complementary to the rat brain glutamic acid decarboxylase mRNA was isolated from a rat brain cDNA expression library using an antibody specific to the enzyme. The cDNA insert has been shown to direct the synthesis of an active protein in Escherichia coli. In this study, the nucleotide sequence of this clone, which includes the complete coding region, is presented. The predicted protein is 593 amino acids in length. The first 557 residues display a 95% identity when compared with the corresponding cat sequence. However, the deduced amino acid sequence of the carboxy-terminal end of the rat protein, downstream of residue 557, is totally different from the cat, whereas it agrees with a published partial peptidic sequence of the rat protein.