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Sulfogalactolipid binding protein SLIP 1: a conserved function for a conserved protein.

We have studied the species and tissue expression of the 68kD sulfogalactolipid binding protein SLIP 1, originally detected in the male germ cells of the rat (Lingwood: Can. J. Biochem. Cell Biol., 63:1077-1085, 1985). Our results show that SLIP 1 has been highly conserved during evolution and is found in the testes of all vertebrates tested. In studies in the rat, we have found that SLIP 1 is, however, tissue restricted, being found only in the brain (also a major site of sulfogalactolipid biosynthesis) in addition to the testis. SLIP 1 was also detected in mammalian oocytes. The SLIP 1 species detected in brain and oocytes retain the sulfogalactolipid-binding characteristics of rat testicular SLIP 1, indicating that, in addition to immunological features, the glycolipid-binding function of SLIP 1 is conserved in these tissues.

Animals

FGF inactivates myogenic helix-loop-helix proteins through phosphorylation of a conserved protein kinase C site in their DNA-binding domains.

Myogenin belongs to a family of myogenic helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins that activate muscle transcription through binding to a conserved DNA sequence associated with numerous muscle-specific genes. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) inhibits myogenesis by inactivating myogenic HLH proteins. We show that activated protein kinase C (PKC) can substitute for FGF and inhibit transcriptional activity of myogenic HLH proteins. In transfected cells, FGF induces phosphorylation of a conserved site in the DNA-binding domain of myogenin. This site is phosphorylated by PKC in vivo and in vitro and mediates repression of the myogenic program through a loss in DNA binding activity. A myogenin mutant lacking the PKC phosphorylation site is not repressed by FGF, confirming this site as a molecular target for FGF-dependent repression of muscle transcription. These results establish a direct link between the signal transduction pathways that inhibit myogenesis and the transcription factors directly activating muscle-specific genes.

Amino Acid Sequence

The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of the M gene of phocid distemper virus (PDV). The most conserved protein of morbilliviruses shows a uniquely close relationship between PDV and canine distemper virus.

The nucleotide sequence of the matrix gene (M) of a recently identified morbillivirus, phocid distemper virus (PDV), was determined and the amino acid composition deduced. The M gene of PDV shared many characteristics with the corresponding gene in other morbilliviruses. The nucleotide homology with the closely related canine distemper virus (CDV) was maximum at 67% followed by measles virus (MV) (58%) and rinderpest virus (RPV) (56%). The length of the 5' long untranslated region of PDV (408) was similar to that of CDV (406) but was somewhat shorter than that of MV (425) and RPV (437). The deduced matrix protein of PDV showed structural characteristics similar to the corresponding proteins of other morbilliviruses. PDV and CDV M proteins showed a remarkably high amino acid homology of 90%. The percent amino acid homology among other morbilliviruses was between 73-77%. The M protein was the most highly conserved protein among all morbilliviruses viral components.

Amino Acid Sequence

[The evolution of signal receptor proteins: conserved regions and the similarity to GTP-binding proteins].

A sequence comparison of signal receptor proteins (SR) was carried out using computer techniques based on physicochemical characteristics of amino acids. A new method of conserved regions determination for a family of proteins is described. Visual pigments have four, and all SR--three such regions in the cytoplasmic loops. Possible functional significance of these regions is discussed. We also report here that the family of SR is similar with the family of G-proteins involved in extracellular signal transduction. Both families have similar regions consisting of 7-8 amino acids and a number of identical amino acids distributed on the considerable part of the polypeptide chain of the proteins. These facts may indicate that the whole ensemble of the proteins participating in transmembrane signalling pathways (or some part of it) could evolve from a common progenitor. At the same time, similar structure elements of members of the mentioned protein families my be functionally important for protein-protein interaction.

Amino Acid Sequence

Semi-preparative HPLC purification of ribosomal proteins from Bacillus stearothermophilus and sequence determination of the highly conserved protein S19.

Several proteins from the Bacillus stearothermophilus 30S ribosomal subunit which could not be isolated by conventional open-column chromatography were purified by high-performance liquid chromatography using a semi-preparative reverse-phase C4 column. Protein S19 was purified by this technique and the complete amino acid sequence determined. Protein S19 was fragmented and the peptides isolated in picomole quantities were sequenced by an improved manual 4-N,N-dimethylaminoazobenzene-4'-isothiocyanate (DABITC) technique; the presence of five consecutive C-terminal lysines in the S19 sequence was confirmed by gas-phase sequencing and fast-atom-bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. Protein S19 is composed of 91 amino acid residues which correspond to a molecular mass of 10,428 Da. 71% of the B. stearothermophilus S19 sequence was found to be identical with the corresponding ribosomal protein from Escherichia coli [Yaguchi and Wittmann (1978), FEBS Lett. 88, 227] and both sequences can be aligned without gaps. Among the known 26 amino acid sequences of the B. stearothermophilus and E. coli ribosome such a high degree of conservation has only been observed for a few proteins, all of which are known to be involved in the protein biosynthesis process. Although a clear function has not yet been assigned to protein S19, its high sequence conservation in these two eubacteria clearly indicates an important role of this protein for the function of the ribosome.

Amino Acid Sequence

Protein conservation by the immature intestine.

Uptake of intact macromolecules by the immature gut is a well-known phenomenon, but no information exists on the possibility that there is also increased protein loss in the intestinal lumen in preterm infants. We determined alpha-1-antitrypsin (A-1-AT) levels in fecal samples from 39 infants born after 27-41 weeks of gestation from birth up to 30 days of age. A-1-AT levels were elevated only in meconial stools, and low in nonmeconial stools, regardless of associated respiratory disorders, drug administration, and type of nutrition. This study shows that the immature gut has a mature pattern of protein conservation at least as early as after 29 weeks of gestation.

Feces

Failure of nonprotein calories to mediate protein conservation in brain-injured patients.

Nitrogen balance in response to varying caloric intake was studied in 17 non-steroid-treated patients with isolated severe head injury (Glasgow Coma Scores, 4-9). Nitrogen excretion was found to remain relatively stable or to rise in response to protein intake over a wide range of nonprotein calorie intakes. Urine urea nitrogen excretion was not related to caloric intake, but was correlated (p less than 0.04) with nitrogen intake. In this study protein conservation was not achieved by increasing caloric intake up to and beyond two times the basal energy expenditure in the brain-injured patient. In these patients nitrogen balance could only be achieved by nitrogen intakes in excess of the high protein catabolic rate. These findings argue for a central control mechanism for protein catabolism that is independent of the magnitude of peripheral tissue injury.

Adult

Voltage gating of the mitochondrial outer membrane channel VDAC is regulated by a very conserved protein.

Soluble protein preparations obtained from the mitochondrial fractions of three very different organisms, Neurospora crassa, rat, and potato, were discovered to greatly enhance the voltage sensitivity of the mitochondrial outer membrane channel, VDAC. The active ingredient, referred to as the VDAC modulator, increased the rate of voltage-dependent channel closure by approximately 10-fold. The modulator from one species increased the closing rate of VDAC channels from all three species. The activity is pronase sensitive and not mimicked by another negatively charged protein, BSA. The highly conserved property of this modulator suggests an important physiological role in regulating mitochondrial function.

Animals

Primary structure of human nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle C proteins: conservation of sequence and domain structures in heterogeneous nuclear RNA, mRNA, and pre-rRNA-binding proteins.

In the eucaryotic nucleus, heterogeneous nuclear RNAs exist in a complex with a specific set of proteins to form heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (hnRNPs). The C proteins, C1 and C2, are major constituents of hnRNPs and appear to play a role in RNA splicing as suggested by antibody inhibition and immunodepletion experiments. With the use of a previously described partial cDNA clone as a hybridization probe, full-length cDNAs for the human C proteins were isolated. All of the cDNAs isolated hybridized to two poly(A)+ RNAs of 1.9 and 1.4 kilobases (kb). DNA sequencing of a cDNA clone for the 1.9-kb mRNA (pHC12) revealed a single open reading frame of 290 amino acids coding for a protein of 31,931 daltons and two polyadenylation signals, AAUAAA, approximately 400 base pairs apart in the 3' untranslated region of the mRNA. DNA sequencing of a clone corresponding to the 1.4-kb mRNA (pHC5) indicated that the sequence of this mRNA is identical to that of the 1.9-kb mRNA up to the first polyadenylation signal which it uses. Both mRNAs therefore have the same coding capacity and are probably transcribed from a single gene. Translation in vitro of the 1.9-kb mRNA selected by hybridization with a 3'-end subfragment of pHC12 demonstrated that it by itself can direct the synthesis of both C1 and C2. The difference between the C1 and C2 proteins which results in their electrophoretic separation is not known, but most likely one of them is generated from the other posttranslationally. Since several hnRNP proteins appeared by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as multiple antigenically related polypeptides, this raises the possibility that some of these other groups of hnRNP proteins are also each produced from a single mRNA. The predicted amino acid sequence of the protein indicates that it is composed of two distinct domains: an amino terminus that contains what we have recently described as a RNP consensus sequence, which is the putative RNA-binding site, and a carboxy terminus that is very negatively charged, contains no aromatic amino acids or prolines, and contains a putative nucleoside triphosphate-binding fold, as well as a phosphorylation site for casein kinase type II. The RNP consensus sequence was also found in the yeast poly(A)-binding protein (PABP), the heterogeneous nuclear RNA-binding proteins A1 and A2, and the pre-rRNA binding protein C23. All of these proteins are also composed of at least two distinct domains: an amino terminus, which possesses one or more RNP consensus sequences, and a carboxy terminus, which is unique to each protein, being very acidic in the C proteins and rich in glycine in A1, and C23 and rich in proline in the poly(A)-binding protein. These findings suggest that the amino terminus of these proteins possesses a highly conserved RNA-binding domain, whereas the carboxy terminus contains a region essential to the unique function and interactions of each of the RNA-binding proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence

Hsp104 is a highly conserved protein with two essential nucleotide-binding sites.

Most eukaryotic cells produce proteins with relative molecular masses in the range of 100,000 to 110,000 after exposure to high temperatures. These proteins have been studied only in yeast and mammalian cells. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, heat-shock protein hsp104 is vital for tolerance to heat, ethanol and other stresses. The mammalian hsp110 protein is nucleolar and redistributes with growth state, nutritional conditions and heat shock. The relationships between hsp110, hsp104 and the high molecular mass heat-shock proteins of other organisms were unknown. We report here that hsp104 is a member of the highly conserved ClpA/ClpB protein family first identified in Escherichia coli and that additional heat-inducible members of this family are present in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and in mammals. Mutagenesis of two putative nucleotide-binding sites in hsp104 indicates that both are essential for function in thermotolerance.

Amino Acid Sequence

Hydrophobic zippers and hook-and-eye: evolutionarily conserved protein sequence motifs in eukaryotic acidic ribosomal proteins which are assumed to be involved in the association of the protein family.

The acidic ribosomal protein family of eukaryotic cells is thought to form a complex on ribosomes mainly by hydrophobic forces. To investigate the structural basis of how they associate with one another, the primary sequences of the related proteins accumulated from various organisms were analyzed searching for evolutionarily conserved hydrophobic motifs. Initially it is shown that all the P1-type 13-kDa proteins contain a bilateral hydrophobic zipper on a putative alpha-helix, which consists of two periodic arrays of hydrophobic amino acid residues arranged on the opposite sides of an alpha-helix. The P2-type 13-kDa proteins, except for those from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are shown to contain two kinds of hydrophobic areas on putative alpha-helices, which can sterically bind to each other in a hook-and-eye fashion. On the other hand, the 38-kDa proteins contain a hydrophobic zipper and a hydrophobic hook in different helical regions. Thus, it is proposed that the 13-kDa proteins associate with the 38-kDa proteins via the hydrophobic zipper or hydrophobic hook-and-eye, and associate with one another with these hydrophobic elements.

Amino Acid Sequence

An evolutionarily conserved protein fraction stably linked to DNA.

Chromatins from four evolutionarily remote species (insect, fish, amphibian and bird) were isolated, high-salt-extracted and extensively deproteinized to remove noncovalently associated proteins. A protein fraction resisting the extraction procedures was found firmly linked to DNA in all four chromatins. Two-dimensional tryptic peptide mapping revealed a remarkable evolutionary conservativeness of this protein component, suggesting an indispensable function for it in the nucleus.

Animals

Conserved protein folds underpin the diversification of secreted proteins in a fungal pathogen.

BACKGROUND: During host colonization, fungal plant pathogens secrete effector-like proteins that alter host cell physiology and target plant-associated microbes. However, rapid evolution and low sequence conservation hinder the study and characterization of these proteins. The fungus Zymoseptoria passerinii infects Hordeum spp. and includes lineages adapted to wild and domesticated barley. To date, the evolution of effector-like proteins in this species has not been addressed. RESULTS: We combined multiple structure-based and network analyses to unravel the secretome of Z. passerinii. We first compared AlphaFold2 and ESMFold predictions to establish the baseline for structural analyses. We identified 72 structural clusters in the secretome, revealing fold-level relationships across divergent sequences. We showed that effector-like proteins with predicted host immune-interfering functions evolved from a limited group of protein folds, whereas proteins with predicted antimicrobial properties were distributed across fold groups. Physicochemical comparisons indicate that putative antimicrobial effectors predominantly emerged through amino acid replacements on common effector-enriched scaffolds in Z. passerinii, reconfiguring surface charge and electrostatics. We analyzed intra- and interspecific variation in selected effector-enriched families by comparing Z. passerinii proteins and homologs across the genus Zymoseptoria. We describe constrained core folds, with local variation in loop and surface-exposed regions, consistent with fold stability while still enabling protein diversification. We further report that putative antimicrobial effector homologs are broadly distributed across the genus despite sequence divergence. CONCLUSIONS: The secretome of Z. passerinii is organized around common structural folds that support diverse biological roles, including host manipulation and host-associated microbial interactions. Conserved scaffolds combined with surface and physicochemical variation likely contribute to rapid adaptive evolution of effector-like proteins in Z. passerinii.

Fungal Proteins

Folding of homologous proteins: conservation of the folding mechanism of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase from Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and five interspecies hybrids.

The equilibrium and kinetic properties for the urea-induced unfolding of the alpha subunit of tryptophan synthase from Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and five interspecies hybrids were compared to determine the role of protein folding in evolution. The parent proteins differ at 40 positions in the sequence of 268 amino acids, and the hybrids differ by up to 15 amino acids from the Escherichia coli alpha subunit. The results show that all the proteins follow the same folding mechanism and are consistent with a previously proposed hypothesis [Hollecker, M., & Creighton, T. E. (1983) J. Mol. Biol. 168, 409; Krebs, H., Schmid, F. X., & Jaenicke, R. (1983) J. Mol. Biol. 169, 619] that the folding mechanisms are conserved in homologous proteins. Analysis of the kinetic data suggests that the 15 positions at which the parent proteins differ in the amino folding unit, residues 1-188, do not play a role in a rate-limiting step in folding that has been previously identified as the association of the amino and carboxyl folding units [Beasty, A. M., Hurle, M. R., Manz, J. T., Stackhouse, T. S., Onuffer, J. J., & Matthews, C. R. (1986) Biochemistry 25, 2965]. One or more of the 25 positions at which the parent proteins differ in the carboxyl folding unit, residues 189-268, do appear to play a role in this same rate-limiting step.

Amino Acid Sequence

The novel pituitary polypeptide 7B2 is a highly-conserved protein coexpressed with proopiomelanocortin.

In the amphibian intermediate pituitary gland the biosynthetic activity for production of the precursor protein proopiomelanocortin (POMC) can be physiologically manipulated; POMC synthesis is high in animals adapted to a black background and low in white-adapted animals. In order to study genes associated with POMC gene expression we applied a differential hybridization technique involving screening of a pituitary cDNA library with probes derived from RNA of inactive and physiologically activated intermediate pituitary cells of the amphibian Xenopus laevis. A differentially hybridizing Xenopus pituitary cDNA clone encoded the novel polypeptide 7B2. This Mr-21,000 secretory granule-associated protein of unknown function is shown to be highly conserved between Xenopus and human (83% amino acid sequence similarity). Conserved segments within the 7B2 structure included the N-terminal portion, three pairs of basic amino acids which are potential recognition sites for proteolytic enzymes, and three regions sharing similarity with putative GTP-binding domains. Levels of 7B2 mRNA were about 3% of POMC mRNA levels in Xenopus pituitary glands. In the intermediate pituitary the amount of both POMC and 7B2 mRNA was much higher in black-adapted toads than in white-adapted animals. These physiologically-induced changes in POMC and 7B2 mRNA levels were not found in the anterior pituitary. We conclude that the POMC and 7B2 genes are coexpressed and that modulation of the activity of these genes is tissue-specific.

Amino Acid Sequence

Sequence of a cDNA encoding the bi-specific NAD(P)H-nitrate reductase from the tree Betula pendula and identification of conserved protein regions.

Nitrate reductase (NR) assays revealed a bispecific NAD(P)H-NR (EC 1.6.6.2.) to be the only nitrate-reducing enzyme in leaves of hydroponically grown birches. To obtain the primary structure of the NAD(P)H-NR, leaf poly(A)+ mRNA was used to construct a cDNA library in the lambda gt11 phage. Recombinant clones were screened with heterologous gene probes encoding NADH-NR from tobacco and squash. A 3.0 kb cDNA was isolated which hybridized to a 3.2 kb mRNA whose level was significantly higher in plants grown on nitrate than in those grown on ammonia. The nucleotide sequence of the cDNA comprises a reading frame encoding a protein of 898 amino acids which reveals 67%-77% identity with NADH-nitrate reductase sequences from higher plants. To identify conserved and variable regions of the multicentre electron-transfer protein a graphical evaluation of identities found in NR sequence alignments was carried out. Thirteen well-conserved sections exceeding a size of 10 amino acids were found in higher plant nitrate reductases. Sequence comparisons with related redox proteins indicate that about half of the conserved NR regions are involved in cofactor binding. The most striking difference in the birch NAD(P)H-NR sequence in comparison to NADH-NR sequences was found at the putative pyridine nucleotide binding site. Southern analysis indicates that the bi-specific NR is encoded by a single copy gene in birch.

Amino Acid Sequence

Variants within the yeast Ty sequence family encode a class of structurally conserved proteins.

The Ty transposable elements of Saccharomyces cerevisiae form a heterogeneous family within which two broad structural classes (I and II) exist. The two classes differ by two large substitutions and many restriction sites. We show that, like class I elements a class II element, Tyl-17, also appears to contain at least two major protein coding regions, designated TYA and TYB, and the organisational relationship of these regions has been conserved. The TYA genes of both classes encode proteins, designated p1 proteins, with an approximate molecular weight of 50 Kd and, despite considerable variation between the TYA regions at the DNA level, the structures of these proteins are remarkably similar. These observations strongly suggest that the p1 proteins of Ty elements are functionally significant and that they have been subject to selection.

Amino Acid Sequence