1. Molecular cloning and expression study of Xenopus latent TGF-β binding protein-1 (LTBP-1)
- Author
-
Natalina Quarto
- Subjects
DNA, Complementary ,Embryo, Nonmammalian ,Xenopus ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Embryonic Development ,Xenopus Proteins ,Biology ,Complementary DNA ,Genetics ,Animals ,Amino Acid Sequence ,RNA, Messenger ,Cloning, Molecular ,In Situ Hybridization ,Messenger RNA ,Base Sequence ,Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ,cDNA library ,Binding protein ,Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Open reading frame ,Latent TGF-beta Binding Proteins ,Neurula ,Carrier Proteins ,Sequence Alignment ,Transforming growth factor - Abstract
Latent transforming growth factor β binding protein-1 (LTBP-1) is important in regulating the localization and activation of transforming growth factor β. In this paper is reported the isolation of the full-length Xenopus LTBP-1 cDNA from screening a neurula embryo cDNA library. Sequence analysis of XLTBP-1 cDNA revealed an open reading frame of 4518 bp encoding a 1398 amino acid protein with a molecular mass of 154.1 kDa and an isoelectric point of 4.65. The Xenopus XLTBP-1 shares 61 and 65% amino acid identity with the mouse and human LTBP-1, respectively. It contains 17 epidermal growth factor-like motifs and four eight-cysteine repeats (8-Cys). RNase protection assay revealed that XLTBP-1 is a maternal and zygotic gene, while whole-mount in situ hybridization analysis performed on embryos at different stages showed that during early Xenopus development, XLTBP-1 mRNA is expressed in the Spemann organizer, prechordal and chordal mesoderm, and later on in the organizer derived tissues. These findings suggest an important role for XLTBP-1 in embryo axis formation.
- Published
- 2002