title: Sequence and structural relationships in the cytokine family.
abstract: The sequences of nine different cytokines, growth hormone, and prolactin have been aligned and their secondary structure predicted. The alignment reveals that each exon has a characteristic sequence pattern shared by all cytokines. The most striking sequence similarity is observed in exon 4, where the residue pair Phe-Leu is conserved in many cytokines. In addition, there are discreet homologous regions between two specific growth factors, including a high degree of homology between granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin 3 (IL-3). The secondary structure analysis predicts that exon 3 of all cytokines has an antiparallel helix-turn-helix motif, which is likely to form the central helical segments of a four alpha-helical bundle-type structure. Based on the secondary structure and the disulfide-bonding pattern, the topological connectivity for a number of cytokines has been predicted.
authors.affiliation: Genzyme Corporation, Framingham, Massachusetts 01901.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manavalan
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Swope
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Withy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007378:Interleukins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D007378:Interleukins; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor