title: Molecular cloning of a candidate chicken prion protein.
abstract: Fractions enriched for acetylcholine receptor-inducing activity from chicken brain were found to contain a protein that was approximately 30% homologous with mammalian prion proteins [Harris, D. A., Falls, D. L., Johnson, F. A. & Fischbach, G. D. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7664-7668]. To extend these observations, we recovered genomic clones encoding a putative chicken prion protein (PrP). Like mammalian PrP molecules, the candidate chicken PrP is encoded by a single-copy gene and the entire open reading frame is found within a single exon. All of the structural features of mammalian PrP were found in the chicken protein. When the N-terminal repeats of PrP were not considered, the chicken and mammalian proteins were approximately 55% homologous, allowing for conservative substitutions. Screening of a chicken genomic DNA library failed to identify a more closely related chicken PrP homologue. These findings argue that the protein which purifies with acetylcholine receptor-inducing activity is chicken PrP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oesch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kretzschmar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Prusiner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular / Q000379:methods; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015698:Genomic Library; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011328:Prions; D004247:DNA