The product of unr, the highly conserved gene upstream of N-ras, contains multiple repeats similar to the cold-shock domain (CSD), a putative DNA-binding motif.
We show that the open reading frame transcribed from the unr gene (immediately upstream of N-ras) in mammals consists of multiple repeats similar to the cold-shock domain (CSD), a putative DNA-binding motif found in prokaryotic cold-shock proteins, and eukaryotic DNA-binding proteins. Alignment of the CSD sequences of unr with those from other proteins reveals a core of similarity for which a consistent secondary structure prediction can be derived. This prediction suggests that the CSD consists primarily of beta-sheet, in contrast to most known eukaryotic DNA-binding proteins. Sequence analysis of the 3' end of the guinea pig unr gene shows that the core of one CSD repeat is encoded in a single exon, consistent with the modular assembly of the gene from ancestral CSD-coding units.
Doniger
J
J
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007.
Landsman
D
D
Gonda
M A
MA
Wistow
G
G
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011905:Genes, ras; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D004247:DNA