title: Direct evidence for methylation of arginine residues in high molecular weight forms of basic fibroblast growth factor.
abstract: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a heparin-binding angiogenic polypeptide mitogen. Protein sequence analysis of bFGF isolated from tissue sources initially established that it is composed of 146 amino acids (apparent Mr 18,000). More recently larger apparent molecular weight forms have been identified and partially characterized. In addition, these high molecular weight forms (apparent Mr 22,000 and 25,000) have been shown to localize preferentially to nuclear fractions of transfected cells. In this report we demonstrate that the higher molecular weight, amino terminally extended forms of bFGF contain methylated arginine residues. The demonstration is based on 1) amino acid sequence analysis of a protein known to contain methylated arginine (myelin basic protein) and a comparison with amino acid sequence analysis of trypsin-derived fragments of the high molecular weight bFGF purified from guinea pig brain and 2) the ability to label in vivo the high molecular weight forms of bFGF with S-adenosyl-L-(methyl-3H)-methionine, the substrate of arginine-protein methylase I. These results are suggestive of a role of arginine methylation in directing nuclear localization of certain forms of bFGF.
authors.affiliation: Jerome H. Holland Laboratory for the Biomedical Sciences, American Red Cross Blood Services, Rockville, Maryland 20855.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bizik
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mehlman
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Quarto
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Rifkin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000737:chemistry*; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000737:chemistry*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008745:Methylation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000737:chemistry; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D001120:Arginine