title: Cloning of the cDNA and gene for mouse mast cell protease 4. Demonstration of its late transcription in mast cell subclasses and analysis of its homology to subclass-specific neutral proteases of the mouse and rat.
abstract: Based on the amino-terminal amino acid sequence of the mature form of mouse mast cell protease 4 (MMCP-4), previously identified in peritoneal connective tissue mast cells (CTMC) and Kirsten sarcoma virus-immortalized mast cells (KiSV-MC), a 26-mer oligonucleotide probe was constructed and used to clone cDNAs for MMCP-4 from a KiSV-MC1 cDNA library. MMCP-4 is the first secretory granule serine protease of CTMC to be molecularly cloned. Using a cDNA probe derived from the 3'-untranslated portion of the MMCP-4 cDNA, the gene for MMCP-4 and a second highly related gene (mouse mast cell protease-like, MMCP-L) were cloned from a BALB/c mouse genomic DNA library and sequenced entirely, including approximately 2 kilobases of the 5'-flanking region. MMCP-4 and MMCP-L have five exons of identical length, four introns of nearly identical length, and approximately 900 base pairs of 5'-flanking DNA with sequence similarity by dot matrix analysis. By RNA blot analysis with gene-specific probes for MMCP-4 (bases 497-633 of the cDNA) and MMCP-L (bases 502-638 of the cDNA), mRNA for MMCP-4 was present in KiSV-MC5, CTMC, and the intestine of a mouse infected with the parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis markedly enriched for mucosal mast cells (MMC); MMCP-L mRNA was detected only in the intestine of the N. brasiliensis-infected mouse. MMCP-4 mRNA was not expressed in normal mouse intestine or in interleukin 3-dependent bone marrow-derived mast cells, which can serve as precursors to both MMC and CTMC. This finding suggests that MMCP-4 is transcribed relatively late in the development of both the CTMC and MMC subclasses and underscores the fact that mouse bone-marrow-derived mast cells are immature mast cells, rather than tissue culture equivalents of the MMC subclass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Serafin
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Conder
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marcham
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Austen
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Reynolds
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000201:enzymology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D004247:DNA; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C066932:mast cell protease 4; C066933:mast cell protease-like