title: An amino-terminally extended and post-translationally modified form of a 25kD basic fibroblast growth factor.
abstract: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a heparin-binding angiogenic polypeptide mitogen. bFGF proteins characteristically have a molecular weight of 18,000 which is consistent with the predicted primary translation product of 155 amino acids from the cDNA. More recently, higher molecular weight forms of bFGF have been identified but their structural relationship to the commonly known 18kD bFGFs has not been established. We now show that a 25kD bFGF purified from guinea pig brain tissue is an N-terminally extended and post-translationally modified form of the growth factor. Although the exact nature of the post-translational modifications has not been determined, circumstantial evidence suggests that they may be methylated arginines.
authors.affiliation: Synergen, Inc., Boulder, Colorado 80301.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moscatelli
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Rifkin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000378:metabolism; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D008745:Methylation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010920:Placenta / Q000032:analysis; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014357:Trypsin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D001120:Arginine; D014357:Trypsin