title: Molecular cloning and characterization of a human carboxylesterase gene.
abstract: A cDNA encoding human liver carboxylesterase and its gene were isolated. Nucleotide sequence analyses of the cDNA revealed that the predicted enzyme protein consists of 567 amino acids, including 18 amino acids of a putative signal peptide. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of this enzyme with those of seven other carboxylesterases in various mammalian species, together with experimental data from several other laboratories, showed that these enzymes can be classified into three groups depending on the sequences at their carboxyl terminals and the presence or absence of one exon. A human carboxylesterase gene was found to span approximately 30 kb and to have 14 small exons. Alignments of this gene with those of human cholinesterase and rat cholesterol esterase indicated insertional sites at some introns and homologous amino acid sequences around them, although these genes have different numbers of exons. Thus the results supported the conclusion that these esterases evolved from a common ancestral gene.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University, Japan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Omura
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D043182:Carboxylesterase; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D002802:Cholinesterases / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D008049:Lipase / Q000235:genetics; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D012326:RNA Splicing; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013954:Thyroglobulin / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D013954:Thyroglobulin; D002265:Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; D043182:Carboxylesterase; D008049:Lipase; D002802:Cholinesterases