title: Molecular cloning of chick UCH-6 which shares high similarity with human UCH-L3: its unusual substrate specificity and tissue distribution.
abstract: A full-length cDNA encoding ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-6 (UCH-6) was isolated from the chick skeletal muscle cDNA library. The sequence of two peptides generated from purified UCH-6 matched perfectly with the predicted amino acid sequence. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the cDNA containing an open reading frame of 690 base pairs revealed that the protease consists of 230 residues with a calculated molecular mass of 26,315 Da. UCH-6 belonged to members of the UCH family containing highly conserved Cys, His, and Asp domains and showed 86% amino acid identity to human UCH-L3. Interestingly, most tissues examined contained significant amounts of UCH-6 mRNA, while human UCH-L3 is expressed only in the brain, lungs, and red cells. Moreover, UCH-6, unlike other UCH family enzymes including UCH-L3, could release free ubiquitin from ubiquitin-beta-galactosidase fusion proteins both in vivo and in vitro. The ubiquitous expression pattern and unusual substrate specificity of UCH-6 suggest that the enzyme may represent a distinct subfamily of UCH-L3.
authors.affiliation: College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000201:enzymology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013869:Thiolester Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D013869:Thiolester Hydrolases; D001616:beta-Galactosidase; D043222:Ubiquitin Thiolesterase