title: Signature sequences for the galectin-4 subfamily.
abstract: Galectins are a distinct family of animal lectins that have a cation-independent affinity for beta-galactoside sugars and share characteristic amino acid sequences. The cDNA encoding rabbit bladder galectin-4 has been cloned and sequenced (GenBank accession no. AF091738). The deduced 328 amino acid sequence predicts a multidomain structure consisting of an N-terminal peptide (19 residues) and two carbohydrate recognition domains (130 residues each) connected by a linker region (49 residues). Comparison of rabbit galectin-4 with related proteins reveals that two peptide motifs, M-A-F/Y-V-P-A-P-G-Y-Q-P-T-Y-N-P-T-L-P-Y in the N terminus and A-F-H-F-N-P-R-F-D-G-W-D-K-V-V-F in the first carbohydrate recognition domain are highly conserved in human, pig, rat, and mouse galectin-4 as well as in mouse galectin-6. The two peptide motifs are proposed here as the signature sequences to identify new members of the galectin-4 subfamily.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey 17033, USA. weipingj@rndsystems.com
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puch
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bhavanandan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004848:Epithelium / Q000737:chemistry; D037541:Galectin 4; D006388:Hemagglutinins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013552:Swine; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D037541:Galectin 4; D006388:Hemagglutinins