title: Identification of a new murine eosinophil major basic protein (mMBP) gene: cloning and characterization of mMBP-2.
abstract: We have identified a new eosinophil major basic protein gene family member in the mouse and have given it the designation murine major basic protein-2 (mMBP-2). The gene was initially characterized as a unique expressed sequence tag (EST) clone having significant identity to the previously recognized member of this gene family, mMBP-1. The EST was used to screen and isolate mMBP-2 from a bone marrow cDNA library. In addition, a genomic clone of mMBP-2 was isolated and this gene was shown to be physically linked to within 100 kb of mMBP-1 on the central region of mouse chromosome 2. Progressive similarity alignment of the deduced mMBP-2 open reading frame demonstrates the apparent conservation of the "pre-pro-mature" protein structure found in the other known mammalian MBPs. Mature mMBP-2 maintains the cationic nature associated with these proteins with a predicted pI of 9.95. However, unlike the human MBPs, which display a three orders of magnitude charge difference [hMBP-1 (pI 11.4) vs. hMBP-2 (pI 8.7)], mMBP-2 is only slightly less cationic than mMBP-1 (pI 10.5). Expression studies demonstrate that transcription of the mMBP-2 gene parallels mMBP-1 and is confined to hematopoietic compartments engaged in eosinophilopoiesis. Moreover, using mMBP-1 knockout mice and immunohistochemistry with an antisera that recognizes both mMBP-1 and -2, we demonstrate that mMBP-2 protein expression is restricted to eosinophil lineage-committed cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Macias
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Denzler
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D047091:Eosinophil Granule Proteins; D047093:Eosinophil Major Basic Protein; D004804:Eosinophils; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012260:Ribonucleases; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017421:Sequence Analysis
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D047091:Eosinophil Granule Proteins; C479219:Prg3 protein, mouse; D012260:Ribonucleases; D047093:Eosinophil Major Basic Protein