title: Expression pattern and gene characterization of asporin. a newly discovered member of the leucine-rich repeat protein family.
abstract: We have discovered a new member of the class I small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan (SLRP) family which is distinct from the other class I SLRPs since it possesses a unique stretch of aspartate residues at its N terminus. For this reason, we called the molecule asporin. The deduced amino acid sequence is about 50% identical (and 70% similar) to decorin and biglycan. However, asporin does not contain a serine/glycine dipeptide sequence required for the assembly of O-linked glycosaminoglycans and is probably not a proteoglycan. The tissue expression of asporin partially overlaps with the expression of decorin and biglycan. During mouse embryonic development, asporin mRNA expression was detected primarily in the skeleton and other specialized connective tissues; very little asporin message was detected in the major parenchymal organs. The mouse asporin gene structure is similar to that of biglycan and decorin with 8 exons. The asporin gene is localized to human chromosome 9q22-9q21.3 where asporin is part of a SLRP gene cluster that includes extracellular matrix protein 2, osteoadherin, and osteoglycin. Further analysis shows that, with the exception of biglycan, all known SLRP genes reside in three gene clusters.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takanosu
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Mayne
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eberspaecher
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de Crombrugghe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hook
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayne
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D015870:Gene Expression; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007930:Leucine / Q000737:chemistry*; D000090263:Leucine-Rich Repeat Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: C439889:ASPN protein, human; C511592:Aspn protein, mouse; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D000090263:Leucine-Rich Repeat Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D007930:Leucine