title: Purification, characterization and cloning of tensilin, the collagen-fibril binding and tissue-stiffening factor from Cucumaria frondosa dermis.
abstract: The inner dermis of the sea cucumber, Cucumaria frondosa, is a mutable collagenous tissue characterized by rapid and reversible changes in its mechanical properties regulated by one or more protein effectors that are released from neurosecretory cells. One such effector, tensilin, is a collagen-fibril binding protein, named for its ability to induce dermis stiffening. Tensilin was purified using an affinity column constructed from C. frondosa collagen-fibrils. The protein migrates as a single band on SDS-PAGE (Mr approximately 33 kDa) and has an isoelectric point of 5.8. Equilibrium sedimentation experiments suggest a molecular mass of approximately 28.5-29.4 kDa. Carbohydrate analysis of tensilin revealed no measurable sugar content. The molar amount of tensilin was determined to be 0.38% that of collagen and 47% that of stiparin, a constitutive matrix glycoprotein. A full-length cDNA clone for tensilin was obtained from a C. frondosa inner dermis cDNA expression library. Predicted properties derived from the deduced peptide sequence were in agreement with those of the native protein. A noted feature of tensilin's deduced peptide sequence, particularly in its N-terminal domain, is its homology to tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases. Tensilin's C-terminal tail has no known homology to other proteins but contains a putative collagen-fibril binding site.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, BMSB/155, Camino de Salud, Albuquerque 87131, USA. jtipper@salud.unm.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tipper
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lyons-Levy
authors.forename: Mark A L
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Trotter
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020405:Dermis / Q000378:metabolism*; D024022:Fibrillar Collagens / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012616:Sea Cucumbers / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D024022:Fibrillar Collagens; C475951:tensilin protein, Cucumaria frondosa