title: Presence of a cytoplasmic retention sequence within the human interleukin-1alpha precursor.
abstract: Interleukin (IL)-1alpha is primarily translated as a 33 kDa molecule (IL-1alpha1-271), and then processed into a 17 kDa molecule (IL-1alpha119-271) by calpain. The precursor region of IL-1alpha (IL-1 alpha1-118) contains a nuclear localization signal (KVLKKRRL, residues 79-86). We investigated the intracellular localization of IL-1alpha fused with green fluorescent protein or beta-galactosidase. IL-1alpha1-118 was localized exclusively in the nucleus, but IL-1 alpha1-271 in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm, suggesting the presence of a cytoplasmic retention signal within the mature region of IL-1alpha. Furthermore, the intracellular localization of IL-1alpha with deletions from the C terminus, internal deletions and point mutations suggested that the cytoplasmic retention signal is located within residues 168-201.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomolecular Science, Faculty of Science, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sudo
authors.forename: Yoshiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D017931:DNA Primers; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D001616:beta-Galactosidase
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D007375:Interleukin-1; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase