title: Calpain specificity and expression in chicken tissues.
abstract: We have compared ubiquitous calpains in chicken (Gallus gallus), turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and mammals. In chicken, we studied their distribution in different tissues. The calpain activity was determined by casein zymography, a technique avoiding any prior sample purification, thus limiting any autolysis and denaturation reactions. Our results show that two ubiquitous calpains are present in chicken: (1) a mu-calpain having a greater calcium sensitivity and a lower electrophoretic mobility than the mammalian one, (2) a mu/m-calpain, named like this by Sorimachi et al. [Sorimachi, H., Tsukahara, T., Okada-Ban, M., Sugita, H., Ishiura, S., Suzuki, K., 1995. Identification of a third ubiquitous calpain species-chicken muscle expresses four distinct calpains. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1261, 381-93.], having a calcium sensitivity intermediate between that of the two mammalian mu-calpain and the m-calpain. Tissue distribution of the two chicken isozymes vary and mu/m-calpain predominates, whereas mu-calpain levels are very low in some tissues, unlike in mammalian tissues. The characteristics of mu/m-calpain and its preponderance in all organs suggest that it may play a different role in chicken than in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génie Chimique et Biochimique, Unité Biochimie - CUST - Université Blaise Pascal, 63174 Aubière, France.
authors.forename: Hsiao Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Santé-Lhoutellier
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vigouroux
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Briand
authors.forename: Mariele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Briand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002154:Calpain / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002417:Cattle; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism*; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000502:physiology*; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000502:physiology; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014422:Turkeys
chemical_list: D007527:Isoenzymes; D002154:Calpain