title: Cloning and sequence analysis of Bufo arenarum oviductin cDNA and detection of             its orthologous gene expression in the mouse female reproductive tract.
abstract: The glycoprotein envelope surrounding the Bufo arenarum egg exists in different functional forms. Conversion between types involves proteolysis of specific envelope glycoproteins. When the egg is released from the ovary, the envelope cannot be penetrated by sperm. Conversion to a penetrable state occurs during passage through the pars recta portion of the oviduct, where oviductin, a serine protease with trypsin-like substrate specificity, hydrolyzes two kinds of envelope glycoproteins: gp84 and gp55. The nucleotide sequence of a 3203 bp B. arenarum oviductin cDNA was obtained. Deduced amino acid sequence showed a complete open reading frame encoding 980 amino acids. B. arenarum oviductin is a multi-domain protein with a protease domain at the N-terminal region followed by two CUB domains and toward the C-terminal region another protease domain, which lacked an active histidine site, and one CUB domain. Expression of ovochymase 2, the mammalian orthologous of amphibian oviductin, was assayed in mouse female reproductive tract. Ovochymase 2 mRNA was unnoticeable in the mouse oviduct but expression was remarkable in the uterus. Phylogenetic relationship between oviductin and ovochymase 2 opens the possibility to understand the role of this enzyme in mammalian reproduction.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología del Desarrollo, Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas, Chacabuco 461, 3° piso, T4000ILI, S. M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barrera
authors.forename: Pablo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Valdecantos
authors.forename: E Vanesa
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Dora C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Miceli
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029845:Amphibian Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002022:Bufo arenarum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005187:Fallopian Tubes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014599:Uterus / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029845:Amphibian Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D010450:Endopeptidases; C092314:ovochymase; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C074599:oviductin