Nucleotide sequence of the cDNA coding for human complement C1r.

C1r is a zymogen of a serine protease that is involved in the activation of the first component of the classical pathway of the complement system. cDNAs coding for human C1r have been isolated from libraries prepared from poly(A) RNA from human liver and Hep G2 cells. From DNA sequence analysis, the overlapping cDNA inserts were shown to span 2493 nucleotides of the C1r mRNA, not including the poly(A) tail. The cDNA sequence coding for C1r contained a 5' noncoding region, 2115 nucleotides coding for a polypeptide precursor of 705 amino acids, and a 3' noncoding region. Some variability in the length of the 3' noncoding sequence was observed with the cDNA inserts, although most contained a polyadenylation signal followed by a poly(A) tail. The A or noncatalytic chain of C-1r, which originates from the amino-terminal end of the precursor molecule, contains a potential growth factor domain and two different pairs of internal repeats. One pair of these internal repeats is closely related to the amino-terminal sequence of C1s, while the other pair of repeats is homologous to the tandem repeats present in beta 2-glycoprotein I, complement factor B, the b subunit of factor XIII, and a single region present in the alpha 1 chain of haptoglobin. The B chain of C-1r contains the catalytic portion of the enzyme and is homologous to the trypsin family of serine proteases.