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PMID: 6192439 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Primary structures of human alpha-fetoprotein and its mRNA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 80 ·No. 15 ·1983-08-00 ·Pages 4604-8

Morinaga T, Sakai M, Wegmann TG, Tamaoki T

Abstract

DNA complementary to human alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)mRNA was cloned in the plasmid pBR322. Analysis of three overlapping cDNA clones revealed most of the nucleotide sequence of AFP mRNA, and the remaining nucleotides at the 5' end of the mRNA were elucidated from a cloned genomic DNA fragment. The amino acid sequence was deduced from the nucleotide sequence, which revealed 19 amino acids in the signal sequence and 590 amino acids in mature AFP. There are 15 regularly spaced disulfide bridges, which generate a folding structure having three repeating domains. There is one potential N-glycosylation site, Asn-Phe-Thr, in the amino acid sequence. In comparison with mouse AFP, 66% of the amino acid sequence was conserved, with the highest identity (72%) in domain 3, followed by domain 2 (67%) and domain 1 (59%). In comparison with human albumin, a 39% conservation of primary structure was found. Again, the similarity was the highest in domain 3 and the lowest in domain 1. Human AFP and human albumin are similar in overall structure, but certain parts of the molecules differ significantly in their predicted secondary structure.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Base Sequence Cloning, Molecular DNA/metabolism DNA Restriction Enzymes Humans Plasmids Protein Conformation RNA, Messenger/genetics Serum Albumin/genetics alpha-Fetoproteins/genetics
Chemicals
RNA, Messenger Serum Albumin alpha-Fetoproteins DNA DNA Restriction Enzymes
Authors & Affiliations
4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Morinaga T
Sakai M
Wegmann T G
Tamaoki T
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29 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.80.15.4604
Published
1983-08-00
Pages
4604-8
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC384092
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
J00076, J00077
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.80.15.4604 PMC Full Text View journal details
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