NORMAL GENOMIC

• Rehn M, Pihlajaniemi T
• Alpha 1(XVIII), a collagen chain with frequent interruptions in the collagenous sequence, a distinct tissue distribution, and homology with type XV collagen.
• Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994; 91: 4234-8
• Display abstract

• We report on the isolation of mouse cDNA clones which encode a collagenous sequence designated here as the alpha 1 chain of type XVIII collagen. The overlapping clones cover 2.8 kilobases and encode an open reading frame of 928 amino acid residues comprising a putative signal peptide of 25 residues, an amino-terminal noncollagenous domain of 301 residues, and a primarily collagenous stretch of 602 residues. The clones do not cover the carboxyl-terminal end of the polypeptide, since the translation stop codon is absent. Characteristic of the deduced polypeptide is the possession of eight noncollagenous interruptions varying in length from 10 to 24 residues in the collagenous amino acid sequence. Other features include the presence of several putative sites for both N-linked glycosylation and O-linked glycosaminoglycan attachment and homology of the amino-terminal noncollagenous domain with thrombospondin. It is of particular interest that five of the eight collagenous sequences of type XVIII show homology to the previously reported type XV collagen, suggesting that the two form a distinct subgroup among the diverse family of collagens. Northern blot hybridization analysis revealed a striking tissue distribution for type XVIII collagen mRNAs, as the clones hybridized strongly with mRNAs of 4.3 and 5.3 kilobases that were present only in lung and liver of the eight mouse tissues studied.

• Petry F, Reid KB, Loos M
• Gene expression of the A- and B-chain of mouse C1q in different tissues and the characterization of the recombinant A-chain.
• J Immunol. 1991; 147: 3988-93
• Display abstract

• Immunoscreening of a mouse macrophage cDNA library with an anti-mouse C1q-antibody resulted in the isolation of cDNA clones. The deduced amino acid sequence was homologous to the A-chain of human C1q. Homology on the DNA level was found to be 76% and on the protein level 72% thus it appeared the clones coded for the mouse C1q A-chain. An immunoblot of murine serum C1q separated by SDS-PAGE was detected with an A-chain specific antibody that had been affinity purified on recombinant mouse C1q A-chain expressed in Escherichia coli. The antibody preparation reacted exclusively with the mouse C-chain (as defined by SDS-PAGE). Northern blot analysis with strand-specific cDNA probes coding for the A- and B-chain of murine C1q showed that mouse peritoneal macrophages produced the highest concentration of C1q gene transcripts. RNA from mouse spleen, thymus, heart, and brain gave substantial hybridization signals, whereas RNA preparations from liver, kidney, lung, and small intestine appeared to contain only trace amounts of C1q mRNA. In a Northern blot analysis of different guinea pig cells and tissues, only RNA preparations from peritoneal macrophages hybridized with the mouse C1q probes. These results indicate that macrophages are a major site of C1q biosynthesis.

• Oberbaumer I et al.
• Amino acid sequence of the non-collagenous globular domain (NC1) of the alpha 1(IV) chain of basement membrane collagen as derived from complementary DNA.
• Eur J Biochem. 1985; 147: 217-24
• Display abstract

• NC1, the C-terminal non-collagenous globular domain of collagen IV, represents one of the two end regions responsible for the assembly and cross-linking of the extracellular network of basement membrane collagen. Several cDNA clones for the NC1 domain of the alpha 1(IV) collagen chain of mouse have been isolated by using synthetic oligonucleotides as screening probes for mouse libraries. The oligonucleotides were synthesized according to known stretches of the corresponding protein sequence. Sequencing of the overlapping cDNA clones allowed the complete amino acid sequence of the NC1 domain to be deduced as well as the C-terminal 165 amino acid residues of the triple helix. It consists of 229 amino acid residues which comprise two homologous regions with a high content of cysteine. These DNA and protein sequences are compared to the corresponding sequences of other collagens and discussed with respect to their structural and biological significance.

• Reid KB
• Complete amino acid sequences of the three collagen-like regions present in subcomponent C1q of the first component of human complement.
• Biochem J. 1979; 179: 367-71
• Display abstract

• The sequences of amino acid residues 38--51 of the A-chain, and residues 42--90 of the C-chain, of human subcomponent C1q are given. These results, along with previously published sequence data [Reid (1974) Biochem.J. 141, 189--203; Reid (1977) Biochem.J. 161, 247--251; Reid & Thompson (1978) Biochem.J. 173, 863--868] allow the presentation, and comparison with each other, of the complete amino acid sequences of the collagen-like regions found in the A-, B- and C-chains of human subcomponent C1q. Each chain has the continuity of its collagen-like Gly-X-Y repeating triplet amino acid sequence broken. The B- and C-chains have alanine residues at positions B-9 and C-36 where glycine might be expected. The A-chain has a threonine residue at position A-39, which is located between two Gly-X-Y triplets.

• Reid KB
• Amino acid sequence of the N-terminal forty-two amino acid residues of the C chain of subcomponent C1q of the first component of human complement.
• Biochem J. 1977; 161: 247-51
• Display abstract

• 1. The sequence of the N-terminal 42 amino acid residues and the identity of residue 45 of the C chain of subcomponent C1q were established by the use of the automatic protein sequencer. 2. A comparison of the amino acid sequences of the A and C chains of subcomponent C1q shows that they are identical at 18 positions out of the first 45. However, 12 of the amino acid residues in the positions of identity are glycine residues occurring in the repeating triplet sequence Gly-X-Y. 3. Position 36 in the C chain was found to be alanine, which was unexpected since the residue in this position would have to be glycine if the repeating triplet sequence Gly-X-Y were to extend, uniformly, throughout the entire length of the C-chain collagen-like region. This break in the repeating triplet sequence would prevent residue 36 in the C chain from taking part in collagen-like triple-helix formation. 4. The sequence information presented here therefore indicates that there should be a break, or distortion, located approximately half-way along each of the six collagen-like triple-helical regions proposed to be present in subcomponent C1q [Reid & Porter (1976) Biochem. J. 155, 19-23] and this is consistent with what is seen in electron micrographs of intact and pepsin-digested subcomponent C1q.