Nucleotide sequence of a cloned structural gene coding for a precursor of pancreatic somatostatin

R. H. Goodman, J. W. Jacobs, W. W. Chin, P. K. Lund, P. C. Dee, J. F. Habener

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

103 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have constructed and cloned, in bacteria, recombinant plasmids containing DNA complementary to mRNA coding for a pancreatic pre-prosomatostatin, a product of the cell-free translation of pancreatic islet mRNAs shown previously by immunoprecipitation to be a precursor of somatostatin. A clone containing a nearly full-length cDNA insert of 550 base pairs was identified and appeared to contain the entire coding sequence for the somatostatin precursor in addition to portions of the 5' and 3' untranslated regions. mRNA coding for the pre-prosomatostatin is 600-630 bases long as determined by agarose gel electrophoresis and hybridization with labeled cDNA. Analyses of the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA revealed a protein of 119 amino acids beginning with methionine followed by a typical leader sequence containing 18 hydrophobic amino acids. The tetradecapeptide somatostatin, identical in sequence to mammalian hypothalamic somatostatin, is located at the carboxy terminus followed immediately by a stop codon. An Arg-Lys sequence immediately preceding the sequence of somatostatin is typical of a prohormone cleavage site. A sequence Ala-Pro-Arg-Glu preceding the Arg-Lys cleavage site is identical to that found in porcine prosomatostatin. The evolutionary conservation of the identical amino acid sequence of the somatostatin tetradecapeptide from fish to mammals is remarkable. In addition, similar conservation, in fish and mammals, of the sequence Ala-Pro-Arg-Glu-Arg-Lys preceding the coding region for somatostatin suggests that this particular sequence may have biologic importance in cellular processing of the somatostatin precursor.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5869-5873
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume77
Issue number10 II
DOIs
StatePublished - 1980
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nucleotide sequence of a cloned structural gene coding for a precursor of pancreatic somatostatin'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this