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- ***********************************************
- * Glycoprotein hormones beta chain signatures *
- ***********************************************
-
- Glycoprotein hormones [1,2] (or gonadotropins) are a family of proteins which
- include the mammalian hormones follitropin (FSH), lutropin (LSH), thyrotropin
- (TSH) and chorionic gonadotropin (CG), as well as at least two forms of fish
- gonadotropins. All these hormones consist of two glycosylated chains (alpha
- and beta). In mammalian gonadotropins, the alpha chain is identical in the
- four types of hormones but the beta chains, while homologous, are different.
-
- The beta chains are proteins of about 100 to 140 amino acid residues which
- contain twelve conserved cysteines all involved in disulfide bonds [3], as
- shown in the following schematic representation.
-
- +----------------------+
- | +------------|-----------------------------+
- | +-|------------|--------+ |
- | | | **** | | ***************
- xxxCxxxxxxxCxCxxCxCxxxxxxxCxxxxxxxxCxxxxxxxCxCxCxxCxxxxxCxxxxxxxxxxx
- | | | | | |
- | | | | +--+
- +-|------------------------+ |
- +--------------------------+
-
- 'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
- '*': position of the patterns.
-
- We have developed two patterns for these hormones. The first one, located in
- the N-terminal section, is a region which has been said to be involved in the
- association between the two chains of the hormones. The second pattern
- consists of a cluster of five conserved cysteines in the C-terminal section.
-
- -Consensus pattern: C-[STA]-G-[HYL]-C-x-[ST]
- [The two C's are involved in disulfide bonds]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL, except
- for rat beta-FSH which has Glu in position 2 of the pattern.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
-
- -Consensus pattern: [PA]-V-A-x(2)-C-x-C-x(2)-C-x(4)-[ST]-D-C-x(6)-[PST]-x(2)-C
- [The five C's are involved in disulfide bonds]
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
-
- -Last update: June 1994 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Pierce J.G., Parsons T.F.
- Annu. Rev. Biochem. 50:465-495(1981).
- [ 2] Stockell Hartree A., Renwick A.G.C.
- Biochem. J. 287:665-679(1992).
- [ 3] Lapthorn A.J., Harris D.C., Littlejohn A., Lustbader J.W., Canfield R.E.,
- Machin K.J., Morgan F.J., Isaacs N.W.
- Nature 369:455-461(1994).
-