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- ************************************************
- * Glycoprotein hormones alpha 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 alpha chains are highly conserved proteins of about 100 amino acid
- residues which contain ten conserved cysteines all involved in disulfide
- bonds [3], as shown in the following schematic representation.
-
- +---------------------------+
- +----------+| +-------------|--+
- | **||*** | | |
- xxxxCxCxxxxxxCxCCxxxxxxxxxxxxxCCxxxxxxxxxxCxCxxCx
- | | | *|******
- +------|-----------------+ |
- | |
- +----------------------------+
-
- 'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
- '*': position of the patterns.
-
- We have developed two patterns for these hormones. Each of them contains three
- of the conserved cysteines.
-
- -Consensus pattern: C-x-G-C-C-[FY]-S-R-A-Y-P-T-P
- [The three 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.
-
- -Consensus pattern: N-H-T-x-C-x-C-x-T-C-x(2)-H-K
- [The three 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).
-