Drosophila spectrin. II. Conserved features of the alpha-subunit are revealed by analysis of cDNA clones and fusion proteins.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Drosophila alpha-spectrin cDNA sequences were isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library. These cDNA clones encode fusion proteins that include portions of the Drosophila alpha-spectrin polypeptide as shown by a number of structural and functional criteria. The fusion proteins elicited antibodies that reacted strongly with Drosophila and vertebrate alpha-spectrins and a comparison of cyanogen bromide peptide maps demonstrated a clear structural correspondence between one fusion protein and purified Drosophila alpha-spectrin. Alpha-spectrin fusion protein also displayed calcium-dependent calmodulin-binding activity in blot overlay experiments and one fusion protein bound specifically to both Drosophila and bovine brain beta-spectrin subunits on protein blots. A region of the Drosophila cDNA cross-hybridized at lowered stringency with an avian alpha-spectrin cDNA. Together these data show that the composition, structure, and binding properties of the spectrin family of proteins have been remarkably well conserved between arthropods and vertebrates. Drosophila cDNA hybridized to an mRNA of greater than or equal to 9 kb on blots of total Drosophila poly A+ RNA; and hybridized in situ to a single site in polytene region 62B, 1-7. This result and Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA indicate that the sequences are likely to be single copy in the Drosophila genome.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Byers, TJ; Dubreuil, R; Branton, D; Kiehart, DP; Goldstein, LS
Published Date
- November 1987
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 105 / 5
Start / End Page
- 2103 - 2110
PubMed ID
- 2824526
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC2114868
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1540-8140
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0021-9525
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1083/jcb.105.5.2103
Language
- eng