The alpha 4(IV) chain of basement membrane collagen. Isolation of cDNAs encoding bovine alpha 4(IV) and comparison with other type IV collagens

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 267; no. 2; pp. 1253 - 1258
• Main Authors: Mariyama, M, Kalluri, R, Hudson, B G, Reeders, S T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15-01-1992; American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Basement Membrane - metabolism; basement membranes; Blotting, Northern; Cattle; cDNA; Collagen - genetics; collagen IV; DNA - genetics; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; genes; Molecular Sequence Data; nucleotide sequence; Poly A - genetics; Polymerase Chain Reaction; predictions; Restriction Mapping; RNA - genetics; RNA, Messenger; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)48422-0

Renal basement membranes are believed to contain five distinct type IV collagens. An understanding of the specific roles of these collagens and the specificities of their interactions will be aided by knowledge of their comparative structures. Genes for alpha 1(IV), alpha 2(IV), alpha 3(IV), and alpha 5(IV) have been cloned and the deduced peptide sequences compared. A fifth chain, alpha 4(IV), has been identified in glomerular and other basement membranes. Using a polymerase chain reaction-based strategy and short known peptide sequences from the noncollagenous domain (NC1), we have cloned and characterized partial bovine cDNAs of alpha 4(IV). Sequence analysis shows that this molecule has characteristic features of type IV collagens including an NH2-terminal Gly-X-Y domain which is interrupted at several points and a COOH-terminal NC1 domain with 12 cysteine residues in positions identical to those of other type IV collagens. Within the NC1 domain bovine alpha 4(IV) has 70, 59, 58, and 53 amino acid identity with human alpha 2(IV), alpha 1(IV), alpha 5(IV), and alpha 3(IV), respectively. Alignment of the peptides also shows that alpha 4(IV) is most closely related to alpha 2(IV). Nevertheless, in the extreme COOH-terminal region of the NC1 domain there are structural features that are unique to alpha 4(IV). Cloning of the region of alpha 4(IV) that encodes the NC1 domain allows comparison of all five type IV collagens and highlights certain regions that are likely to be important in the specificities of NC1-NC1 interactions and in other discriminant functions of these molecules.