A developmentally regulated gene product from Dictyostelium discoideum shows high homology to human α‐L‐fucosidase

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Abstract
A cDNA library of poly(A+)‐RNA has been prepared from membrane‐bound polysomes of Dictyostelium discoideum and screened for clones hybridizing to mRNA species that encode developmentally regulated proteins. The clone investigated in this paper recognizes a 1.8 kb transcript that accumulates strongly between the growth phase and aggregation stage. Stimulation of cells with pulses of cAMP enhances the accumulation. The amino acid sequence derived from a complete cDNA and from a genomic clone displays extensive sequence identity to human liver α‐L‐fucosidase. The D. discoideum DNA sequence encodes a 50.5 kDa polypeptide with a hydrophobic signal peptide at the N‐terminus. Antibodies against a synthetic peptide corresponding to amino acids 262–275 of the deduced protein sequence recognize a developmentally regulated 50 kDa protein in D. discoideum that is recovered in the particulate fraction.