Cloning and Sequence Analysis of the Human MG160, a Fibroblast Growth Factor and E-Selectin Binding Membrane Sialoglycoprotein of the Golgi Apparatus

Abstract
The amino acid sequence of MG160, a membrane sialoglycoprotein of the medial cisternae of the rat Golgi apparatus, is more than 90% identical with CFR, a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) binding protein of chicken membranes, and with ESL-1, a ligand for E-selectin of plasma membranes of myeloid cells; furthermore, MG160, isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography from rat brain membranes, binds to basic FGF. The gene for MG160 has been assigned to human chromosome 16q22–23. To characterize this protein further in the human, its cDNA was cloned and sequenced. The protein has a large luminal domain composed of an initial proline-glutamine-rich segment, encoded by an uninterrupted exonic sequence of several CAG-CAA repeats. Expansion of CAG repeats has been implicated in the etiology of several neurodegenerative diseases. The proline-glutamine-rich segment is followed by 16 cysteine-rich repeats that contain five potential asparagine-linked glycosylation sites, which are conserved in the human, rat, mouse, and chicken. The large in tralumenal domain of the protein is followed by a single transmembrane domain and a 13-amino-acid cytoplasmic carboxy-terminal tail, which is identical to that in the chicken, rat, and mouse. The overall amino acid identifies between MG160, CFR, and ESL-1 range from 88% to 95%. In several human fetal and adult tissues, three mRNA transcripts for MG160 of 10 kb, 5 kb, and 3.8 kb were identified by Northern blot analysis of poly(A)-selected mRNAs. These transcripts may represent alternatively spliced mRNAs of the protein or mRNAs encoding closely related proteins of the Golgi apparatus and/or plasma membranes.