CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PUTATIVE HUMAN RNA HELICASE GENE OFTHE DEAH-BOX PROTEIN FAMILY

A human RNA helicase gene, DBP1, was cloned by PCR methods using degen erate oligonucleotide primers corresponding to highly conserved motifs among known members of the DEAH-box protein family, The full-length D BP1 contains 3028 nucleotides and codes for a protein of 813 amino aci ds with a calculated mel. wt. of 92723 daltons, The predicted amino ac id sequence shares extensive homology with Prp2, Prp16, and Prp22 prot eins, which are required to splice mRNA precursors in budding yeast. T he protein encoded by DBP1 has RGD, RD, and HS(A/T) repeat motifs clos e to the N-terminus, Southern blot analysis suggested the presence of a homologue of the DBP1 genes in other species, and Northern blot anal ysis showed that DBP1 is expressed ubiquitously in various human organ s investigated, The DBP1 gene was found to be on chromosome 4p15.3 and encodes a putative nuclear ATP-dependent RNA helicase. (C) 1997 Acade mic Press.