HUMAN CLPP PROTEASE - CDNA SEQUENCE, TISSUE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION AND CHROMOSOMAL ASSIGNMENT OF THE GENE

We identified three overlapping human expressed sequence tags with sig nificant homology to the E. coli ClpP amino sequence by screening the EMBL nucleotide database, With this sequence information we applied 5' and 3'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) to amplify and sequenc e human clpP cDNA in two overlapping fragments, The open reading frame encodes a 277 amino acid long precursor polypeptide, Two ClpP specifi c motifs surrounding the active site residues are present and extensiv e homology to ClpP's from other organisms was observed, Northern blott ing showed high relative expression levels of clpP mRNA in skeletal mu scle, intermediate levels in heart, liver and pancreas, and low levels in brain, placenta, lung and kidney, By analysis of human/rodent cell hybrids the human clpP gene was assigned to chromosome 19.