A GENE FOR A LOW-DENSITY-LIPOPROTEIN RECEPTOR-RELATED PROTEIN IN THE NEMATODE CAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANS

A >23-kb gene that encodes a large integral membrane protein with a pr edicted structure similar to that of the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein (LRP) of mammals has been isolated and seque nced from the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The 4753-am ino acid predicted C. elegans product shares a nearly identical number and arrangement of amino acid sequence motifs with human LRP, and sev eral exons of the C. elegans LRP gene correspond to exons of related p arts of the human LDL receptor gene. The existence of an apparent homo log of LRP in C. elegans offers the possibility of genetic analysis of the in vivo roles of LRP and of the relationship between protein stru cture and function in a simple model organism.