MOLECULAR-CLONING OF 2 ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE NEURAL VISININ-LIKE CA2-BINDING PROTEIN GENE FAMILY()

We have isolated a rat cDNA clone encoding a neural visinin-like Ca2+- binding protein (NVP), which we designate NVP-1. To identify additiona l molecular forms of NVP, a rat brain cDNA library was screened for th eir presence using an NVP-1 cDNA probe under low-stringency hybridizat ion conditions. Two types of cDNA clones encoding structurally related proteins, designated NVP-2 and NVP-3, have been isolated. The deduced amino acid sequences of NVP-2 and NVP-3 are 89.0% and 68.6% identical to that of NVP-1, respectively, and contain consensus sequences for E F-hand Ca2+ -binding sites. Northern blot analysis shows that NVP-1, N VP-2, and NVP-3 mRNAs are most highly expressed in brain and are diffe rentially expressed in various regions of rat brain. These results sug gest that NVP-2 and NVP-3 are additional members of the NVP gene famil y.