CLONING AND SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF THE CDNA-ENCODING THE ELONGATION FACTOR-1-BETA OF DICTYOSTELIUM-DISCOIDEUM

A cDNA encoding elongation factor-1 beta (DdEF-1 beta) for protein syn thesis was isolated from Dictyostlium discoideum cells by the differen tial display (DD) method. The DdEF-1 beta cDNA sequence with a length of 733 bp encodes a protein (M-r 24.1 kDa) consisting of 214 amino aci ds. Comparison of the predicted amino acid sequence revealed relativel y high homology to that of DdEF-1 alpha from silkworm (59%), human (57 %) and Xenopus (55%). Northern analysis showed that the DdEF-1 beta mR NA is maximally expressed during the vegetative growth phase, followed by marked decrease in response to cell differentiation induced by sta rvation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.