Ch. Hung et al., PURIFICATION AND CLONING OF CARP NEPHROSIN, A SECRETED ZINC ENDOPEPTIDASE OF THE ASTACIN FAMILY, The Journal of biological chemistry, 272(21), 1997, pp. 13772-13778
We have purified a secreted proteinase of 23 kDa from carp head kidney
by sequential column chromatography on a Reactive Blue 72-agarose dye
affinity column and an FPLC Mono-P column. The secretion of this prot
einase from carp head kidney can be stimulated by high concentrations
of potassium. Since the carp proteinase is present mainly in the head
kidney, kidney, and spleen (all of which are lymphohematopoietic organ
s), it is named nephrosin. The carp nephrosin is most sensitive to met
al chelators, but not to inhibitors specific for other classes of prot
einases. A cDNA clone has been isolated from a carp head kidney cDNA l
ibrary by immunoscreening with a polyclonal antiserum raised against p
urified nephrosin. The cloned cDNA is 1086 base pairs in length and ha
s an open reading frame encoding a protein of 273 amino acids, includi
ng a 19-amino acid signal peptide and 56-amino acid propeptide. The de
duced amino acid sequence shows moderate levels of identity to medaka
HCE1 (52.5%), medaka LCE (50.7%), crayfish astacin (33.2%), murine mep
rin-alpha (34%), and murine meprin-beta (33.5%), all members of the as
tacin family of zinc endopeptidases. Nephrosin is the first member of
the astacin family found in lymphohematopoietic tissues.