Morello R, Tonachini L, Monticone M, Viggiano L, Rocchi M, Cancedda R, Castagnola P
Istituto Nazional per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Centro di Biotecnologie Avanzate, Genova, Italy.
Matrix Biol. 1999 Jun;18(3):319-24. doi: 10.1016/s0945-053x(99)00002-5.
Recently we have isolated and characterized a cDNA coding for a novel developmentally regulated chick embryo protein, cartilage associated protein (CASP). Here we describe the isolation and characterization of the cDNAs coding for the mouse CASP. Comparison of the mammalian putative protein sequence with the chick sequence shows a very high identity overall (51%); in particular the chick protein is homologous to the half amino terminus of the mouse protein. Furthermore, the comparison of the CASP cDNA sequence with sequences of the genebank database confirms our hypothesis that the CASP genes belong to a novel family that also includes genes encoding for some nuclear antigens. In all mouse tissues examined three CASP mRNAs species are detected, whereas in chick tissues a single mRNA is present. Immunohistochemistry studies show that the protein is expressed in all mouse embryonic cartilages. The mouse cartilage associated protein gene (Crtap) was assigned to chromosome 9F3-F4 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.
最近，我们分离并鉴定了一个编码新型发育调控鸡胚蛋白——软骨相关蛋白（CASP）的cDNA。在此，我们描述了编码小鼠CASP的cDNA的分离和鉴定。将哺乳动物推定的蛋白质序列与鸡的序列进行比较，总体显示出非常高的同一性（51%）；特别是鸡蛋白与小鼠蛋白的氨基末端一半同源。此外，将CASP cDNA序列与基因库数据库中的序列进行比较，证实了我们的假设，即CASP基因属于一个新家族，该家族还包括一些编码核抗原的基因。在所检测的所有小鼠组织中均检测到三种CASP mRNA种类，而在鸡组织中只存在一种mRNA。免疫组织化学研究表明，该蛋白在所有小鼠胚胎软骨中均有表达。通过荧光原位杂交，将小鼠软骨相关蛋白基因（Crtap）定位于9F3 - F4染色体。
