Isolation and sequence of a cDNA clone of beta-nerve growth factor from the guinea pig prostate gland.

The guinea pig prostate gland contains high levels of nerve growth factor similarly to the mouse submandibular gland. Nerve growth factor from the guinea pig prostate gland cross-reacts weakly with antisera directed against mouse nerve growth factor, is associated with different proteins, and may be processed by a different mechanism. We have isolated a full-length cDNA clone for nerve growth factor from a library prepared from RNA of the guinea pig prostate gland. The guinea pig cDNA contains 1,075 nucleotides and is very similar to the shorter of two predominant nerve growth factor transcripts present in the mouse submandibular gland. The cDNA sequence predicts a precursor protein of 241 amino acids that is 86% identical to the mouse amino acid sequence. Only 10 amino acid changes are present in the C-terminal region corresponding to the mature 118 amino acid beta-nerve growth factor of the mouse. Dibasic amino acid processing sites that are present at the N- and C-termini of the mature protein sequence and two other dibasic amino acid sites, representing potential processing sites within the propeptide, are all conserved, suggesting a similar mechanism of processing.