Mouse deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I): biochemical and immunological characterization, cDNA structure and tissue distribution.

Mouse urinary deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) resembles rat and human DNase Is in terms of its proteochemical and enzymological properties. Furthermore, mouse DNase I was demonstrated to be immunologically closer to the rat than to the human enzyme. A 1176 bp full length cDNA encoding mouse DNase I was constructed from RNA obtained from the kidney and parotid glands. The amino acid sequence up to the 45th residue from the N-terminal of the mature enzyme was identical to that deduced from the cDNA sequence. This DNase I was distributed most densely in the parotid glands from the standpoint of both enzyme activity and gene transcript levels.