Identification of a new mammalian centrin gene, more closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae CDC31 gene

Identification of a new mammalian centrin gene, more closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae CDC31 gene

^*Institut Curie, Section Recherche, Unité Mixte de Recherche 144 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 26 rue d’Ulm 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France; and ^§Max Planck Institut for Biochemistry, 82152 Martinsried, Germany

Communicated by William T. Wickner, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH (received for review February 25, 1997)

Abstract

Among the numerous centrin isoforms identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in human cells, an acidic and slow-migrating isoform is particularly enriched in a centrosome fraction. We report here that this isoform specifically reacts with antibodies raised against Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cdc31p and is present, as other centrin isoforms, in the distal lumen of centrioles. It is encoded by a new centrin gene, which we propose to name HsCEN3 (Homo sapiens centrin gene 3). This gene is more closely related to the yeast CDC31 gene, and shares less identity with algae centrin than HsCEN1 and HsCEN2. A murine CDC31-related gene was also found that shows 98% identity and 100% similarity with HsCEN3, demonstrating a higher interspecies conservation than the murine centrin gene MmCEN1 (Mus musculus centrin gene 1) with either HsCEN1, or HsCEN2. Finally, immunological data suggest that a CDC31-related gene could exist in amphibians and echinoderms as well. All together, our data suggest the existence of two divergent protein subfamilies in the current centrin family, which might be involved in distinct centrosome-associated functions. The possible implication of this new mammalian centrin gene in centrosome duplication is discussed.

Footnotes

↵ † S.M. and A.P. contributed equally to this work.
↵ ‡ Present address: Department of Microbiology, HHSC 1404, Columbia University, 701W 168th Street, New York, NY 10032.
↵ ¶ To whom reprint requests should be addressed. e-mail: mbornens{at}curie.fr.
Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. Y12473 for HsCEN3 and Y12474 for MmCEN3).
ABBREVIATIONS:

Ab,

antibody;

ScCDC31,

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell division cycle gene 31;

CrCEN,

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii centrin gene;

EST,

expressed sequence tags;

HsCEN1,

-2, -3, Homo sapiens centrin genes 1, 2, and 3;

MmCEN1 and -3,

Mus musculus centrin genes 1 and 3;

PCM,

pericentriolar material