Author:

Keywords:

Alpha-Globulins, Animals, Cell-Free System, Female, Isoelectric Focusing, Male, Oocytes, Poly A, Protein Biosynthesis, RNA, RNA, Messenger, Rabbits, Rats, Rats, Inbred Strains, Reticulocytes, Species Specificity, Xenopus, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biophysics, Cell Biology, 0304 Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry, 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 0603 Evolutionary Biology, 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology

Abstract:

alpha 2u-Globulin, an androgen dependent rat urinary protein, displays considerable microheterogeneity. To explore whether this microheterogeneity of alpha 2u-globulin in male rat urine is related to the heterogeneity at the level of the genes encoding this protein, or whether it is due to post-translational processing we studied the alpha 2u-globulin mRNA translation products in rabbit reticulocyte and Xenopus oocytes. Comparison of the alpha 2u-globulin species produced in these two heterologous systems with those observed in plasma and urine indicates that the heterogeneity of this protein in urine is mainly due to heterogeneity at the level of the corresponding mRNAs.