Rapid evolution of prostatic protein PSP94 suggested by sequence divergence between rhesus monkey and human cDNAs.

Comparison of the protein coding region of mRNA for the prostatic secretory protein PSP94 in human (hPSP94) with that in rhesus monkey (rmPSP94) indicates that, for the most part, its sequence has evolved with few constraints and at a relatively fast rate. Interestingly, half of the 22 residue differences between the two species involve charge changes, reflected by the acidic pI (5.4) of hPSP94 and the basic pI (10.6) of rmPSP94. However, the 10 cysteines and 5 of the 6 prolines of PSP94 were unaffected, suggesting that the three-dimensional conformations of the human and the monkey proteins may be similar. Rapid evolution of this gene might explain the apparent absence in nonprimates of homologous sequences detectable by hybridization.