Characterization of diverse forms of myosin heavy chain expressed in adult human skeletal muscle.

In an attempt to define myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene organization and expression in adult human skeletal muscle, we have isolated and characterized genomic sequences corresponding to different human sarcomeric MHC genes (1). In this report, we present the complete DNA sequence of two different adult human skeletal muscle MHC cDNA clones, one of which encodes the entire light meromyosin (LMM) segment of MHC and represents the longest described MHC cDNA sequence. Additionally, both clones provide new sequence data from a 228 amino acid segment of the MHC tail for which no protein or DNA sequence has been previously available. One clone encodes a "fast" form of skeletal muscle MHC while the other clone most closely resembles a MHC form described in rat cardiac ventricles. We show that the 3' untranslated region of skeletal MHC cDNAs are homologous from widely separated species as are cardiac MHC cDNAs. However, there is no homology between the 3' untranslated region of cardiac and skeletal muscle MHCs. Isotype-specific preservation of MHC 3' untranslated sequences during evolution suggests a functional role for these regions.