Amino acid sequence of mouse nidogen, a multidomain basement membrane protein with binding activity for laminin, collagen IV and cells.

The whole amino acid sequence of nidogen was deduced from cDNA clones isolated from expression libraries and confirmed to approximately 50% by Edman degradation of peptides. The protein consists of some 1217 amino acid residues and a 28-residue signal peptide. The data support a previously proposed dumb-bell model of nidogen by demonstrating a large N-terminal globular domain (641 residues), five EGF-like repeats constituting the rod-like domain (248 residues) and a smaller C-terminal globule (328 residues). Two more EGF-like repeats interrupt the N-terminal and terminate the C-terminal sequences. Weak sequence homologies (25%) were detected between some regions of nidogen, the LDL receptor, thyroglobulin and the EGF precursor. Nidogen contains two consensus sequences for tyrosine sulfation and for asparagine beta-hydroxylation, two N-linked carbohydrate acceptor sites and, within one of the EGF-like repeats an Arg-Gly-Asp sequence. The latter was shown to be functional in cell attachment to nidogen. Binding sites for laminin and collagen IV are present on the C-terminal globule but not yet precisely localized.