Molecular cloning of a cDNA that encodes the peptide core of a mouse mast cell secretory granule proteoglycan and comparison with the analogous rat and human cDNA.

A cDNA that encodes a mouse secretory granule proteoglycan peptide core was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from nontransformed mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC) using as a probe a 280-base-pair fragment of a rat cDNA that encodes the proteoglycan peptide core of rat basophilic leukemia (RBL)-1 cells. Based on the consensus nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of the cDNA, the mouse BMMC proteoglycan peptide core is 16.7 kDa and contains a 21-amino acid glycosaminoglycan attachment region consisting of alternating serine and glycine residues. When the predicted amino acid sequence of the mouse BMMC proteoglycan peptide core was compared with the predicted amino acid sequences of the homologous molecules expressed in RBL-1 cells and in human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells, the mouse-derived sequence was more closely homologous to the rat sequence than the human sequence except for the length of the serine-glycine repeat region. The N terminus was found to be a highly conserved region of the molecule in the three species, suggesting that this region is important for the structure, function, and/or metabolism of this family of proteoglycans. Nucleotide sequences within the 5' and 3' untranslated regions of the mouse, rat, and human proteoglycan cDNA were conserved. That similar sequences were also present in the corresponding regions of a cDNA that encodes a rat mast cell protease suggests that particular nucleotide sequences may be important for regulation of expression of those proteins that are destined to reside in secretory granules.