Two distinct genes for ADP/ATP translocase are expressed at the mRNA level in adult human liver.

Several clones hybridizing with a bovine ADP/ATP translocase cDNA were isolated from an adult human liver cDNA library in the vector pEX1. DNA sequence analysis revealed that these clones encode two distinct forms of translocase. In particular, two clones specifying the COOH-end-proximal five-sixths of the protein exhibit a 9% amino acid sequence divergence and totally dissimilar 3' untranslated regions. One of these cDNAs is nearly identical in sequence to an ADP/ATP translocase clone (hp2F1) recently isolated from a human fibroblast cDNA library [Battini, R., Ferrari, S., Kaczmarek, L., Calabretta, B., Chen, S. & Baserga, R. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 4355-4359], with three amino acid changes and a few differences in the 3' untranslated region. Another clone isolated from the pEX1 library contains a reading frame encoding the remaining, NH2-end-proximal, 37 amino acids of the translocase. This sequence differs significantly (14% amino acid sequence divergence) from the corresponding segment of hp2F1, and the 5' untranslated regions of the two clones are totally dissimilar. RNA transfer hybridization experiments utilizing the clones isolated from the pEX1 library revealed the presence in HeLa cells of three distinct mRNA species. The pattern of hybridization and the sizes of these mRNAs suggest a greater complexity of organization and expression of the ADP/ATP translocase genes in human cells than indicated by the analysis of the cDNA clones.