Translation of chick aortic elastin messenger ribonucleic acid. Comparison to elastin synthesis in chick aorta organ culture.

Studies were undertaken to define the molecular size of the elastin primary gene product. Translation of chick aortic messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in an mRNA-dependent reticulocyte lysate resulted in the synthesis of two major proteins of 70 000 and 73 000 molecular weights. Both proteins were shown to be soluble forms of elastin by isotope incorporation, immunoprecipitation, collagenase and cyanogen bromide sensitivity, and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The 70 000-dalton protein behaves similarly to authentic tropoeleastin in sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. There was no evidence for a high molecular weight form of soluble elastin, although procollagen chains were indirectly identified among the aortic mRNA-directed translation products. The same molecular size proteins were also seen in organ cultures of chick embryonic aortas labeled with [3H]valine. However, the 73 000-dalton protein was not extractable in a neutral salt buffer but was found only if the aortas were extracted with urea in the presence of reducing and alkylating reagents. The results from these studies suggest that elastin is first synthesized as two distinct polypeptide chains which differ slightly in size and overall charge. The possibility that these two proteins may associate posttranslationally to form a dimer prior to secretion is postulated to explain the existence of a putative proelastin molecule seen in other systems.