Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 15, 718-726, Copyright © 1998 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
CA Karavanich and RR Anholt
Olfactomedin is a secreted polymeric glycoprotein of unknown function,
originally discovered at the mucociliary surface of the amphibian olfactory
neuroepithelium and subsequently found throughout the mammalian brain. As a
first step toward elucidating the function of olfactomedin, its
phylogenetic history was examined to identify conserved structural motifs.
Such conserved motifs may have functional significance and provide targets
for future mutagenesis studies aimed at establishing the function of this
protein. Previous studies revealed 33% amino acid sequence identity between
rat and frog olfactomedins in their carboxyl terminal segments. Further
analysis, however, reveals more extensive homologies throughout the
molecule. Despite significant sequence divergence, cysteines essential for
homopolymer formation such as the CXC motif near the amino terminus are
conserved, as is the characteristic glycosylation pattern, suggesting that
these posttranslational modifications are essential for function.
Furthermore, evolutionary analysis of a region of 53 amino acids of fish,
frog, rat, mouse, and human olfactomedins indicates that an ancestral
olfactomedin gene arose before the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and
evolved independently in teleost, amphibian, and mammalian lineages.
Indeed, a distant olfactomedin homolog was identified in Caenorhabditis
elegans. Although the amino acid sequence of this invertebrate protein is
longer and highly divergent compared with its vertebrate homologs, the
protein from C. elegans shows remarkable similarities in terms of conserved
motifs and posttranslational modification sites. Six universally conserved
motifs were identified, and five of these are clustered in the carboxyl
terminal half of the protein. Sequence comparisons indicate that evolution
of the N-terminal half of the molecule involved extensive insertions and
deletions; the C-terminal segment evolved mostly through point mutations,
at least during vertebrate evolution. The widespread occurrence of
olfactomedin among vertebrates and invertebrates underscores the notion
that this protein has a function of universal importance. Furthermore,
extensive modification of its N-terminal half and the acquisition of a
C-terminal SDEL endoplasmic-reticulum- targeting sequence may have enabled
olfactomedin to adopt new functions in the mammalian central nervous
system.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Molecular evolution of olfactomedin
Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695- 7617, USA.
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