Loss of a homologous group of proteins in a dominantly inherited ectodermal malformation

Hair from mice bearing the dominantly inherited Naked trait (NN) and from normal (NN) mice of the same inbred strain was separated into its major protein components by standard techniques. The relative amounts of proteins in these components were then determined by a regression method from the amino acid composition of the hair samples and of the fractions into which they had been separated. The results indicated that the amount of soluble fibril in Naked-mouse hair is decreased. Polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of this fraction prepared from the hair of both normal and Naked mice revealed that all protein bands present in the normal are also present in the Naked mice. However, a densitometric scan of the gels at 280 nm showed that the soluble fibril fraction from Naked-mouse hair is deficient in several proteins which, on amino acid analysis, were found to contain 31% glycine and 10% tyrosine. Gel filtration of S-carboxymethylkerateine prepared from normal and mutant hair showed that the mutant hair is deficient in a heterogeneous, low-molecular-weight fraction also rich in glycine and tyrosine. Our present data do not reveal the mechanism whereby a single gene locus modulates the production of several different proteins.