Cloning and sequence analysis of pituitary cDNA encoding the beta-subunit of Xenopus proteasome

The proteasome is a multicatalytic proteinase composed of a number of non-identical subunits. A Xenopus pituitary cDNA was isolated and found to code for the beta-subunit of proteasome. The amino acid sequence deduced from the open reading frame consisted of 215 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 23,979. A comparative structural analysis indicated that the proteasome subunits can be divided into two groups with the same evolutionary origin. One group consists of subunits with an N-terminally blocked residue and includes components C2, C3, C8 and C9, while the second group of non-blocked proteins includes component C5 and the beta-subunit.