[Cloning and characterization of CAST transcript 2 and 4 in sheep]

As an endogenous inhibitor of the calpain system activated by Ca2+, calpastatin (CAST) plays a regulatory role in muscle proteolysis. Based on the bovine mRNA sequences, part of cDNA fragments of sheep CAST transcript 2 and 4 were obtained by RT-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis showed that sheep CAST transcript 2 was 4 358 bp in length with an open reading frame (ORF) 2 361 bp long and encoded 786 amino acids, while sheep CAST transcript 4 was 1 467 bp in length with 1 317 bp ORF encoding 438 amino acids. It was predicted that CAST type II contained four conserved domains and CAST type IV contained three conserved domains, and their secondary structures were rich in both hydrophobic regions and helical regions, with certain conserved phosphorylation sites and phosphorylation sites of protein kinase C (PKC). RT-PCR was conducted to analyze the expression patterns of CAST transcript 2 and transcript 4. CAST transcript 2 was ex-pressed in ten tissues detected while CAST transcript 4 only in testis.