Primary structure of profilins from two species of Echinoidea and Physarum polycephalum

Profilin is a small G-actin-binding protein, the amino acid sequence of which was previously reported for calf, human, Acanthamoeba and yeast. Here the amino acid sequences of three profilins obtained from eggs of two species of Echinoidea, Clypeaster japonicus (order, Clypeasteroida) and Anthocidaris crassispina (order, Echinoida), and plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum were determined. Two echinoid profilins were composed of 139 amino acid residues, N-termini were acylated and the molecular mass was calculated to be 14.6 kDa, slightly larger than that of 13 kDa estimated by SDS/PAGE [Mabuchi, I. & Hosoya, H. (1982) Biomed. Res. 3, 465-476]. On the other hand, Physarum profilin was composed of 124 amino acid residues, the N-terminus was acylated, and the calculated molecular mass was 13132 Da. The sequences of C. japonicus and A. crassispina profilins were homologous (84% identical). However, the similarity of these profilins with those form other organisms was low. The sequence of Physarum profilin was homologous with Acanthamoeba profilin isoforms (51% identical) and with yeast profilin (42% identical), but not with other profilins. The relatively conservative sequence of profilins from yeast, Physarum, Acanthamoeba, echinoid eggs and mammalian cells was found in the N-terminal region, which was suggested to be a common actin-binding region. The C-terminal region was also conserved, although to a lesser extent than the N-terminal region.