Molecular cloning of complementary DNAs encoding alkaline phosphatase in human colon cancer cells

We have isolated a set of complementary DNA (cDNA) clones that together encode the alkaline phosphatase of human colon cancer LS174T cells. These clones include two cDNAs isolated from a conventionally prepared oligodeoxythymidylate-primed lambda ZAP cDNA library and three cDNA clones prepared by using the polymerase chain reaction. The deduced amino acid sequence of the alkaline phosphatase primary transcript contains 532 amino acids. This enzyme is similar to, but not identical with, placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP); it exhibits 12-19 amino acid substitutions when compared to the various alleles of PLAP. Also, it is similar to PLAP in that it is apparently attached to the cell membrane by a phosphatidylinositol-containing anchor as judged by the ability of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C to release it from membranes. It is different from PLAP however, in terms of its signal sequence which only contains 19 amino acids as compared to 22 for PLAP. Moreover, the 3'-untranslated region of the LS174T cell alkaline phosphatase message diverges considerably from the PLAP message. The LS174T cell alkaline phosphatase cDNAs are actually much more similar to the "germ cell" alkaline phosphatase gene than they are to PLAP. Only 7 amino acid substitutions exist between the LS174T cell enzyme and the alkaline phosphatase encoded by the germ cell alkaline phosphatase genomic DNA clone isolated by Millan and Manes (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85: 3024-3028, 1988). Furthermore, the 3'-untranslated region of the LS174T cell alkaline phosphatase message is very similar to the sequence immediately downstream of the coding region of the germ cell alkaline phosphatase genomic DNA clone. Thus, these results indicate that this colon cancer cell alkaline phosphatase is likely to represent an allelic variant encoded at the germ cell alkaline phosphatase locus.