Cloning of cDNA encoding a 32-kDa protein. An accessory polypeptide of the H+-ATPase from chromaffin granules

The purified H+-ATPase from chromaffin granules is composed of several polypeptides, one of which has an apparent molecular weight of 39,000. Immunoblots with the antibody against this protein and various membrane preparations showed that similar or even identical polypeptides may be associated with the H+-ATPases from synaptic vesicle, kidney microsomes, and lysosomes. A cDNA library was constructed from bovine adrenal medulla, and the cDNA encoding the polypeptide was isolated and sequenced. Search in DNA and protein data banks revealed no significant homology to known genes. Hydrophobicity plot revealed no obvious transmembrane segments with the exception of one stretch of hydrophobic and neutral amino acid starting at leucine 16. The cDNA was shown to encode the entire polypeptide by the virtue of an amino acid sequence corresponding to the N terminus of the open reading frame and by subunit and site-specific antibodies. The cDNA was cloned into an expression vector, transcribed by T7 polymerase, and translated by reticulocyte lysate. Even though the cDNA encodes a protein with a molecular weight of 31,495, the translation product comigrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels with the subunit of the purified H+-ATPase. In line with several other subunits of vacuolar H+-ATPases, no signal sequence was detected in the translated gene. Northern blots revealed the presence of a single mRNA of about 1.6 kb in bovine adrenal medulla. However, liver, lung, and kidney may contain additional mRNA of about 1.7 kb.