The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L18

The amino acid sequence of rat ribosomal protein L18 was deduced from the sequence of nucleotides in a recombinant cDNA and confirmed from the amino-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein. Ribosomal protein L18 contains 187 amino acids (the amino-terminal methionine is removed after translation of the mRNA) and has a molecular weight of 21,530. Hybridization of the cDNA to digests of nuclear DNA suggests that there are 10-14 copies of the L18 gene. Rat ribosomal protein L18 is homologous to Xenopus laevis L14; the extent of the identity of the amino acid sequences is 87% and for the nucleotides in the coding region of the DNA it is 76%.