Conserved protein domains in a myosin heavy chain gene from Dictyostelium discoideum

The 2116-amino acid myosin heavy chain sequence from Dictyostelium discoideum was determined from DNA sequence analysis of the cloned gene. The gene product can be divided into two distinct regions, a globular head region and a long alpha-helical, rod-like tail. In comparisons with nematode and mammalian muscle myosins, specific areas of the head region are highly conserved. These areas presumably reflect conserved functional and structural domains. Certain features that are present in the head region of nematode and mammalian muscle myosins, and that have been assumed to be important for myosin function, are missing in the Dictyostelium myosin sequence. The protein sequence of the Dictyostelium tail region is very poorly conserved with respect to the other myosins but displays the periodicities similar to those of muscle myosins. These periodicities are believed to play a role in filament formation. The 196-residue repeating unit that determines the 14.3-nm repeat seen in muscle thick filaments, the 28-residue charge repeating unit, and the 1,4 hydrophobic repeat previously described for the nematode myosin are all present in the Dictyostelium myosin rod sequence, suggesting that the filament structures of muscle and Dictyostelium myosins must be similar.