Neuroglycan C, a novel membrane-spanning chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan that is restricted to the brain

Monoclonal antibodies were raised to membrane-bound proteoglycans derived from rat brain, and four monoclonal antibodies that recognized a 150-kDa chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan with a core glycoprotein of 120 kDa were obtained. Immunohistological study revealed that the proteoglycan was associated with developing neurons. We screened rat brain cDNA libraries using the four monoclonal antibodies and isolated overlapping cDNA clones that encoded the entire core protein of 514 amino acids plus a 30-residue signal peptide. The deduced amino acid sequence suggested an integral membrane protein divided into five structurally different domains: an N-terminal domain to which chondroitin sulfate chains might be attached, a basic amino acid cluster consisting of seven arginine and two lysine residues, a cysteine-containing domain, a membrane-spanning segment, and a C-terminal cytoplasmic domain of 95 amino acids. On Northern blots, the cDNA hybridized with a single mRNA of 3.1 kilobases that was detectable in brains of neonatal and adult rats but not in kidney, liver, lung, and muscle of either. The sequence of the proteoglycan did not exhibit significant homology to any other known protein, indicating that the proteoglycan, designated neuroglycan C, is a novel integral membrane proteoglycan.