Isolation and characterization of a novel oligodendrocyte-specific protein

Myelin plays a critical role in nervous system function and alterations in myelin-specific proteins cause a variety of neurologic disorders. We isolated a novel cDNA from the CNS that shares little nucleotide sequence homology with previously reported genes but appears to encode a protein related to peripheral myelin protein-22 (PMP-22) based on its amino acid sequence, predicted structure, and cellular localization. PMP-22 is important in peripheral myelination and Schwann cell proliferation, and mutations in its gene cause diseases of peripheral nerves. The isolated cDNA is 1.8 kb in length with an open reading frame of 621 bp. Northern blot analysis detected hybridization of labeled cDNA with a single 2.1-kb transcript only in the CNS. In situ hybridization revealed expression of this cDNA in oligodendrocytes of brain and spinal cord as well as in oligodendrocyte-enriched cultures; therefore we have named it oligodendrocyte-specific protein (OSP) cDNA. An OSP-specific polyclonal antibody reacted with a single 22-kd protein present in CNS myelin and oligodendrocytes. Developmental expression of OSP mRNA in the spinal cord was similar to that of the mRNA for a major myelin protein, proteolipid protein (PLP), and similar to PMP-22 in peripheral nerves. Since OSP is localized to oligodendrocytes and myelin, has a similar structure with PMP-22, and has a developmental pattern of expression like other myelin proteins, it probably has an important role in CNS myelinogenesis.