A second mammalian antizyme: conservation of programmed ribosomal frameshifting

A second mammalian ornithine decarboxylase antizyme was discovered. The deduced protein sequence of the human antizyme2 is 54% identical and 67% similar to human antizyme1 but 99.5% identical to mouse antizyme2. Polyamine-regulated programmed ribosomal frameshifting is used in decoding antizyme2 mRNA as it is for antizyme1 mRNA. The mRNA signals for the programmed frameshifting are similar in the mRNAs for the two antizymes. However, in the stimulatory pseudoknot 3' of the shift site, while the sequences of the stems are highly conserved, the sequences of the loops are divergent. Functional distinctions between antizymes seem likely, but no distinction in the tissue distribution of human antizyme1 and 2 mRNAs was distinguished, though antizyme2 mRNA is 16-fold less abundant than its antizyme1 counterpart. In addition to the previously characterized human antizyme1 mRNA, a second antizyme1 mRNA with an additional 160 nucleotides at its 3' end was identified, and it has a tissue distribution different from that of the shorter antizyme1 mRNA.