Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Biochemical Journal logoLink to Biochemical Journal
. 1985 Aug 15;230(1):133–141. doi: 10.1042/bj2300133

Molecular cloning and characterization of the cDNA coding for C4b-binding protein, a regulatory protein of the classical pathway of the human complement system.

L P Chung, D R Bentley, K B Reid
PMCID: PMC1152596  PMID: 3840370

Abstract

By using synthetic oligonucleotides as probes, plasmid clones containing portions of cDNA coding for human C4b-binding protein were isolated from a liver cDNA library. The entire amino acid sequence of the C4b-binding protein can be predicted from this study of the cloned cDNA when allied to a previous sequence study at the protein level [Chung, Gagnon & Reid (1985) Mol. Immunol. 22, 427-435], in which over 55% of the amino acid sequence, including the N-terminal 62 residues, was obtained. The plasmid clones isolated allowed the unambiguous determination of 1717 nucleotides of cDNA sequence between the codon for the 32nd amino acid in the sequence of C4b-binding protein and the 164th nucleotide in the 3' non-translated region. The sequence studies show that the secreted form of C4b-binding protein, found in plasma, is composed of chains of apparent Mr 70 000 that contains 549 amino acid residues. Examination of the protein and cDNA sequence results show that there are at least two polymorphic sites in the molecule. One is at position 44, which can be glutamine or threonine, and the other is at position 309, which can be tyrosine or histidine. Northern-blot analysis indicated that the mRNA for C4b-binding protein is approx. 2.5 kilobases long. The N-terminal 491 amino acids of C4b-binding protein can be divided into eight internal homologous regions, each approx. 60 amino acids long, which can be aligned by the presence in each region of four half-cystine, one tryptophan and several other conserved residues. These regions in C4b-binding protein are homologous with the three internal-homology regions that have been reported to be present within the Ba region of the complement enzyme factor B and also to the internal-homology regions found in the non-complement beta 2-glycoprotein I.

Full text

PDF
133

Images in this article

137Fig. 3.
on p.137

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anson D. S., Choo K. H., Rees D. J., Giannelli F., Gould K., Huddleston J. A., Brownlee G. G. The gene structure of human anti-haemophilic factor IX. EMBO J. 1984 May;3(5):1053–1060. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01926.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aviv H., Leder P. Purification of biologically active globin messenger RNA by chromatography on oligothymidylic acid-cellulose. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Jun;69(6):1408–1412. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.6.1408. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bernards R., Flavell R. A. Physical mapping of the globin gene deletion in hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin (HPFH). Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Apr 11;8(7):1521–1534. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.7.1521. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Birnboim H. C., Doly J. A rapid alkaline extraction procedure for screening recombinant plasmid DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Nov 24;7(6):1513–1523. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.6.1513. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Buell G. N., Wickens M. P., Payvar F., Schimke R. T. Synthesis of full length cDNAs from four partially purified oviduct mRNAs. J Biol Chem. 1978 Apr 10;253(7):2471–2482. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Campbell R. D., Bentley D. R., Morley B. J. The factor B and C2 genes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1984 Sep 6;306(1129):367–378. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1984.0097. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Carroll M. C., Campbell R. D., Bentley D. R., Porter R. R. A molecular map of the human major histocompatibility complex class III region linking complement genes C4, C2 and factor B. Nature. 1984 Jan 19;307(5948):237–241. doi: 10.1038/307237a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chirgwin J. M., Przybyla A. E., MacDonald R. J., Rutter W. J. Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in ribonuclease. Biochemistry. 1979 Nov 27;18(24):5294–5299. doi: 10.1021/bi00591a005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chung L. P., Gagnon J., Reid K. B. Amino acid sequence studies of human C4b-binding protein: N-terminal sequence analysis and alignment of the fragments produced by limited proteolysis with chymotrypsin and the peptides produced by cyanogen bromide treatment. Mol Immunol. 1985 Apr;22(4):427–435. doi: 10.1016/0161-5890(85)90127-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dahlbäck B., Müller-Eberhard H. J. Ultrastructure of C4b-binding protein fragments formed by limited proteolysis using chymotrypsin. J Biol Chem. 1984 Oct 10;259(19):11631–11634. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dahlbäck B. Purification of human C4b-binding protein and formation of its complex with vitamin K-dependent protein S. Biochem J. 1983 Mar 1;209(3):847–856. doi: 10.1042/bj2090847. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Dahlbäck B., Smith C. A., Müller-Eberhard H. J. Visualization of human C4b-binding protein and its complexes with vitamin K-dependent protein S and complement protein C4b. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jun;80(11):3461–3465. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.11.3461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dahlbäck B., Stenflo J. High molecular weight complex in human plasma between vitamin K-dependent protein S and complement component C4b-binding protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Apr;78(4):2512–2516. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.4.2512. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Duckworth M. L., Gait M. J., Goelet P., Hong G. F., Singh M., Titmas R. C. Rapid synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides VI. Efficient, mechanised synthesis of heptadecadeoxyribonucleotides by an improved solid phase phosphotriester route. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Apr 10;9(7):1691–1706. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.7.1691. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Fujita T., Gigli I., Nussenzweig V. Human C4-binding protein. II. Role in proteolysis of C4b by C3b-inactivator. J Exp Med. 1978 Oct 1;148(4):1044–1051. doi: 10.1084/jem.148.4.1044. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Fujita T., Nussenzweig V. The role of C4-binding protein and beta 1H in proteolysis of C4b and C3b. J Exp Med. 1979 Aug 1;150(2):267–276. doi: 10.1084/jem.150.2.267. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Gagnon J. Structure and activation of complement components C2 and factor B. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1984 Sep 6;306(1129):301–309. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1984.0091. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Gergen J. P., Stern R. H., Wensink P. C. Filter replicas and permanent collections of recombinant DNA plasmids. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Dec 20;7(8):2115–2136. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.8.2115. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Gigli I., Fujita T., Nussenzweig V. Modulation of the classical pathway C3 convertase by plasma proteins C4 binding protein and C3b inactivator. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Dec;76(12):6596–6600. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.12.6596. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Grosveld F. G., Dahl H. H., de Boer E., Flavell R. A. Isolation of beta-globin-related genes from a human cosmid library. Gene. 1981 Apr;13(3):227–237. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(81)90028-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lehrach H., Diamond D., Wozney J. M., Boedtker H. RNA molecular weight determinations by gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions, a critical reexamination. Biochemistry. 1977 Oct 18;16(21):4743–4751. doi: 10.1021/bi00640a033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Lozier J., Takahashi N., Putnam F. W. Complete amino acid sequence of human plasma beta 2-glycoprotein I. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jun;81(12):3640–3644. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.12.3640. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. McLachlan A. D. Tests for comparing related amino-acid sequences. Cytochrome c and cytochrome c 551 . J Mol Biol. 1971 Oct 28;61(2):409–424. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(71)90390-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Morley B. J., Campbell R. D. Internal homologies of the Ba fragment from human complement component Factor B, a class III MHC antigen. EMBO J. 1984 Jan;3(1):153–157. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01776.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Nagasawa S., Ichihara C., Stroud R. M. Cleavage of C4b by C3b inactivator: production of a nicked form of C4b, C4b', as an intermediate cleavage product of C4b by C3b inactivator. J Immunol. 1980 Aug;125(2):578–582. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Radloff R., Bauer W., Vinograd J. A dye-buoyant-density method for the detection and isolation of closed circular duplex DNA: the closed circular DNA in HeLa cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1967 May;57(5):1514–1521. doi: 10.1073/pnas.57.5.1514. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Reid K. B., Bentley D. R., Wood K. J. Cloning and characterization of the complementary DNA for the B chain of normal human serum C1q. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1984 Sep 6;306(1129):345–354. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1984.0095. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Reid K. B., Gagnon J. Human C4-binding protein: N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis and limited proteolysis by trypsin. FEBS Lett. 1982 Jan 11;137(1):75–79. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(82)80318-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Reid K. B., Porter R. R. The proteolytic activation systems of complement. Annu Rev Biochem. 1981;50:433–464. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.002245. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Rigby P. W., Dieckmann M., Rhodes C., Berg P. Labeling deoxyribonucleic acid to high specific activity in vitro by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol. 1977 Jun 15;113(1):237–251. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(77)90052-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Staden R. An interactive graphics program for comparing and aligning nucleic acid and amino acid sequences. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 May 11;10(9):2951–2961. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.9.2951. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Takahashi S., Takahashi M., Kaidoh T., Natsuume-Sakai S., Takahashi T. Genetic mapping of mouse C4-bp locus to the H-2D-Qa interval. J Immunol. 1984 Jan;132(1):6–8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. de Cordoba S. R., Ferreira A., Nussenzweig V., Rubinstein P. Genetic polymorphism of human C4-binding protein. J Immunol. 1983 Sep;131(3):1565–1569. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biochemical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biochemical Society

RESOURCES