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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1977 Nov;74(11):4826–4830. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.11.4826

Characterization of a common precursor to corticotropin and beta-lipotropin: cell-free synthesis of the precursor and identification of corticotropin peptides in the molecule.

J L Roberts, E Herbert
PMCID: PMC432048  PMID: 200934

Abstract

mRNA was isolated from cultures of AtT-20/D-16v tumor cells and translated in a mRNA-dependent reticulocyte cell-free system. The corticotropin (ACTH) product was purified by a double-antibody immunoprecipitation procedure using antisera specific for the alpha(1-24) sequence of ACTH. The product is shown by sodium dodecyl sulfate/gel electrophoresis and gel filtration on guanidine-HCl columns to be homogeneous with an apparent molecular weight (Mr) of 28,500. A product with the same molecular weight is synthesized when membrane-bound polysomes from D-16v cells are allowed to complete their nascent chains in a reticulocyte cell-free system. Mr 31,000 ACTH isolated from tumor cells has been separated into three proteins of different apparent Mr:29,000, 32,000, and 34,000. The cell-free product contains the same lysine-, methionine-, and phenylalanine-labeled tryptic peptides as the Mr 29,000 ACTH synthesized in the tumor cells. Tryptic peptide analysis also reveals the presence of the alpha(1-39) sequence in the Mr 28,500 cell-free product and suggests that there is only one copy of this sequence in the Mr 28,500 molecule.

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Selected References

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

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