Skip to main content
PMC home page
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
. 1991 Nov 1;88(21):9658–9662. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.21.9658

Identification of the neurofibromatosis type 1 gene product.

D H Gutmann 1, D L Wood 1, F S Collins 1
PMCID: PMC52777  PMID: 1946382

Abstract

The gene for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) was recently identified by positional cloning. The complete cDNA encodes a polypeptide of 2818 amino acids. To study the NF1 gene product, antibodies were raised against both fusion proteins and synthetic peptides. Initial characterization of two anti-peptide antibodies and one fusion-protein antibody demonstrated a specific protein of approximately 250 kDa by both immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. This protein was found in all tissues and cell lines examined and is detected in human, rat, and mouse tissues. To demonstrate that these antibodies specifically recognize the NF1 protein, additional fusion proteins containing the sequence specific to the synthetic peptide were generated. Both peptide antisera recognize the proper specific fusion proteins so generated. Immunoprecipitates using the peptide antisera were shown to recognize the same protein detected by immunoblotting with either the other peptide antiserum or the fusion-protein antiserum. Immunoblotting using antiserum specific to spatially distinct epitopes conducted on tissue homogenates demonstrated the NF1 protein in all adult tissues. Based on the homology between the NF1 gene product and members of the GTPase-activating protein (GAP) superfamily, the name NF1-GAP-related protein (NF1GRP) is suggested.

Full text

PDF
9658

Images in this article

9659Image
on p.9659
9660Image
on p.9660
9660Image
on p.9660
9660Image
on p.9660
9660Image
on p.9660
9661Image
on p.9661

Selected References

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

  1. Ballester R., Marchuk D., Boguski M., Saulino A., Letcher R., Wigler M., Collins F. The NF1 locus encodes a protein functionally related to mammalian GAP and yeast IRA proteins. Cell. 1990 Nov 16;63(4):851–859. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90151-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bonilla E., Samitt C. E., Miranda A. F., Hays A. P., Salviati G., DiMauro S., Kunkel L. M., Hoffman E. P., Rowland L. P. Duchenne muscular dystrophy: deficiency of dystrophin at the muscle cell surface. Cell. 1988 Aug 12;54(4):447–452. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90065-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Boulton T. G., Nye S. H., Robbins D. J., Ip N. Y., Radziejewska E., Morgenbesser S. D., DePinho R. A., Panayotatos N., Cobb M. H., Yancopoulos G. D. ERKs: a family of protein-serine/threonine kinases that are activated and tyrosine phosphorylated in response to insulin and NGF. Cell. 1991 May 17;65(4):663–675. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90098-j. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Buchberg A. M., Cleveland L. S., Jenkins N. A., Copeland N. G. Sequence homology shared by neurofibromatosis type-1 gene and IRA-1 and IRA-2 negative regulators of the RAS cyclic AMP pathway. Nature. 1990 Sep 20;347(6290):291–294. doi: 10.1038/347291a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cawthon R. M., Weiss R., Xu G. F., Viskochil D., Culver M., Stevens J., Robertson M., Dunn D., Gesteland R., O'Connell P. A major segment of the neurofibromatosis type 1 gene: cDNA sequence, genomic structure, and point mutations. Cell. 1990 Jul 13;62(1):193–201. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90253-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Goldgar D. E., Green P., Parry D. M., Mulvihill J. J. Multipoint linkage analysis in neurofibromatosis type I: an international collaboration. Am J Hum Genet. 1989 Jan;44(1):6–12. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hall A. ras and GAP--who's controlling whom? Cell. 1990 Jun 15;61(6):921–923. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90054-i. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hempstead B. L., Martin-Zanca D., Kaplan D. R., Parada L. F., Chao M. V. High-affinity NGF binding requires coexpression of the trk proto-oncogene and the low-affinity NGF receptor. Nature. 1991 Apr 25;350(6320):678–683. doi: 10.1038/350678a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hoffman E. P., Brown R. H., Jr, Kunkel L. M. Dystrophin: the protein product of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy locus. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):919–928. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90579-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hoffman E. P., Fischbeck K. H., Brown R. H., Johnson M., Medori R., Loike J. D., Harris J. B., Waterston R., Brooke M., Specht L. Characterization of dystrophin in muscle-biopsy specimens from patients with Duchenne's or Becker's muscular dystrophy. N Engl J Med. 1988 May 26;318(21):1363–1368. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198805263182104. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Klein R., Jing S. Q., Nanduri V., O'Rourke E., Barbacid M. The trk proto-oncogene encodes a receptor for nerve growth factor. Cell. 1991 Apr 5;65(1):189–197. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90419-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lidov H. G., Byers T. J., Watkins S. C., Kunkel L. M. Localization of dystrophin to postsynaptic regions of central nervous system cortical neurons. Nature. 1990 Dec 20;348(6303):725–728. doi: 10.1038/348725a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Martin G. A., Viskochil D., Bollag G., McCabe P. C., Crosier W. J., Haubruck H., Conroy L., Clark R., O'Connell P., Cawthon R. M. The GAP-related domain of the neurofibromatosis type 1 gene product interacts with ras p21. Cell. 1990 Nov 16;63(4):843–849. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90150-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Matus A. Neurofilament protein phosphorylation--where, when and why. Trends Neurosci. 1988 Jul;11(7):291–292. doi: 10.1016/0166-2236(88)90086-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. McLachlan D. R., Lukiw W. J., Mizzen C. A., Kruck T. P. Chromatin structure in Alzheimer's disease: effect on 5' leader sequence for NF-L gene and role of aluminum. Prog Clin Biol Res. 1989;317:1061–1075. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Mermod N., O'Neill E. A., Kelly T. J., Tjian R. The proline-rich transcriptional activator of CTF/NF-I is distinct from the replication and DNA binding domain. Cell. 1989 Aug 25;58(4):741–753. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90108-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Mitchell P. J., Timmons P. M., Hébert J. M., Rigby P. W., Tjian R. Transcription factor AP-2 is expressed in neural crest cell lineages during mouse embryogenesis. Genes Dev. 1991 Jan;5(1):105–119. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.1.105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Studier F. W., Rosenberg A. H., Dunn J. J., Dubendorff J. W. Use of T7 RNA polymerase to direct expression of cloned genes. Methods Enzymol. 1990;185:60–89. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(90)85008-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Tanaka K., Nakafuku M., Satoh T., Marshall M. S., Gibbs J. B., Matsumoto K., Kaziro Y., Toh-e A. S. cerevisiae genes IRA1 and IRA2 encode proteins that may be functionally equivalent to mammalian ras GTPase activating protein. Cell. 1990 Mar 9;60(5):803–807. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90094-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Viskochil D., Buchberg A. M., Xu G., Cawthon R. M., Stevens J., Wolff R. K., Culver M., Carey J. C., Copeland N. G., Jenkins N. A. Deletions and a translocation interrupt a cloned gene at the neurofibromatosis type 1 locus. Cell. 1990 Jul 13;62(1):187–192. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90252-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wallace M. R., Marchuk D. A., Andersen L. B., Letcher R., Odeh H. M., Saulino A. M., Fountain J. W., Brereton A., Nicholson J., Mitchell A. L. Type 1 neurofibromatosis gene: identification of a large transcript disrupted in three NF1 patients. Science. 1990 Jul 13;249(4965):181–186. doi: 10.1126/science.2134734. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Xu G. F., Lin B., Tanaka K., Dunn D., Wood D., Gesteland R., White R., Weiss R., Tamanoi F. The catalytic domain of the neurofibromatosis type 1 gene product stimulates ras GTPase and complements ira mutants of S. cerevisiae. Cell. 1990 Nov 16;63(4):835–841. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90149-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Xu G. F., O'Connell P., Viskochil D., Cawthon R., Robertson M., Culver M., Dunn D., Stevens J., Gesteland R., White R. The neurofibromatosis type 1 gene encodes a protein related to GAP. Cell. 1990 Aug 10;62(3):599–608. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90024-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES