The apoprotein of the major rat brain myelin P7 proteolipid: alignment of the BNPS-skatole fragments and present state of the sequence

Characterization of myelin proteolipid mRNAs in normal and jimpy mice

A clone specific for the rat myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) was isolated from a cDNA library made in pUC18 from 17-day-old rat brain stem mRNA. This clone corresponded to the carboxyl-terminal third of the PLP-coding region. The clone was used to identify PLP-specific mRNAs in mouse brain and to establish the time course of PLP mRNA expression during mouse brain development. Three PLP-specific mRNAs were seen, approximately 1,500, 2,400, and 3,200 bases in length, of which the largest was the most abundant. During brain development, the maximal period of PLP mRNA expression was from 14 to 25 days of age, and this was a similar time course to that for myelin basic protein mRNA expression. When the jimpy mouse, an X-linked dysmyelination mutant, was studied for PLP mRNA expression, low levels of PLP mRNA were seen which were approximately 5% of wild-type levels at 20 days of age. When jimpy brain RNA was analyzed by Northern blotting, the PLP-specific mRNA was shown to be 100 to 200 bases shorter than the wild-type PLP-specific mRNA. This size difference was seen in the two major PLP mRNAs, and it did not result from a loss of polyadenylation of these mRNAs.

Characterization of myelin proteolipid mRNAs in normal and jimpy mice

A clone specific for the rat myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) was isolated from a cDNA library made in pUC18 from 17-day-old rat brain stem mRNA. This clone corresponded to the carboxyl-terminal third of the PLP-coding region. The clone was used to identify PLP-specific mRNAs in mouse brain and to establish the time course of PLP mRNA expression during mouse brain development. Three PLP-specific mRNAs were seen, approximately 1,500, 2,400, and 3,200 bases in length, of which the largest was the most abundant. During brain development, the maximal period of PLP mRNA expression was from 14 to 25 days of age, and this was a similar time course to that for myelin basic protein mRNA expression. When the jimpy mouse, an X-linked dysmyelination mutant, was studied for PLP mRNA expression, low levels of PLP mRNA were seen which were approximately 5% of wild-type levels at 20 days of age. When jimpy brain RNA was analyzed by Northern blotting, the PLP-specific mRNA was shown to be 100 to 200 bases shorter than the wild-type PLP-specific mRNA. This size difference was seen in the two major PLP mRNAs, and it did not result from a loss of polyadenylation of these mRNAs.

Structure and molecular arrangement of proteolipid protein of central nervous system myelin

Proteolipid protein (PLP) of central nervous system myelin is one of the most hydrophobic integral membrane proteins. It consists of a 276-residue-long polypeptide chain with five strongly hydrophobic sequences of 26, 30, 39, 12, and 36 residues, respectively, linked by highly charged hydrophilic sequences. Hyposmotically dissociated bovine myelin membranes were treated with trypsin. PLP was completely cleaved into smaller fragments, whereas basic myelin protein remained essentially unaltered. The proteins and tryptic peptides of myelin were separated after the removal of the short, water-soluble peptides into three large fragments of 11, 7.3, and 9.0 kDA, respectively. They were characterized by their molecular mass and NH2-terminal amino acid sequences, which proved that trypsin cleaved predominantly at Arg-97 yielding the 11-kDa fragment from Gly-1 through Arg-97, at Arg-126 releasing the 7.3-kDa fragment from Gly-127 through Lys-191, and at Lys-191 releasing the 9-kDa fragment from Thr-192 through Phe-276. We propose that PLP is integrated into the lipid bilayer of myelin with the NH2 terminus and three positively charged hydrophilic loops oriented toward the extracytosolic side of the membrane, whereas one strongly negative hydrophilic loop and the positively charged COOH terminus cover the cytosolic side of the lipid bilayer. Basic myelin protein remains protected against tryptic cleavage, which indicates its apposition to the cytosolic side of the membrane. These cleavage sites of trypsin support the suggested orientation of PLP in the myelin membrane and thereby extend our knowledge about the molecular arrangement of the components of this membrane. In demyelinating processes membrane desintegration could be initiated by proteolysis at the external surfaces of proteolipid protein in a similar way as described here.

Amino acid sequence of bovine white matter proteolipid

The sequence of the bovine white matter proteolipid has been studied by a combination of proteolytic digestion and chemical cleavage at tryptophan residues. Alignment of peptides obtained by digestion with trypsin, chymotrypsin, clostripain, and Staphylococcus aureus protease gave the sequence of 52 residues at the amino terminus, 96 residues at the carboxyl terminus, and several additional segments. Peptides obtained by treatment of the protein with 2-(2-nitrophenylsulfenyl)-3-methyl-3'-bromoindolenine confirmed the alignment and extended the sequence. This information, combined with that of other investigators, permits us to propose the primary structure for the entire protein. On the basis of the sequence determination, the molecular weight of the proteolipid protein is 29,869.