Isolation and characterization of cDNA clones encoding the murine NAD-dependent methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase

Abstract

Forty cDNA clones corresponding to the bifunctional NAD-dependent methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase-methenyltetrahydrofolate cyclohydrolase enzyme were isolated from a mouse lambda gt11 library. Two classes of cDNA clones were shown by Northern analysis to correspond to the two mRNA species of 1.7 and 2.0 kilobases present in transformed cells but not in normal tissues and that apparently are derived from alternate polyadenylation signals. The 1050-base pair coding region encodes a protein of 350 amino acids which contains a putative mitochondrial-targeting signal peptide of 34 amino acids following the initiator methionine. The 20 amino acids immediately following the signal peptide correspond exactly to those determined by sequence analysis of the amino terminus of the purified protein. The derived amino acid sequence of the NAD-dependent dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase shows extensive homology with the corresponding amino-terminal sequence of the trifunctional NADP-dependent dehydrogenase-cyclohydrolase-synthetase enzyme from human cells (approximately 40%), yeast cytosol (approximately 36%), and yeast mitochondria (approximately 45%).