Identification and characterization of cDNA clones encoding two homologous proteins that are part of the asialoglycoprotein receptor

Abstract

The asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) from rat liver contains the following three distinct protein species when it is analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis: RHL1 (42 kilodaltons), RHL2 (49 kilodaltons), and RHL3 (54 kilodaltons). In this paper we describe the isolation of cDNA clones encoding RHL1 and RHL2 from a cDNA library constructed from rat liver mRNA. A comparison of the predicted coding sequence for RHL2 with that for RHL1 showed that these sequences are highly homologous. The library also contained numerous cDNA clones for both RHL1 and RHL2 that were derived from unspliced precursor mRNAs. Differential splicing at the 5' end of the RHL1 transcript was inferred from the finding that two different types of RHL1 cDNA were identified, each having a different 5' terminus.