Evidence for internal homology in bovine preproparathyroid hormone

D. V. Cohn, F. L. Smardo, J. J. Morrissey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

By means of a statistical method for detecting distant evolutionary relationships between proteins, we found a high probability that internal homologies exist in preproparathyroid hormone, the biological precursor of proparathyroid hormone and parathyroid hormone. The regions so defined were -27 to +22 of preproparathyroid hormone vs. +26 to +74 parathyroid hormone and -23 to +29 of preproparathyroid hormone vs. +30 to +81 of parathyroid hormone. Examination of these regions for possible similarities of internal secondary structure (β turns, α helix, and β sheet) by a second type of predictive formulation indicated that most of the regions calculated to be related on an evolutionary basis were likewise homologous in terms of structure. These results and other considerations suggest that a primitive form of parathyroid hormone, possibly of pituitary origin, existed (or still exists). Parathyroid hormone of higher species likely was formed by gene doubling and fusion of the primitive gene.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1469-1471
Number of pages3
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume76
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1979

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