Isolation and Characterization of a Xenopus laevis C Protein cDNA: Structure and Expression of a Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein Core Protein

The C proteins are major components of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein complexes in nuclei of vertebrate cells. To begin to describe their structure, expression, and function we isolated and determined the DNA sequence of Xenopus laevis C protein cDNA clones. The protein predicted from the DNA sequence has a molecular mass of 30,916 kDa and is very similar to its human counterpart. Although mammalian genomes contain many copies of C protein sequence, the Xenopus genome contains few copies. When C protein RNA was synthesized in vitro and microinjected into stage-VI Xenopus oocytes, newly synthesized C proteins were efficiently localized in the nucleus. In vitro rabbit reticulocyte lysate and in vivo Xenopus oocyte translation systems both produce from a single mRNA two discrete polypeptide species that accumulate in a ratio similar to that of mammalian C1 and C2 proteins in vivo.