A and P Globins

The coding sequences of a- and P-globins of human hemoglobin have been fused to the sequence of the chloroplastic transit peptide of the small subunit of Rubisco. These proteins were then coexpressed in transgenic tobacco plants, resulting in the production of a functional form of tetra-meric hemoglobin. The results demonstrate that a complex multimeric protein such as recombinant human hemoglobin can be obtained from tobacco in a functional form. 

The thalassemias are hereditary hemolytic diseases in which an imbalance occurs in the synthesis of globin chains. As a group, they are the most common single gene disorders in humans. Normally, synthesis of the a- and p-globin chains are coordinated, so that each a-globin chain has a p-globin chain partner. This leads to the forma... 

PROUDPOOT, N. Sequence analysis of the 5 -3ion coding regions of rabbit a- and p-globin messenger RRAs. J. Mol. Biol. 

Di Segni, G., Rosen, H., and Kaempfer, R., 1979, Competition between a- and p-globin messenger ribonucleic acids for eukaryotic initiation factor 2, Biochemistry 18 2847. 

Lodish, H. F., and Jacobsen, M., 1972, Regulation of hemoglobin synthesis. Equal rates of translation and termination of a and p globin chains, J. Biol. Chem. 247 3622. 

Parets-Soler, A., Reibel, L., and Schapira, G., 1981, Differential stimulation of a-and p-globin mRNA translation by Mr 50,000 and 28,000 polypeptide-containing fractions isolated from reticulocyte polysomes, FEBS Lett. 136 259. 

Pavlakis, G. N., Lockard, R. E., Vamvakopoulos, N., Rieser, L., RajBhandary, V. L., and Vournakis, J. N., 1980, Secondary structure of mouse and rabbit a- and P-globin mRNAs Differential accessibility of a and p initiator AUG codons towards nucleases. Cell 19 91. 

The Hb A expression plasmid pHE7 (5) containing human a- and p-globin genes and the E. coli methionine aminopeptidase gene was kindly provided by... 

FIGURE 4.17 Tetrameric arrangement of a- and P-globin chains in haemoglobin A... 

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