Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 271, Issue 51, 20 December 1996, Pages 32951-32959
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Nucleic Acids, Protein Synthesis, and Molecular Genetics
cDNA Cloning and Sequencing Reveal the Major Horse Allergen Equ c1 to Be a Glycoprotein Member of the Lipocalin Superfamily*

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The gene encoding the major horse allergen, designated Equus caballus allergen 1 (Equ c1), was cloned from total cDNA of sublingual salivary glands by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using synthetic degenerate oligonucleotides deduced from N-terminal and internal peptide sequences of the glycosylated hair dandruff protein. A recombinant form of the protein, with a polyhistidine tail, was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The recombinant protein is able to induce a passive cutaneous anaphylaxis reaction in rat, and it behaves similarly to the native Equ c1 in several immunological tests with allergic patients' IgE antibodies, mouse monoclonal antibodies, or rabbit polyclonal IgG antibodies. Amino acid sequence identity of 49-51% with rodent urinary proteins from mice and rats suggests that Equ c1 is a new member of the lipocalin superfamily of hydrophobic ligand-binding proteins that includes several other major allergens. An RNA blot analysis demonstrates the expression of mRNA Equ c1 in liver and in sublingual and submaxillary salivary glands.

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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The nucleotide sequence(s) reported in this paper has been submitted to the GenBank™/EMBL Data Bank with accession number(s) U70823.