Cloning, expression and mapping of the full-length cDNA of human CCTβ subunit

Chaperonins assist the proper folding of target proteins without being a part of the substrates. The eukaryotic cytosolic chaperonin, CCT-Chaperonin Containing TCP-1 (tailless complex polypeptide-1), is mainly involved in the formation of cytoskeletal proteins and is essential for cell viability. Mammalian CCT is commonly a protein complex composed of 7-9 subunit species. We have isolated a novel full-length cDNA from human testis cDNA library. This cDNA of 1935 bp contains a 1605 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 535 amino acids (aa). The deduced protein of the cDNA is highly homologous to the CCTβ subunit of saccharomyces cerevisiae, schizosaccharomyces pombe, caenorhabditis elegans and mouse, etc. Especially high homology (97%) is found between the deduced protein and mouse CCTβhomology, the protein encoded by the new gene was proposed to be a human CCTβ subunit. Northern hybridization showed that human CCTβ gene is expressed as a transcript of about 2.0 kb in various tissues. Overexpression w