T-PROTEIN OF THE GLYCINE DECARBOXYLASE MULTIENZYME COMPLEX - EVIDENCE FOR PARTIAL SIMILARITY TO FORMYLTETRAHYDROFOLATE SYNTHETASE

We have isolated and sequenced cDNA clones encoding T-protein of the glycine decarboxylase complex from three plant species, Flaveria pringlei, Solanum tuberosum. and Pisum sativum. The predicted amino acid sequences of these clones are at least 87% identical and all are similar to the predicted sequences of the bovine, human, chicken and Escherichia coli T-proteins. Alignment of all these sequences revealed conserved domains, one of which showed a significant similarity to a part of the formyltetrahydrofolate synthetases from procaryotes and eucaryotes. This suggests that the T-protein sequence is not as unique as previously thought.