PROTEIN AND DNA-SEQUENCE ANALYSIS OF A PRIVATE GENETIC VARIANT - ALBUMIN-ORTONOVO (GLU-505-]LYS)

Albumin Ortonovo is a slow moving variant of human serum albumin which has been found only in people coming from the small villages of Ortonovo and Nicola (Liguria, Italy) and reaches polymorphic frequency (greater than or equal to 1%) in the poorly admired population group living in that area. This is the first report of a 'private' variant detected in a Caucasian population. It probably originated as a mutation in a founder individual many generations ago. Isoelectric focusing analysis of CNBr fragments from the purified variant localized the mutation in fragment CNBr VI (residues 447-548). This fragment was isolated on a preparative scale by reversed-phase HPLC and subjected to Vs proteinase digestion. Sequence analysis of the abnormal Vs peptide revealed that the variant arises from a previously unreported substitution at position 505 where glutamic acid has been replaced by lysine. The protein data were confirmed by DNA sequence analysis which indicated a single nucleotide change of GAA --> AAA in the corresponding codon of the structural gene. Since the amino acid substitution found in albumin Ortonovo accords with its electrophoretic mobility on cellulose acetate, residue 505 is probably exposed to the solvent. The clustering of the mutations in the intersubdomain connection linking subdomains IIIA and IIIB (residues 492-511) accords with the fact that this region lies on the molecular surface and is accessible to solvent.