Sequence conservation in the 3′-untranslated regions of neurone-specific enolase, lymphokine and protooncogene mRNAs

AbstractThe C-terminal protein-coding and the entire 3′-untranslated regions of a cDNA corresponding to human neurone-specific enolase mRNA have been sequenced. The 3′-untranslated region is 892 bases long and shows a high degree of homology with the 3′-untranslated region of rat neurone-specific enolase mRNA. This sequence conservation is not seen in non-neuronal enolase mRNAs. Features of the conserved sequence include an A-rich region approx. 250 bases from the stop codon at a point corresponding to the polyadenylation signal site in non-neuronal enolase mRNA, and a repeating ATTT sequence. This unusual motif in eukaryotic mRNAs has previously been reported in the 3′-untranslated regions of lymphokine and protooncogene mRNAs