Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) Homologous Factors: New Members of the FGF Family Implicated in Nervous System Development

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 93; no. 18; pp. 9850 - 9857
• Main Authors: Smallwood, Philip M., Munoz-Sanjuan, Ignacio, Tong, Patrick, Macke, Jennifer P., Stewart H. C. Hendry, Gilbert, Debra J., Copeland, Neal G., Jenkins, Nancy A., Nathans, Jeremy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 03.09.1996; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Animals; Base Sequence; Brain; Cellular immunity; Chromosome Mapping; Complementary DNA; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA, Complementary - chemistry; Exons; Fibroblast Growth Factors - genetics; Fibroblast Growth Factors - physiology; Genes; Genetic loci; Genomics; Haplorhini; Humans; Introns; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Nervous system; Nervous System - growth & development; Neurons; Peptides; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Tissue Distribution
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.93.18.9850

Four new members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family, referred to as fibroblast growth factor homologous factors (FHFs), have been identified by a combination of random cDNA sequencing, data base searches, and degenerate PCR. Pairwise comparisons between the four FHFs show between 58% and 71% amino acid sequence identity, but each FHF shows less than 30% identity when compared with other FGFs. Like FGF-1 (acidic FGF) and FGF-2 (basic FGF), the FHFs lack a classical signal sequence and contain clusters of basic residues that can act as nuclear localization signals. In transiently transfected 293 cells FHF-1 accumulates in the nucleus and is not secreted. Each FHF is expressed in the developing and adult nervous systems, suggesting a role for this branch of the FGF family in nervous system development and function.