Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Construction And Screening Of A Cdna Library For The C3 Gene(S) Of The Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma Cirratum), Janette Cristina Builes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mammalian C3 is a complement protein which consists of an α chain (125kDa) and β chain (75kDa) held together by a disulfide bond. The a chain contains a conserved thiolester site which provides the molecule with opsonic properties. The protein is synthesized as a single pro-C3 molecule which is post-translationally modified. C3 genes have been identified in organisms from different phyla, however, the shark C3 gene remains to be cloned. Sequence data from the shark will contribute to understanding further the evolution of this key protein. To obtain additional sequence data for shark C3 genes a cDNA library was constructed …