The nucleotide sequence of rat α-tubulin: 3'-end characteristics, and evolutionary conservation

The structure and sequence of rat alpha-tubulin cDNA clone is being described. The 3'-end of the coding region contains the codon for a C-terminal tyrosine, which was previously considered to be post-translationally added to the completed polypeptide chain. A close homology in the coding sequence is observed when a-tubulin from rat and chick are compared, while the 3-non-translated region had diverged considerably.