The present invention relates, in general, to urate oxidase (uricase) proteins and nucleic acid molecules encoding same. In particular, the invention relates to uricase proteins which are particularly useful as, for example, intermediates for making improved modified uricase proteins with reduced immunogenicity and increased bioavailability.
1. A protein comprising a recombinant uricase chimeric protein which comprises 304 amino acids, the first 225 N-terminal portion of said 304 amino acids being amino acids 1–225 of porcine uricase and the remaining 79 amino acids of said 304 amino acids being amino acids 226–304 of baboon uricase.
2. A protein comprising a recombinant uricase chimeric protein which comprises 304 amino acids, the first 288 N-terminal portion of said 304 amino acids being amino acids 1–288 of porcine uricase and the remaining 16 amino acids of said 304 amino acids being amino acids 289–304 of baboon uricase.
3. A recombinant uricase protein selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:s 2, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
4. An isolated and purified nucleic acid molecule coding for the recombinant uricase of claim 1 .
5. An isolated and purified nucleic acid molecule coding for the recombinant uricase of claim 2 .
6. An isolated and purified nucleic acid molecule coding for the recombinant uricase of claim 3 .
7. An isolated and purified nucleic acid molecule of claim 6 having a base sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.
8. An isolated and purified nucleic acid molecule of claim 6 having a base sequence of SEQ ID NO:3.
9. A vector comprising a nucleic acid molecule of claim 6 .
10. A host cell comprising a vector according to claim 9 .