We have discovered a new member of the class I small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan (SLRP) family which is distinct from the other class I SLRPs since it possesses a unique stretch of aspartate residues at its N terminus. For this reason, we called the molecule asporin. The deduced amino acid sequence is about 50% identical (and 70% similar) to decorin and biglycan. However, asporin does not contain a serine/glycine dipeptide sequence required for the assembly of O-linked glycosaminoglycans and is probably not a proteoglycan. The tissue expression of asporin partially overlaps with the expression of decorin and biglycan. During mouse embryonic development, asporin mRNA expression was detected primarily in the skeleton and other specialized connective tissues; very little asporin message was detected in the major parenchymal organs. The mouse asporin gene structure is similar to that of biglycan and decorin with 8 exons. The asporin gene is localized to human chromosome 9q22-9q21.3 where asporin is part of a SLRP gene cluster that includes extracellular matrix protein 2, osteoadherin, and osteoglycin. Further analysis shows that, with the exception of biglycan, all known SLRP genes reside in three gene clusters.The small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycans (or SLRPs) 1 are a group of extracellular proteins (ECM) that belong to the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) superfamily of proteins (1, 2). The LRR is a protein folding motif composed of 20 -30 amino acids with leucines in conserved positions. LRR-containing proteins are present in a broad spectrum of organisms and possess diverse cellular functions and localization (3). The members of the SLRP subfamily have core proteins of similar size (about 40 kilodaltons) that are dominated by a central domain composed of 6 -10 tandemly repeated LRRs. This domain is flanked by smaller, less conserved N-terminal and C-terminal regions containing cysteines in characteristic positions.Most of the SLRP proteins are proteoglycans, and the SLRP gene family has been subdivided into 3 classes based on similarities in overall amino acid sequence, spacing of cysteine residues in the N terminus, and gene structure. The previously identified class I members, decorin (4) and biglycan (5), are the most closely related SLRPs based on amino acid sequences; the human sequences are 57% identical. The core proteins contain 10 LRRs, and the N-terminal regions of decorin and biglycan are substituted with one and two chondroitin/dermatan sulfate chains, respectively. The cysteine-rich cluster in the N terminus of class I SLRPs has an amino acid spacing of CX 3 CXCX 6 C. The mouse decorin (6) and biglycan genes (7) contain 8 exons.The class II members, fibromodulin (8), lumican (9), PRELP (10), keratocan (11), and osteoadherin (12), have a pairwise amino acid sequence identity between 37 and 55% and have a common gene structure composed of three exons. The cysteine spacing in the N-terminal region of class II SLRPs is identical (CX 3 CXCX 9 C) but different from the other SLRP classes. The core pro...