Structure of the human genomic region homologous to the bovine prochymosin-encoding gene

Two human genomic libraries were probed with bovine prochymosin (bPC) cDNA. Recombinant clones covering a genomic region homologous to the entire coding region and flanking sequences of the bPC gene were isolated. Human sequences homologous to exons of the bPC gene are distributed in a DNA fragment of 10 kb. Alignment of the human sequences and the exons of bPC reveals that the human 'exons' 1-3, 5 and 7-9 have sizes identical to the corresponding bovine exons, but a nucleotide (nt) has been deleted in the human exon 4 and two nt in the human exon 6. The aligned human sequence and the coding part of bPC gene share 82% nt homology, the value ranging, in separate exons, from 76 (exon 1) to 84% (exons 5 and 6). 150 bp of 5'-flanking sequence of the human gene has 75% homology to the corresponding region of bPC gene and contains a TATA-box in a similar position. A 1-nt deletion in the human exon 4 would shift the translational reading frame of a putative human PC mRNA relative to bPC mRNA, and result in an in-phase terminator spanning codons 163 and 164 in bPC mRNA. Another terminator in-phase with the amino-acid sequence encoded by the bPC gene occurs in the human exon 5 and the second frameshift mutation in exon 6. Thus, the nt sequence analysis of the human genomic region has revealed the presence of mutations that have rendered it unable to produce a full-length protein homologous to bPC and, therefore, we refer to this gene as a human prochymosin pseudogene (hPC psi). Blot-hybridization analysis of human genomic DNA indicates that hPC psi is a single gene in the human genome.     

Structure of the murine mb-1 gene encoding a putative sIgM-associated molecule

Genomic DNA clones containing the B cell-specific murine mb-1 gene were isolated and a 5.6-kb BamH I fragment was characterized. It is 5629 bp long and contains five exons: an exon containing the 5' untranslated and the coding sequence of the signal peptide, an exon of 294 bp, which contains most of the extracellular sequence of the MB-1 protein, a 119-bp long exon coding mainly for the transmembrane portion, and two exons of 69 bp and 427 bp encoding the cytoplasmic domain and the 3'-untranslated region, respectively. The mb-1 gene does not contain a "TATA box" found in many eukaryotic promoters. The 5'-flanking region has sequence stretches homologous to IgVH 5'-promoter regions and a bcl 2 intron sequence. It contains the decanucleotide sequence (ATGGCAAATA) almost identical to the octamer motif of IgVH promoters. A B cell-specific DNase I-hypersensitive site was found in the 3'-flanking region indicating that this region might be involved in B cell-specific expression of mb-1. Southern blot analysis of genomic liver DNA with the cloned mb-1 cDNA suggests the existence of another mb-1-related gene segment.     

The human heat-shock protein family. Expression of a novel heat-inducible HSP70 (HSP70B'') and isolation of its cDNA and genomic DNA.

The human heat-shock protein multigene family comprises several highly conserved proteins with structural and functional properties in common, but which vary in the extent of their inducibility in response to metabolic stress. We have isolated and characterized a novel human HSP70 cDNA, HSP70B' cDNA, and its corresponding gene sequence. HSP70B' cDNA hybrid-selected an mRNA encoding a more basic 70 kDa heat-shock protein that both the major stress-inducible HSP70 and constitutively expressed HSC70 heat-shock proteins, which in common with other heat-shock 70 kDa proteins bound ATP. The complete HSP70B' gene was sequenced and, like the major inducible HSP70 gene, is devoid of introns. The HSP70B' gene has 77% sequence similarity to the HSP70 gene and 70% similarity to HSC70 cDNA, with greatest sequence divergence towards the 3'-terminus. The HSP70B' gene represents a functional gene, as indicated by Northern-blot analysis with specific oligonucleotides, hybrid-selected translation with a specific 3' cDNA sequence and S1 nuclease protection experiments. In contrast with HSP70 mRNA, which is present at low concentrations in HeLa cells and readily induced by heat or CdCl2 treatment in both fibroblasts and HeLa cells, HSP70B' mRNA was induced only at higher temperature and showed no basal expression. The differences in patterns of induction may be due to the special features of the promoter region of the HSP70B' gene.     

Human U1-70K ribonucleoprotein antigen gene: organization, nucleotide sequence, and mapping to locus 19q13.3

We have isolated and sequenced the gene encoding the human U1-70K snRNP protein. U1-70K is an RNA-binding protein that is a specific component of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein complex (snRNP) and constitutes the major anti-(U1) RNP autoimmune antigen. We have mapped the U1-70K gene to the distal portion of chromosome 19, at band q13.3. The gene is greater than 44 kb in size and consists of 11 exons. The general structure of the gene has been completely conserved during vertebrate evolution and accounts for the production of several different U1-70K mRNA species by alternative pre-mRNA splicing. Comparison of the predicted amino acid sequences of animal U1-70K proteins reveals a high degree of conservation, particularly in the region of the RNP consensus domain. Even more striking is the complete conservation of the nucleotide sequence of an alternative included/excluded exon containing an in-frame translational termination codon. This conservation also includes significant portions of the downstream intervening sequence. This extraordinary conservation at the nucleotide sequence level suggests that alternative splicing of this exon serves an important function, perhaps in regulating the production of functional U1-70K protein.     

Structure and expression of the three MHC-linked HSP70 genes

A duplicated locus encoding the major heat shock-induced protein HSP70 is located in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class III region 92 kilobases (kb) telomeric to the C2 gene. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the two intronless genes, HSP70-1 and HSP70-2, has shown that they encode an identical protein product of 641 amino acids. A third intronless gene, HSP70-Hom, has also been identified 4 kb telomeric to the HSP70-1 gene. This encodes a more basic protein of 641 amino acids which has 90% sequence similarity with HSP70-1. In order to investigate the expression of the three (MHC)-linked HSP70 genes individually by northern blot analysis, we have isolated locus-specific probes from the 3 untranslated regions of the genes. The HSP70-1 and HSP70-2 genes have been shown to be expressed at high levels as a 2.4 kb mRNA in cells heat-shocked at 42°C. HSP70-1 is also expressed constitutively at very low levels. The HSP70-Hom gene, which has no heat shock consensus sequence in its 5 flanking sequence, is expressed as a 3 kb mRNA at low levels both constitutively and following heat shock.The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession numbers M34267-9. Address correspondence and offprint requests to: R. D. Campbell.