Analysis of a eukaryotic beta-galactosidase gene: the N-terminal end of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis protein shows homology to the Escherichia coli lacZ gene product.

The LAC4 gene of Kluyveromyces lactis, encoding the enzyme beta-galactosidase was mapped on a cloned DNA fragment and the sequence of the 5' end was determined. This sequence includes the 5' regulatory region involved in the induction by lactose and the N-terminal end of the protein coding region. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of this eukaryotic enzyme with the N-terminal end of the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase revealed substantial homology. Two major RNA initiation sites were mapped at -115 and -105. A number of structural peculiarities of the 5'non-coding region are discussed as in comparison to Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes.     

Cloning and sequencing of an apparently recombinant promoter for napin gene from Brassica campestris genomic library and its evolutionary significance

From a genomic library of Brassica campestris (brown sarson cv. B54), we have cloned and sequenced about 2 kb of upstream regulatory region from one of the 2S albumin-coding gene family. The sequence has several seed-specific promoter motifs. A sequence alignment of the 5' flanking regions of the available Brassica 2S storage protein genes showed that our sequence is a double crossover recombinant product of the two members of the napin gene family. A possible explanation of this fact is that Brassica species evolved through gene duplication and recombination from a common ancestor with fewer number of chromosomes and genes.     

Exon-intron organization and chromosomal localization of the mouse monoglyceride lipase gene

Monoglyceride lipase (MGL) functions together with hormone-sensitive lipase to hydrolyze intracellular triglyceride stores of adipocytes and other cells to fatty acids and glycerol. In addition, MGL presumably complements lipoprotein lipase in completing the hydrolysis of monoglycerides resulting from degradation of lipoprotein triglycerides. Cosmid clones containing the mouse MGL gene were isolated from a genomic library using the coding region of the mouse MGL cDNA as probe. Characterization of the clones obtained revealed that the mouse gene contains the coding sequence for MGL on seven exons, including a large terminal exon of approximately 2.6 kb containing the stop codon and the complete 3' untranslated region. Two different 5' leader sequences, diverging 21 bp upstream of the predicted translation initiation codon, were isolated from a mouse adipocyte cDNA library. Western blot analysis of different mouse tissues revealed protein size heterogeneities. The amino acid sequence derived from human MGL cDNA clones showed 84% identity with mouse MGL. The mouse MGL gene was mapped to chromosome 6 in a region with known homology to human chromosome 3q21.