The chicken carbonic anhydrase II gene: evidence for a recent shift in intron position.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the coding region of the chicken carbonic anhydrase II (CA II) gene has been determined from clones isolated from a chicken genomic library. The sequence of a nearly full length chicken CA II cDNA clone has also been obtained. The gene is approximately 17 kilobase pairs (kb) in size and codes for a protein that is comprised of 259 amino acid residues. The 5' flanking region contains consensus sequences commonly associated with eucaryotic genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II. Six introns ranging in size from 0.3 to 10.2 kb interrupt the gene. The number of introns as well as five of the six intron locations are conserved between the chicken and mouse CA II genes. The site of the fourth intron is shifted by 14 base pairs further 3' in the chicken and thus falls between codons 147 and 148 rather than within codon 143 as in the mouse gene. Measurements of CA II RNA levels in various cell types suggest that CA II RNA increases in parallel with globin RNA during erythropoiesis and exists only at low levels, if at all, in non-erythroid cells.     

Chromosomal arrangement of the duck alpha-globin genes and primary structure of the embryonic alpha-globin gene pi

A recombinant lambda Charon 4A bacteriophage, D alpha G-1, carrying the genes coding for the duck embryonic (pi') and adult (alpha A, alpha D) alpha-like globins was isolated from a previously constructed duck DNA recombinant library. The three globin genes are transcribed from the same DNA strand and are arranged in the order of their expression during development: 5'-pi'-alpha D-alpha A-3'. We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the duck pi'-globin gene, including the flanking regions. Due to the unusual length of intron 1 (963 bp) and intron 2 (568 bp) the 2167-bp duck pi'-globin gene is by far the largest among all known mammalian or avian alpha- and beta-globin genes. For instance, the duck pi'-globin gene introns are almost twice as long as those of the chicken pi'-globin genes. A surprisingly high degree of nucleotide sequence homology (88%) has been found for the 5' flanking region (positions -1 to -223) of the duck and chicken pi'-globin gene.     

Molecular structure and flanking nucleotide sequences of the natural chicken ovomucoid gene

Five independent clones containing the natural chicken ovomucoid gene have been isolated from a chicken gene library. One of these clones, CL21, contains the complete ovomucoid gene and includes more than 3 kb of DNA sequences flanking both termini of the gene. Restriction endonuclease mapping, electron microscopy and direct DNA sequencing analyses of this clone have revealed that the ovomucoid gene is 5.6 kb long and codes for a messenger RNA of 821 nucleotides. The structural gene sequence coding Ifor the mature messenger RNA is split into at least eight segments by a minimum of seven intervening sequences of various sizes. The shortest structural gene segment is only 20 nucleotides long. All seven intervening sequences are located within the peptide coding region of the gene, and the sequences at the 5' and 3' untranslated regions of the mRNA are not interrupted by intervening sequences. The DNA sequences of the regions flanking the 5' and 3' termini of the gene have been determined. Thirty nucleotides before the start of the messenger RNA coding sequence is the heptanucleotide TATATAT, which is also present in a similar location relative to the chicken ovalbumin gene and other unique sequence eucaryotic genes. This sequence resembles that of the Pribnow box in procaryotic genes where a promoter function has been implicated. Seven nucleotides past the 3' end of the gene is the tetranucleotide TTGT, a sequence found to be present at identical locations as either TTTT or TTGT in other eucaryotic genes that have been sequenced. These conserved DNA sequences flanking eucaryotic genes may serve some regulator function in the expression of these genes.     

Vertebrate histone genes: nucleotide sequence of a chicken H2A gene and regulatory flanking sequences.

The DNA sequence of a chicken genomal fragment containing a histone H2A gene has been determined. It contains extensive 5' and 3' flanking regions and encodes a protein identical in sequence to the histone H2A protein isolated from chicken erythrocytes. In the 5' flanking region, a possible "TATA box" and three possible "cap sites" can be recognised upstream from the initiation codon. To the 5' side of the "TATA box" is found an unusual sequence of 21 A's interrupted by a central G residue. It occupies the same relative position as the P. miliaris H2A gene-specific 5' dyad symmetry sequence and the "CCAAT box" seen in other eukaryotic polymerase II genes but is clearly different from both. A significant feature of the 3' non-coding region is the presence of a 23 base-pair sequence that is nearly identical to a conserved region found in sea urchin histone genes. The coding region is extremely GC rich, with strong selection for these bases in the third position of codons. Not a single coding triplet ends in U. No intervening sequences were found in this gene.     

Characterization and nucleotide sequence of the gene for the common alpha subunit of the bovine pituitary glycoprotein hormones.

The gene coding for the common alpha subunit of the bovine pituitary glycoprotein hormones was isolated from a bovine genomic library. The gene spans roughly 16.5 kbp, contains three intervening sequences, and codes for a message of approximately 730 nucleotides. The complete coding region of the gene was sequenced as well as 315 nucleotides of 5' flanking sequence and the entire intron C. Only a single base difference was found when the sequence of the gene was compared with that of the cDNA. Genomic blotting experiments suggest the presence of a single alpha subunit gene. Comparison of the bovine and human alpha subunit genes indicated that the high level of homology observed in the coding regions has been maintained throughout the 5' and 3' untranslated regions, and at least 90 nucleotides of the 5'flanking regions. Additionally, there is an 18 base pair sequence present in both the 5' flanking and 5' untranslated regions of the gene that is homologous to a region of the chick ovalbumin gene. This ovalbumin sequence has been suggested as a binding site for the progesterone receptor-complex.     

Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of the cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene from Podospora anserina. A group IA intron with a putative alternative splice site

A 5 kb region of the 95 kb mitochondrial genome of Podospora anserina race s has been mapped and sequenced (1 kb = 10(3) base-pairs). This DNA region is continuous with the sequence for the ND4L and ND5 gene complex in the accompanying paper. We show that this sequence contains the gene for cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII). This gene is 4 kb in length and is interrupted by a subgroup IB intron (1267 base-pairs (bp) in length) and a subgroup IA intron (1992 bp in length). This group IA intron has a long open reading frame (ORF; 472 amino acid residues) discontinuous with the upstream exon sequence. A putative alternative splice site is present, which brings the ORF into phase with the 5' exon sequence. The 5'- and 3'-flanking regions of the COII gene contain G + C-rich palindromic sequences that resemble similar sequences flanking many Neurospora crassa mitochondrial genes.     

Evolutionary constraint in flanking regions of avian genes

An important comprehension from comparative genomic analysis is that sequence conservation beyond neutral expectations is frequently found outside protein-coding regions, indicating important functional roles of noncoding DNA. Understanding the causes of constraint on noncoding sequence evolution forms an important area of research, not least in light of the importance for understanding the evolution of gene expression. We aligned all orthologous genes of chicken and zebra finch together with 5 kb of their upstream and downstream noncoding sequences, to study the evolution of gene flanking sequences in the avian genome. Using ancestral repeats as a neutral reference, we detected significant evolutionary constraint in the 3' flanking region, highest directly after termination (60%) and then gradually decreasing to about 20% 5 kb downstream. Constraint was higher in annotated 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) than in non-UTRs at the same distance from the stop codon and higher in sequences annotated as microRNA (miRNA)-binding sites than in non-miRNA-binding sites within 3' UTRs. Constraint was also higher when estimated for a smaller data set of genes from more closely related songbird species, indicating turnover of functional elements during avian evolution. On the 5' flanking side constraint was readily seen within the first 125 bp immediately upstream of the start codon (34%) and was about 10% for remaining sequence within 5 kb upstream. Analysis of chicken polymorphism data gave further support for the highest constraint directly before and after the translated region. Finally, we found that genes evolving under the highest constraint measured by d(N)/d(S) also had the highest level of constraint in the 3' flanking region. This study broadens the insights into gene flanking sequence evolution by adding new findings from a vertebrate lineage other than mammals.     

The structure and expression of maize genes encoding the major heat shock protein, hsp70

We have isolated and sequenced two maize genomic clones that are homologous to the Drosophila hsp70 gene. One of the maize hsp70 clones contains the entire hsp70 coding region and 81 nucleotides of the 5' nontranslated sequence. The predicted amino acid sequence for this maize protein is 68% homologous to the hsp70 of Drosophila. The second maize hsp70 clone contains only part of the coding sequence and 1.1 kb of the 5' flanking sequence. This 5' flanking sequence contains two sequences homologous to the consensus heat-shock-element sequence. Both maize genes are thermally inducible and each contains an intron in the same position as that of the heat-shock-cognate gene, hsc1, of Drosophila. The presence of an intron in the maize genes is a distinguishing feature in that no other thermally inducible hsp70 genes described to date contain an intron. We have constructed a hybrid hsp70 gene containing the entire hsp70 coding sequence with an intron, and 1.1 kb of the 5' flanking sequence. We demonstrate that this hybrid gene is thermally inducible in a transgenic petunia plant and that the gene is expressed from its own promoter.     

Alternative RNA splicing of the murine alpha A-crystallin gene: protein-coding information within an intron

The eye lens contains a structural protein (alpha-crystallin), composed of two homologous primary gene products, alpha A2 and alpha B2. In certain rodents, there is another minor alpha-crystallin polypeptide, alpha Ains, which is identical to alpha A2 except for a 22 amino acid insert between residues 63 and 64 of the alpha A2 chain. Here we show that the mouse contains a single alpha A-crystallin gene, which has a 1376 bp intron separating codons 63 and 64 of the alpha A2-crystallin mRNA. A sequence encoding a 23 amino acid insert peptide was found 266 bp into the intron. The nucleotide borders of this sequence deviate from the AGGT consensus sequence. The DNA sequence encoding the insert peptide hybridizes to a cytoplasmic 14S RNA, demonstrating that it is transcribed in the lens. We propose that the murine alpha A2-crystallin gene generates both the alpha A2 and the alpha Ains mRNAs by alternative splicing.