J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 266, Issue 22, 14256-14261, 08, 1991

Rat thymosin beta 4 gene. Intron-containing gene and multiple retroposons

S Varghese and HM Kronenberg
Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Thymosin beta 4 (T beta 4), a 43-residue peptide of uncertain function, is widely distributed in most tissues of vertebrates. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that the rat genome contains many closely related T beta 4 sequences. Two distinct T beta 4 sequences were isolated by screening a rat genomic DNA library. Analysis of these clones revealed that they represent T beta 4 retroposons; they lack introns and contain stretches of poly(A) sequence at their 3' ends and direct repeats flanking the cDNA-like sequences. In order to isolate a T beta 4 intron- containing gene, DNA fragments that include T beta 4 introns were generated by polymerase chain reaction, using rat genomic DNA as template. Subsequent Southern blot analysis of rat genomic DNA with intron-specific probes demonstrated the presence of a single T beta 4 intron-containing gene. Upon screening the rat genomic DNA library with an intron-specific probe, two overlapping clones of the T beta 4 intron- containing gene were isolated. Further characterization and sequence analysis showed that the rat T beta 4 intron-containing gene has a 2- kilobase pair-long transcription unit containing two introns. The transcription initiation site and putative regulatory elements of the promoter were identified.
CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Q. SUN and H. L. YIN The beta-Thymosin Enigma Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., September 1, 2007; 1112(1): 45 - 55. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]