Nucleic Acids Research, 1983, Vol. 11, No. 22 8087-8101
© 1983
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY |
Intergenic DNA sequences flanking the pseudo alpha globin genes of human and chimpanzee
1Departments of Chemistry, University of California Davis, CA 95616 2Department of Genetics, University of California Davis, CA 95616 3Department of Biochemistry, University of California Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
*To whom correspondence should be communicated
Received August 5, 1983. Revised October 20, 1983. Accepted October 20, 1983.
We have determined the sequence of 2400 base pairs upstream from the human pseudo alpha globin (
) gene, and for comparison, 1100 base pairs of DNA within and upstream from the chimpanzee gene. The region upstream from the promoter of the gene shows no significant homology to the intergenic regions of the adult 2 and l globin genes.
The chimpanzee gene has a coding defect in common with the human gene, showing that the product of this gene, if any, was inactivated before the divergence of human and chimpanzee. However the chimpanzee gene contains a normal ATG initiation codon in contrast to the human gene which has GTG as the initiation codon.
The genes of both human and chimpanzee are flanked by the same Alu family member. The structure and position of this repeat have not been altered since the divergence of human and chimpanzee, and it is at least as well conserved as its immediate flanking sequence. Comparing human and chimpanzee, the 300 bp Alu repeat has accumulated only two base substitutions and one length mutation; the adjacent 300 bp flanking region has accumulated five base substitutions and twelve length mutations.