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- Title
Evidence that the recently discovered \[thetas]1-globin gene is functional in higher primates.
- Authors
Shaw, Jeng-Pyng; Marks, Jon; Shen, Che-Kun James
- Abstract
A new subfamily of the α-globin-like family has recently been identified in higher primates1-3, rabbit4, galago5 and possibly the horse6. One member of this subfamily, \[thetas]1, is downstream from the adult α1-globin gene. In orang-utan, but not in rabbit4 or galago5, the \[thetas]1-gene appears to be structurally intact, suggesting that it may be functional in this species2. The orang-utan \[thetas]1-gene possesses initiation and termination codons, and the predicted polypeptide differs from the orang-utan α1-globin by 55 amino acids. The upstream promoter boxes CCAAT and ATA are present, although approximately 150 base pairs (bp) farther upstream than in the α1-gene. This structural difference in the promoter between the orang-utan \[thetas]1- and α1-genes has led Proudfoot7 to speculate that the \[thetas]1-gene may be inactive. We have now cloned the \[thetas]1-and α1-globin genes from the olive baboon, and have compared their sequences with those of orang-utan. The unique promoter structure of the orang-utan \[thetas]1-gene is highly conserved in baboon, although the orang-utan and baboon diverged nearly 30 million years ago. The coding sequences of the two \[thetas]1-genes differ by only 6.3% with 22 out of 27 nucleotide substitutions being codon third position silent changes. These data support the view that the \[thetas]1-gene has been functional in the baboon, orang-utan, and by implication, in man. We also estimate that the duplication event generating the \[thetas]1- and α-globin-like subfamilies may have occurred as much as 260 million years ago.
- Publication
Nature, 1987, Vol 326, Issue 6114, p717
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/326717a0