Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Organization of the human /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor gene

Journal Article · · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA; (United States)

The authors have isolated overlapping phage genomic clones covering an area of 26 kilobases that encodes the human /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor. The /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor gene contains 10 exons and 9 introns distributed over /approx/16 kilobases of DNA. To our knowledge, the number of introns is the highest yet reported for a member of the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) superfamily. All introns are located in the 5'-half of the corresponding mRNA. The 5'-untranslated region and the leader sequence are interrupted by 3 introns totaling /approx/6 kilobases. A TATA box sequence is located 17 nucleotides upstream from the proposed transcription initiation site. Multiple GC box sequences, G+C-rich sequences, and CCAAT box-like sequence, the hepatitis B virus enhancer element-like sequence and the human immunodeficiency virus enhancer-like sequence appear in the 5'-flanking region. The NH/sub 2/-terminal region, which implements factor XIII-catalyzed cross-linking of /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor to fibrin, is encoded by the 4th exon. The reactive site and plasminogen-binding site, both located in the COOH-terminal region, are encoded by the 10th exon. When similar amino acids of /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor and other members of the serpin gene superfamily are aligned, the position of the 7th intron of the /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor gene aligns precisely with that of the second intron of the genes for rat angiotensinogen and human /alpha//sub 1/-antitrypsin genes and is misaligned by only one nucleotide with that of the third intron of antithrombin III, suggesting that the /alpha//sub 2/-plasmin inhibitor gene originates from the common ancestor of these serine protease inhibitors.

Research Organization:
Tokyo Medical and Dental Univ. (Japan)
OSTI ID:
5822121
Journal Information:
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA; (United States), Journal Name: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA; (United States) Vol. 85:18; ISSN PNASA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English