Conservation of ferritin heavy subunit gene structure: implications for the regulation of ferritin gene expression

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.84.21.7438· OSTI ID:6837884

Murray, M T; White, K; Munro, H N

Ferritin stores iron within a protein shell consisting of 24 subunits of two types, heavy (H) and light (L). According to Southern blotting, the rat genome contains four copies homologous to the H-subunit cDNA (H cDNA). To determine whether only one of these is expressed, H cDNAs isolated from rat liver and heart mRNAs were compared and found to share identical nucleotide sequences. Next, genomic clones for three of the four rat H-subunit loci were isolated. Two were classical processed pseudogenes, whereas the third contained an expressed gene. Comparison of the expressed rat H-subunit gene (H gene) structure with published sequences for other species displays considerable conservation. The coding sequence of the rat H gene predicts 95% similarity to the human amino acid sequence, thus being more highly conserved than the L-subunit sequence of these species. Near the cap region of the 5' untranslated region, the rat H mRNA displays a 28-nucleotide sequence that is almost totally conserved in the corresponding region of the human, bullfrog, and chicken H mRNA and is also faithfully represented in the rat and human L-subunit mRNAs (L mRNAs), thus making this sequence a prime candidate for involvement in the known translational regulation of both subunits by iron. In the 5' flanking region, partially conserved sequences common to H gene and L-subunit gene (L gene) of the rat may be involved in transcriptional regulation by iron, whereas those conserved only in the H gene of man and the rat imply that other factors may independently control H-subunit regulation.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6837884
• Journal Information: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States), Journal Name: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) Vol. 84:21; ISSN PNASA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550201* -- Biochemistry-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AMINO ACID SEQUENCE
ANIMALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
BIRDS
CHICKENS
COMPLEXES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DNA
DNA SEQUENCING
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FERRITIN
FOWL
GENE REGULATION
IRON COMPLEXES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAMMALS
MAN
METALLOPROTEINS
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHORUS 32
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
PRIMATES
PROTEINS
RADIOISOTOPES
RATS
RECOMBINANT DNA
RODENTS
STRUCTURAL CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
SULFUR 35
SULFUR ISOTOPES
TRANSCRIPTION
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPLEXES
VERTEBRATES