title: The beta globin gene cluster of the prosimian primate Galago crassicaudatus: nucleotide sequence determination of the 41-kb cluster and comparative sequence analyses.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the beta globin gene cluster of the prosimian Galago crassicaudatus has been determined. A total sequence spanning 41,101 bp contains and links together previously published sequences of the five galago beta-like globin genes (5'-epsilon-gamma-psi eta-delta-beta-3'). A computer-aided search for middle interspersed repetitive sequences identified 10 LINE (L1) elements, including a 5' truncated repeat that is orthologous to the full-length L1 element found in the human epsilon-gamma intergenic region. SINE elements that were identified included one Alu type I repeat, four Alu type II repeats, and two methionine tRNA-derived Monomer (type III) elements. Alu type II and Monomer sequences are unique to the galago genome. Structural analyses of the cluster sequence reveals that it is relatively A+T rich (about 62%) and regions with high G+C content are associated primarily with globin coding regions. Comparative analyses with the beta globin cluster sequences of human, rabbit, and mouse reveal extensive sequence homologies in their genic regions, but only human, galago, and rabbit sequences share extensive intergenic sequence homologies. Divergence analyses of aligned intergenic and flanking sequences from orthologous human, galago, and rabbit sequences show a gradation in the rate of nucleotide sequence evolution along the cluster where sequences 5' of the epsilon globin gene region show the least sequence divergence and sequences just 5' of the beta globin gene region show the greatest sequence divergence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48201.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Tagle
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Stanhope
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Siemieniak
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Slightom
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005701:Galago / Q000235:genetics*; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011817:Rabbits; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA