title: The mouse intestinal fatty acid binding protein gene: nucleotide sequence, pattern of developmental and regional expression, and proposed structure of its protein product.
abstract: The rat intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) gene has been used as a model to study temporal and spatial differentiation of the gut epithelium while its protein product has been used as a model for examining the atomic details of noncovalent fatty acid-protein interactions. We have isolated the mouse I-FABP gene (Fabpi) and determined its nucleotide sequence. Comparisons of the orthologous mouse, rat, and human I-FABP genes revealed three conserved domains in their otherwise divergent 5' nontranscribed sequences. RNA blot hybridization and multilabel immunocytochemical methods were used to compare the developmental stage-specific patterns of activation of the rat and mouse genes. In addition, Fabpi expression in enterocytes was examined as a function of their differentiation along the crypto-to-villus and duodenal-to-colonic axes of the small intestine. Based on the similar temporal and geographic patterns of mouse and rat I-FABP expression described here and the results of our earlier studies of transgenic mice containing rat Fabpi/human growth hormone fusion genes, we propose that one of the conserved domains, spanning nucleotides -500 to -419 in mouse Fabpi, and/or a 14-bp element, are necessary for establishing and maintaining its region-specific expression along the duodenal-to-colonic axis of the perpetually renewing gut epithelium. Finally, predictions of the structure of mouse I-FABP using the refined 2.0 A model of rat I-FABP, suggest that a proline found at position 69 of the mouse, but not rat, protein may affect its ligand binding properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis 63110.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Sacchettini
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Gordon
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; C107608:FABP7 protein, human; C082667:Fabp5 protein, mouse; C086936:Fabp7 protein, mouse; C490174:Fabp7 protein, rat; D000071438:Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 7; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D005227:Fatty Acids; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins