title: Differential expression of the five C4-related genes of H-2w7 mice.
abstract: Mice bearing the H-2w7 haplotype have five C4-related genes, one C4, one Slp, and three C4/Slp hybrid genes. The expression of these five genes in the liver of H-2w7 mice was estimated at the steady state level of their respective mRNA. We have amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) three regions of the C4/Slp mRNA where some of these five genes show nucleotide substitution. A relative amount of each gene product was estimated by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis or by direct counting of the number of respective clones after subcloning into a plasmid vector. A steady state level of the C4 mRNA was most abundant among C4-related gene transcripts. The hybrid 1 and 3 genes were expressed at a similar level which is about 1/2-1/3 of the C4 level. The hybrid 2 gene was expressed at about 1/5 of the hybrid 1 or 3 level. Neither male nor female H-2w7 mice expressed the Slp gene. These results showed that the expression of the five C4-related genes of H-2w7 mice is differentially regulated in spite of the close similarity in the nucleotide sequences in both the 5' flanking and coding regions of these genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunobiology, Kanazawa University, Japan.
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nonaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003181:Complement C4 / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D003181:Complement C4; D006183:H-2 Antigens; D012333:RNA, Messenger