title: Identification of a functional allele of a human interferon-alpha gene previously characterized as a pseudogene.
abstract: Three recombinant phage lambda L47 clones containing 4 alpha interferon (IFN) genes have been isolated from a newly constructed human genomic library. Each gene is an allele of a previously described IFN gene, three being only minor variants. The fourth gene SMTIII.1A is a functional allele of the psi LeIF-L gene which previously has been described only as a pseudogene. Therefore, it appears likely that other variant alleles may remain to be described and that the IFN system may be able to tolerate some degeneracy as a consequence of the large number of members of the family.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38101-0318.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartholomew
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Windass
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003062:Codon; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011544:Pseudogenes
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D007370:Interferon Type I