Novel chicken actin gene: third cytoplasmic isoform.
We identified a novel chicken actin gene. The actin protein deduced from its nucleotide sequence very closely resembles the vertebrate cytoplasmic actins; accordingly, we classified this gene as a nonmuscle type. We adopted the convention for indicating the nonmuscle actins of the class Amphibia (Vandekerckhove et al., J. Mol. Biol. 152:413-426) and denoted this gene as type 5. RNA blot analysis demonstrated that the type 5 actin mRNA transcripts accumulate in adult tissues in a pattern indicative of a nonmuscle actin gene. Genomic DNA blots indicated that the type 5 actin is a single copy gene and a distinct member of the chicken actin multigene family. Inspection of the nucleotide sequence revealed many features that distinguished the type 5 gene from all other vertebrate actin genes examined to date. These unique characteristics include: (i) an initiation Met codon preceding an Ala codon, a feature previously known only in plant actins, (ii) a single intron within the 5' untranslated region, with no interruptions in the coding portion of the gene, and (iii) an atypical Goldberg-Hogness box (ATAGAA) preceding the mRNA initiation terminus. These unusual features have interesting implications for actin gene diversification during evolution.
D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005796:Genes; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D000199:Actins; D012333:RNA, Messenger