A novel gene, G7e, resembling a viral envelope gene, is located at the recombinational hot spot in the class III region of the mouse MHC.
DNA sequence analysis of a segment of 15 kb, situated between G7b and G7a and present in the mouse but absent in human, revealed about 11 kb of DNA harboring a large number of repetitive sequences and 4 kb harboring a novel gene, G7e. This gene is transcribed in lymphoid tissues, having a 3-kb mRNA. The cDNA sequence of G7e shows stretches of nucleotide homology with murine leukemia virus (MuLV) envelope genes, and the predicted protein encompasses viral envelope motifs. The finding of a gene resembling MuLV envelope genes, flanked by a long terminal repeat and gag- and pol-like sequences, leads to the assumption that G7b and G7a in the mouse were separated through the insertion of a provirus, an event that might have taken place even before speciation of rat and mouse. The 15-kb interval forms a part of a 50-kb region, between Hsp70.3 and G7, where recombination preferentially takes place. Several disease susceptibility genes have been mapped to this same interval. The position of G7e in or in the vicinity of a recombinational hot spot might not be coincidental. The presence of adjacent putative recombination regulatory sequences is suggestive for the location of the crossover sites of recombination in this interval.
Snoek
M
M
Division of Molecular Genetics, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (Antoni van Leeuwenhoek), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
van Dinten
L
L
van Vugt
H
H
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015750:Genes, gag; D015751:Genes, pol; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
C104529:D17H6S56E-5 protein, mouse; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D006680:HLA Antigens; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins