title: The genes encoding mammalian chaperonin 60 and chaperonin 10 are linked head-to-head and share a bidirectional promoter.
abstract: Chaperonins are a class of stress-inducible molecular chaperones involved in protein folding. We report the cloning, sequencing and characterisation of the rat mitochondrial chaperonin 60 and chaperonin 10 genes. The two genes are arranged in a head-to-head configuration and together comprise 14 kb and contain 14 introns. The genes are linked together by a region of approximately 280 bp, which constitutes a bidirectional promoter and includes a common heat-shock element. Insertion of the shared promoter region between two reporter genes is sufficient to drive their expression under both constitutive and heat-shock conditions. The arrangement of the mammalian chaperonin genes suggests the potential to provide the coordinated regulation of their products in a manner that is mechanistically distinct from, yet conceptually similar to, that employed by the bacterial chaperonin (groE) operon.
authors.affiliation: School of Biochemistry, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Herd
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sberna
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Hoogenraad
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Høj
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018835:Chaperonin 10 / Q000235:genetics*; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D016678:Genome; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D018835:Chaperonin 10; D018834:Chaperonin 60