Mouse fibulin-2 gene. Complete exon-intron organization and promoter characterization.
Fibulin-2, an extracellular matrix protein containing tandem arrays of calcium-binding epidermal growth factor-like motifs, is present in the basement membrane and stroma of many tissues. Its expression pattern suggested an essential role in organogenesis, particularly in embryonic heart development. In this study, we cloned the extreme 5' end of the mouse fibulin-2 cDNA, isolated phage and cosmid clones encoding the entire gene, and functionally characterized the promoter. The gene was found to consist of 18 exons spanning 55 kb of DNA. The exon-intron organization reflected the modular structure of the protein. Exon 9 was subjected to alternative splicing. All splice junctions conformed to the GT/AG rule, except that GC instead of GT was found in the splice donor site of exon 4. The gene lacked TATA and CAAT boxes but contained an initiator element (Inr) and several consensus Sp1 binding sites surrounding the transcription start sites. By transient transfection of promoter deletion constructs, a 0.46-kb region containing the clustered Sp1 sites was found to confer a high promoter activity.
Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Jefferson Institute of Molecular Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, PA, USA.
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Grässel
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Sicot
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Gotta
M L
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Chu
D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015723:Gene Library; D007438:Introns; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014162:Transfection
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; C084612:fibulin 2