Nucleotide sequence and expression of the mouse corticotropin-releasing hormone gene.
The mouse corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene has been isolated and characterized by DNA sequence analysis. The gene exhibits a structural organization similar to that of the human, rat, and ovine genes with two exons and an intervening sequence of 675 base pairs interrupting the 5' untranslated sequence of the mature mRNA. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence reveals that the mouse CRH peptide is identical at the amino acid level to the human and rat CRH peptides, with only three nucleotide changes between the rat and mouse sequences within the CRH peptide-encoding region. Additionally, the mouse CRH gene exhibits greater than 92% homology to the rat, human, and ovine CRH genes within the first 336 nucleotides of 5' flanking DNA, suggesting that this sequence contains important transcriptional control elements which have been conserved across species to mediate the regulation of this important neuroendocrine peptide. The expression of the mouse CRH gene in brain is demonstrated using in situ hybridization analysis. Mouse CRH mRNA can be detected in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and inferior olivary nucleus of mouse brain.
Seasholtz
A F
AF
Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA; Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Bourbonais
F J
FJ
Harnden
C E
CE
Camper
S A
SA