GENE STRUCTURE, CDNA SEQUENCE, AND EXPRESSION OF MURINE BAK, A PROAPOPTOTIC BCL-2 FAMILY MEMBER

To facilitate the creation of Bak knockout mice and the further analys is of this Bcl-2 family member, we have isolated and sequenced the com plete mouse Bak cDNA. The cDNA is 2 kb long and shares an overall nucl eotide identity to the human Bak cDNA of 62%. The mouse Bak protein is 208 amino acids long with a predicted molecular weight of 23 kDa. The mouse Bak mRNA could be detected in all mouse tissues examined. In ad dition we mapped the murine bah gene. It consists of six exons spannin g about 10 kb on chromosome 17B, The 5' region of the murine bak gene is unmethylated on the dinucleotide CpG in the area around exon 1. Fur thermore, it contains potential binding sites for transcription factor s such as Spl andc-Myb. (C) 1997 Academic Press.