Rl. Weaks et al., ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION OF THE PORCINE CILIARY NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR (CNTF) GENE, Animal genetics, 28(5), 1997, pp. 354-357
In the mouse, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) maintains embryonic s
tem cells in an undifferentiated state; yet, the heterologous protein
has no similar effects on porcine embryonic stem (ES) cells. Consequen
tly, we cloned and sequenced the porcine CNTF gene and assigned it to
chromosome 2. The CNTF gene was found to contain two exons, which enco
ded a deduced polypeptide of zoo amino acids in length with 83%, 82%,
82% and 81% amino acid similarity when compared to known sequences in
the rabbit, rat, human and mouse, respectively. Eight non-conservative
amino acid changes were identified in the porcine protein when compar
ed with other species. Comparison of the 5' region of the porcine CNTF
and other mammalian cytokines indicated the presence of several conse
rved transcription-factor binding motifs, suggesting their importance
for controlling the specific expression of these proteins. In addition
, CNTF was localized to porcine chromosomes by fluorescence in situ hy
bridization (FISH). Chromosome arm length ratios were calculated for 4
0 early metaphase chromosomes and 32 (80%) indicated that the pig CNTF
gene is located on chromosome 2p1.6. This was confirmed by aligning R
-banded FISH-labelled chromosomes to the standard porcine ideogram.