ANALYSIS OF THE DISTAL 5'-REGION OF THE HUMAN CYP17 GENE

In order to search for additional regulatory elements in the human CYP 17 (steroid 17-alpha-hydroxylase) gene and to compare it with potentia l regulatory elements in bovine CYP17 genes, 3.5 kb of 5' flanking reg ion of CYP17 was cloned and analyzed. The newly acquired sequence was shown to be a highly defective copy of the human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K family. This retroviral sequence was itself interrupted by a n ovel element, a low copy number repeat occurring about 20 times in the human genome, including a known copy in thp human catechtol-O-methylt ransferase gene. A reanalysis of the entire 5' flanking region of huma n CYP17 indicates that only the 300 bp immediately distal to the promo ter is of unique sequence; other regulatory sequences, including any t hat are similar to the upstream region of the bovine genes, are unlike ly to occur within 5.5 kb of the promoter.