ISOLATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE RAT GENOMIC SEQUENCE ENCODING CU ZN SUPEROXIDE-DISMUTASE

A rat genomic DNA (SOD1) encoding Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) (s uperoxide; superoxide oxidoreductase, EC 1.15.1.1) was cloned and sequ enced. The rat SOD1 gene consisted of five exons and four introns span ning about 6 kb. The transcription start point (tsp) was observed 93 b p upstream from the ATG codon by primer extension analysis. The 5'-fla nking sequence of SOD1 contained two CCAAT box motifs, a TATA box and four GC-like boxes. In the 3'-flanking region of SOD1, a polyadenylati on signal, consensus sequence YGTGTTYY, and a G/T cluster were observe d. A rat identifer (ID) sequence, a repetitive element of the rat geno me, was located at between 569 and 484 bp upstream from the tsp.