CLONING, CHROMOSOMAL MAPPING AND EXPRESSION PATTERN OF THE MOUSE BRCA2 GENE

A proportion of human breast cancers result from an inherited predispo sition to the disease, Mutations in the BRCA2 gene confer a high risk of breast cancer and are responsible for almost half of these cases, T he recent cloning of the human BRCA2 gene has revealed that it encodes a large protein having little significant homology to known proteins, Here we describe the mouse Brca2 gene, The gene maps to mouse chromos ome 5, consistent with its location on human chromosome 13q12. We have sequenced cDNA for the entire 3329 amino acid Brca2 protein and this has revealed that, like Brca1, Brca2 is relatively poorly conserved be tween humans and mice, Brca2 is transcribed in a diverse range of mous e tissues, and the pattern of expression is strikingly similar to that of Brca1. Taken together, our data highlight some intriguing similari ties between two genes involved in inherited breast cancer susceptibil ity.