HUMAN METALLOTHIONEIN GENE MT1L MESSENGER-RNA IS PRESENT IN SEVERAL HUMAN TISSUES BUT IS UNLIKELY TO PRODUCE A METALLOTHIONEIN PROTEIN

A human MT gene from the functional locus on chromosome 16, MT1L, is c haracterised and shown to produce mRNA in at least four human tissues. This gene is unlikely to produce a metallothionein protein because it contains a termination codon at position 26, by analogy to other huma n MT1 genes. MT1L cDNA is almost identical to another metallothionein cDNA clone reported recently, MT1(R), suggesting that either there are unmapped human metallothionein genes, or that MT1L is polymorphic. (C ) 1997 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.