CLONING AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CHINESE-HAMSTER ERCC2 NUCLEOTIDE EXCISION-REPAIR GENE

The Chinese hamster ERCC2 nucleotide excision repair gene, encoding a presumed ATP-dependent DNA helicase, was cloned from the V79 cell line , and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The similar to 15-kb gen e comprises 23 exons with a 2283-base open reading frame. The predicte d 760-amino-acid protein is 98% identical to the human ERCC2/XPD (760 amino acids), 51% identical to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD3 (778 amino acids), and 54% identical to the Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad15 (772 amino acids) proteins. The promoter region of the hamster ERCC2 gene contains a pyrimidine-rich stretch (42 nucleotides, 88% C+T) simi lar to sequences found in the promoter regions of two other nucleotide excision repair genes, a GC box, a putative alpha-Pal transcription f actor binding site, and two CAAT boxes. There is no apparent TAATA box . No consensus polyadenylation sequence (AATAAA or its variants) was f ound within 663 bases 3' of the translation termination codon. (C) 199 4 Academic Press, Inc.