Har. Bluyssen et al., STRUCTURE, CHROMOSOME LOCALIZATION, AND REGULATION OF EXPRESSION OF THE INTERFERON-REGULATED MOUSE IFI54 IFI56 GENE FAMILY/, Genomics, 24(1), 1994, pp. 137-148
The interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) regulated mouse Ifi54/Ifi56 gene fami
ly, which is composed of at least four members (Ifi54, Ifi56, Ifi56-ps
1, and Ifi56-ps2), was isolated and characterized. In addition, the ch
romosomal localization of the four genes was determined. The Ifi54 and
Ifi56 genes show an identical organization. Both are composed of a ve
ry small first exon and a second exon, which contains the complete ope
n reading frame, except for the ATG start codon and the first two nucl
eotides of the second codon. In both genes, the two exons are separate
d by a small intron (5 and 2.5 kb, respectively). Expression of both g
enes is rapidly induced by IFN-alpha (within 2 h). The Ifi54 promoter
region contains two sequences, which are closely related to the interf
eron stimulated response element (ISRE) consensus sequence (ISRE 1, GG
TTTCAATTTCT, and ISRE 2, AGTGTTACTTTCT). The two elements are located
directly adjacent to each other. A similar organization was recently e
stablished for the hamster Ifi54 promoter (Bluyssen et al., 1994). How
ever, the mouse promoter is 70% less active than the hamster promoter.
It turned out that ISRE 2 is hardly active, due to the G at position
4, which is a T in the hamster Ifi54 ISRE 2 and in the ISRE consensus
sequence. The Ifi56 promoter region contains at a similar position two
functional ISREs of identical strength (ISRE 1, AGTTTCAGTTTCT, and IS
RE 2, AGTTTCACTTTCC). In the Ifi56 promoter, the two ISRE motifs are s
eparated by 6 bp. In addition to the Ifi56 gene, parts of two closely
related genes (Ifi56-ps1 and Ifi56-ps2) were isolated. Both fragments
contain an Ifi56-related open reading frame. However, we were unable t
o isolate the presumed first exon of Ifi56-ps1 and Ifi56-ps2, nor coul
d we show expression of the genes. The Ifi54, Ifi56, Ifi56-ps1, and If
i56-ps2 genes could all be assigned to mouse chromosome 19D1, suggesti
ng a tight clustering. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.