CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MOUSE GENE ENCODING PHOSPHOLIPID TRANSFER PROTEIN

The mouse gene encoding phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) was clone d from 129/SvJ lambda FIX(R) II library and characterized for the firs t time. It is comprised of 16 exons separated by 15 introns. Its gene organization strikingly resembles that encoding the human PLTP; the ex on-intron junctions in these two genes are completely conserved. Seque ncing analysis reveals that the putative promoter of mouse PLTP gene c onsists of a TATA-box, a high GC region, and several consensus sequenc es for the binding of transcription factors. Within the first 200 bp o f the 5'-flanking region, the mouse and human PLTP genes share 81.1% i dentity of nt sequences and contain the consensus sequences for the tr anscription factors AP-2 and Spl at the same locations.