SON PSEUDOGENE DOES NOT CONTAIN 5 REPEATED ELEMENTS OF THE AREA OF PERFECT TANDEM REPEATS PRESENT IN THE HOMOLOGOUS SON GENE SEQUENCE

Earlier we have published the sequence of the human son gene coding re gion, which contains at least six areas of perfect tandem repeats [3, 4]. The presence of several tandem repeat areas with different nucleot ide sequences of repeated elements within the same gene supports the p roposal that the location of the sequence in the genome affects its mu ltiplication. In the present study we report the nucleotide sequence o f the son pseudogene, which was isolated by screening the human genomi c library with a probe based on the son gene nucleotide sequence. Comp arison of son gene and pseudogene nucleotide sequences showed that fiv e monomers of the perfect tandem repeat area are absent from the son p seudogene sequence. Since the pseudogene has probably originated by in tegration of the son gene reverse transcript into the genome, it is po ssible that at the time of pseudogene formation its nucleotide sequenc e was identical to that of the son gene coding region, meaning that th e above mentioned difference is due to sequence divergence that took p lace after the pseudogene had already formed. The factors which may ha ve affected the evolution of son gene and pseudogene sequences are con sidered.