GENOMIC ORGANIZATION AND PROMOTER IDENTIFICATION OF THE HUMAN PROTEIN-KINASE CK2 CATALYTIC SUBUNIT-ALPHA (CSNK2A1)

The isolation and characterization of the complete gene coding for hum an protein kinase CK2 catalytic subunit alpha is described. The gene s pans 70 kb and consists of 13 exons, and the exon/intron boundaries co nform to the gt/ag rule. Exons range in size from 51 to 2960 bp, intro ns from 527 to around 34000 bp. The translation start site is located in Exon 2, the stop codon in Exon 13. Two transcription start sites we re identified by primer extension analysis: The further 5'-located sit e defines position 1 of the gene, the second site is located at positi on 50. The 5' region of the CK2 alpha gene shows features of a houseke eping promoter, such as lack of a TATA box and presence of a CpG islan d and GC boxes. The region was analyzed by reporter gene assay, and pr omoter activity was detected within the region ranging from position - 256 to 144. Six potential polyadenylation signals were identified in t he 3' noncoding region of the CK2 alpha gene. As indicated by comparis on with expressed sequence tags from the EMBL databank and by Northern -blot analysis, the most 3' located, active polyadenylation signal see ms to be the fourth signal, defining the end of the gene. (C) 1998 Aca demic Press.