STRUCTURE AND CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION OF MOUSE G-PROTEIN SUBUNIT GAMMA-4 GENE

The G protein gamma subunits are members of a multigene family and are implicated in determining the specificity of receptor-G: protein inte raction. The gene structures for many of the gamma subunits remain to be determined. Here, we report the gene structure for the brain-specif ic gamma 4 subunit and its map position on a mouse chromosome. The gen e (Gng4) comprises at least three exons spanning over 20 kb. The 225-b p coding region, which spans two exons, is interrupted by a large 18.2 -kb intron whose position is conserved in other gamma subunit genes. T here is a putative additional intron in the 5' untranslated region jus t upstream of the translation initiation codon. Introns are present in most of the other gamma subunits at this position. The mouse Gng4 gen e is mapped to chromosome 13. (C) 1998 Academic Press.