CDNA CLONING AND GENOMIC ORGANIZATION OF ENHANCER OF SPLIT GROUCHO GENE FROM NEMATODE CAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANS

This first genomic Enhancer of split groucho (ESG) gene and its full l ength complementary DNA (cDNA) from nematode C. elegans were cloned an d sequenced via homology with the corresponding Drosophila groucho cDN A. The cDNA of 2.1-Kb encodes a protein of 612 amino acids, and the ne matode ESG protein is the smallest and most different in structure com pared to all ESG related proteins. The gene isolated is 4,246-bp in si ze, including 1,219-bp promoter region. A putative TATA-box at positio n -1166, two consensus sequence of ACTGG, characteristic of leader bin ding protein-1 (LBP-1) binding motifs at position -563 and -211 and ni ne CAAT boxes were found in the promoter region of ESG gene. The prote in-coding sequence is interrupted by five introns. The length of intro ns 1 to 5 is 52, 252, 87, 53 and 518 bp, respectively. The overall str uctural relationships of the ESG-related proteins among human, mouse, rat, Xenopus, Drosophila and nematode were also analyzed.