STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION AND CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION OF HYAL2, A GENEENCODING A LYSOSOMAL HYALURONIDASE

The human HYAL2 gene encodes a lysosomal hyaluronidase that is related to the testicular PH-20 hyaluronidase, Regions conserved in these pro teins have been used to design PCR primers suitable for the isolation of a fragment of the murine Hyal2 gene. This fragment was used to isol ate the Hyal2 cDNA from a cDNA library. The cloned cDNA has an open re ading frame of 473 codons and a 3'-untranslated region of 302 bases pl us a poly(A) tail. Using this cDNA, the corresponding genomic DNA was characterized from 129SVJ mice. The murine Hyal2 gene is approximately 3.5 kb, contains the coding sequence for the mRNA on four exons, and is localized on chromosome 9 between the microsatellite markers D9Mit1 83 and D9Mit17 near the genes for dystroglycan and transferrin. The ge ne is expressed ubiquitously, the sole exception being adult brain. (C ) 1998 Academic Press.