Genomic organization and the promoter region of the round-spotted pufferfish (Tetraodon fluviatilis) CDC37 gene

The CDC37 gene was isolated from a round-spotted pufferfish genomic library and characterized. This gene is composed of nine exons spanning 3.5 kb. Ex on 1 contains the 5'-untranslated region and exon 2 contains the putative t ranslation initiation site. By 5'-RACE (rapid amplication of cDNA ends) and sequence analysis, we deduced the promoter region for the CDC37 gene and f ound that it does not contain typical TATA or CCAAT box. The 1.8 kb DNA fra gment upstream of the putative transcription initiation site contains numer ous potential binding sites for transcription factors including CREB, E2A, Ets-1, GATA, NF-IL6 and PEA3. When this DNA fragment was placed upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene and transfected into a carp CF cell line, it could drive the synthesis of CAT enzyme four t imes more efficiently than the promoterless pCAT-Basic did. In addition, th e CDC37 gene is linked to the TYK2 gene in a tail-to-head manner with a sma ll intergenic region of 292 bp. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r eserved.