Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1983 Oct 11;11(19):6679–6697. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.19.6679

Structure of a cluster of mouse histone genes.

D B Sittman, R A Graves, W F Marzluff
PMCID: PMC326407  PMID: 6314253

Abstract

The four mouse histone genes (2 H3 genes, an H2b gene and an H2a gene) present in a cloned 12.9 kilobase fragment of DNA have been completely sequenced including both 5' and 3' flanking regions. These genes are expressed in cultured mouse cells and the 3' and 5' ends of the mRNA have been determined by S1 nuclease mapping. These genes code for a minor fraction of the histone mRNAs expressed in cultured mouse cells. They comprise at most 5-8% of the total histone mRNA of each type. The two H3 genes code for H3.2 and H3.1 histone proteins, while the H2b gene codes for an H2b.1 protein with a single amino acid change (val-leu) at position 18. Only the 3' portion of the H2a gene is contained in the clone and there is an amino acid change (alanine-proline) at position 126. Comparison of the 5' and 3' flanking sequences reveals a conserved sequence at the 3' end of the mRNA which forms a hairpin loop structure. The codon usage in the genes is non-random and there has been no discrimination against CG doublets in the coding region of the genes.

Full text

PDF
6679

Images in this article

6686Image
on p.6686
6688Image
on p.6688
6690Image
on p.6690
6691Image
on p.6691

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Casey J., Davidson N. Rates of formation and thermal stabilities of RNA:DNA and DNA:DNA duplexes at high concentrations of formamide. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977;4(5):1539–1552. doi: 10.1093/nar/4.5.1539. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chang A. C., Cohen S. N. Construction and characterization of amplifiable multicopy DNA cloning vehicles derived from the P15A cryptic miniplasmid. J Bacteriol. 1978 Jun;134(3):1141–1156. doi: 10.1128/jb.134.3.1141-1156.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Childs G., Nocente-McGrath C., Lieber T., Holt C., Knowles J. A. Sea urchin (lytechinus pictus) late-stage histone H3 and H4 genes: characterization and mapping of a clustered but nontandemly linked multigene family. Cell. 1982 Dec;31(2 Pt 1):383–393. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90132-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. D'Andrea R., Harvey R., Wells J. R. Vertebrate histone genes: nucleotide sequence of a chicken H2A gene and regulatory flanking sequences. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Jul 10;9(13):3119–3128. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.13.3119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dugaiczyk A., Law S. W., Dennison O. E. Nucleotide sequence and the encoded amino acids of human serum albumin mRNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jan;79(1):71–75. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.1.71. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Engel J. D., Dodgson J. B. Histone genes are clustered but not tandemly repeated in the chicken genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 May;78(5):2856–2860. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.5.2856. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Franklin S. G., Zweidler A. Non-allelic variants of histones 2a, 2b and 3 in mammals. Nature. 1977 Mar 17;266(5599):273–275. doi: 10.1038/266273a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Grandy D. K., Engel J. D., Dodgson J. B. Complete nucleotide sequence of a chicken H2b histone gene. J Biol Chem. 1982 Aug 10;257(15):8577–8580. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Harvey R. P., Robins A. J., Wells J. R. Independently evolving chicken histone H2B genes: identification of a ubiquitous H2B-specific 5' element. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Dec 11;10(23):7851–7863. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.23.7851. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hentschel C. C., Birnstiel M. L. The organization and expression of histone gene families. Cell. 1981 Aug;25(2):301–313. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90048-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hentschel C., Irminger J. C., Bucher P., Birnstiel M. L. Sea urchin histone mRNA termini are located in gene regions downstream from putative regulatory sequences. Nature. 1980 May 15;285(5761):147–151. doi: 10.1038/285147a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hereford L., Fahrner K., Woolford J., Jr, Rosbash M., Kaback D. B. Isolation of yeast histone genes H2A and H2B. Cell. 1979 Dec;18(4):1261–1271. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90237-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Isenberg I. Histones. Annu Rev Biochem. 1979;48:159–191. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.48.070179.001111. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jacob E. Histone-gene reiteration in the genome of mouse. Eur J Biochem. 1976 May 17;65(1):275–284. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1976.tb10415.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jacob E., Malacinski G., Birnstiel M. L. Reiteration frequency of the histone genes in the genome of the amphibian, Xenopus laevis. Eur J Biochem. 1976 Oct 1;69(1):45–54. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1976.tb10856.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Maniatis T., Hardison R. C., Lacy E., Lauer J., O'Connell C., Quon D., Sim G. K., Efstratiadis A. The isolation of structural genes from libraries of eucaryotic DNA. Cell. 1978 Oct;15(2):687–701. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90036-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Manley J. L., Sharp P. A., Gefter M. L. RNA synthesis in isolated nuclei: identification and comparison of adenovirus 2 encoded transcripts synthesized in vitro and vivo. J Mol Biol. 1979 Nov 25;135(1):171–197. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(79)90346-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):560–564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Maxson R., Mohun T., Gormezano G., Childs G., Kedes L. Distinct organizations and patterns of expression of early and late histone gene sets in the sea urchin. Nature. 1983 Jan 13;301(5896):120–125. doi: 10.1038/301120a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Messing J., Vieira J. A new pair of M13 vectors for selecting either DNA strand of double-digest restriction fragments. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):269–276. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Modiano G., Battistuzzi G., Motulsky A. G. Nonrandom patterns of codon usage and of nucleotide substitutions in human alpha- and beta-globin genes: an evolutionary strategy reducing the rate of mutations with drastic effects? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Feb;78(2):1110–1114. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.2.1110. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rubin C. M., Schmid C. W. Pyrimidine-specific chemical reactions useful for DNA sequencing. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Oct 24;8(20):4613–4619. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.20.4613. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Seiler-Tuyns A., Birnstiel M. L. Structure and expression in L-cells of a cloned H4 histone gene of the mouse. J Mol Biol. 1981 Oct 5;151(4):607–625. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90426-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sittman D. B., Chiu I. M., Pan C. J., Cohn R. H., Kedes L. H., Marzluff W. F. Isolation of two clusters of mouse histone genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jul;78(7):4078–4082. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.7.4078. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sittman D. B., Graves R. A., Marzluff W. F. Histone mRNA concentrations are regulated at the level of transcription and mRNA degradation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Apr;80(7):1849–1853. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.7.1849. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sures I., Lowry J., Kedes L. H. The DNA sequence of sea urchin (S. purpuratus) H2A, H2B and H3 histone coding and spacer regions. Cell. 1978 Nov;15(3):1033–1044. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90287-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Wilson M. C., Melli M., Birnstiel M. L. Reiteration frequency of histone coding sequences in man. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1974 Nov 27;61(2):404–409. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(74)90971-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES