Structure of the gene coding for the human retinoic acid-inducible factor, MK

ABSTRACT The retinoic acid-inducible MK gene shows a distinct developmental pattern of expression, which implies that it has potential growth regulation and differentiation functions, particularly in the brain. We report here the cloning of the human MK gene from a phage library constructed from placental tissue. The structure of this gene has been determined using Southern hybridization and DNA sequence analysis. An isolated fragment was cloned and found to contain sequences identical to those of a previously isolated human MK cDNA clone, MKHC4. The gene contains three introns within the MK coding region as well as additional sequence, which indicates the presence of an intron prior to the putative protein start site. As judged by sequence analysis of cDNA clones, primer extension studies, and Northern analysis, the most abundant human MK message corresponds to the major mRNA of the previously described mouse gene. Primer extension studies and cDNA sequence data suggest that minor messages may be transcr...